White Papers & Articles
Featured Forterra White Paper:
Recipe for Success with Enterprise Virtual Worlds

by Chris Badger, VP Marketing, Forterra Systems

These are challenging times for businesses. With revenues down, expenses are under severe pressure.  Business leaders are asking their employees to do more with smaller budgets. In particular travel budgets are being slashed so business managers are being asked to rethink how they conduct events, training, and employee development without being able to meet in person. At the same time, globalization has increased the demand for effective performance from distributed organizations.

In particular, there is growing interest in virtual world technology as a potential solution for business training and collaboration. This white paper gives you the information you need to consider when making the leap into virtual worlds.  Here we provide not only our insights, but those of analysts following the industry, and customers who have been where you're going.

Click to download PDF file.

Scientific American, April 3, 2009:
Therapists Use Virtual Worlds to Address Real Problems

by Karen A. Frenkel

This article indicates virtual worlds are helping troubled teens combine role-play in computer-generated environments with talk therapy. Greenleaf Medical, a Forterra Systems partner, is the star attraction in the article based on their Simulated Environment for Counseling, Training, Evaluation and Rehabilitation (SECTER) product. SECTER, which is based on the Forterra Systems OLIVE platform, is a great example of a value added solution to generate breakthrough capabilities for therapy and counseling.

Psychotherapist Robert Gaines, co-founder of the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training Program at the William Alanson White Institute in New York City, says he's impressed with patient Joe's quick progress and praises SECTER for enabling therapists to "meet kids" in virtual worlds similar to those in which they've grown up. To read the full article, click here.

Featured Analyst Report: Forrester Research, October 31, 2008
Will Unified Communications Make Virtual Worlds Relevant to Business?

by TJ Keitt and Henry Dewing
with Ellen Daley, Madiha Ashour, and Chetina Muteba

Excerpt:
"Virtual worlds have consistently struggled to demonstrate their relevance to business leaders. Problems with the stability of the technology, lack of compelling case studies, and failure to integrate other business tools have all served to exacerbate the situation. Recently, virtual world developer Forterra Systems teamed with IBM to create a blend of unified communications and virtual worlds called Babel Bridge. The promise of this technology for the entire virtual world movement is that, through its revolutions in content integration, unified communications, and spontaneous collaboration, it provides a tool that gives a clear sense of its value and purpose as a collaboration hub for the enterprise."

To get the entire report from Forrester Research, click here.

Feature Article:
Information Work Is Going Immersive

ThinkBalm - By Erica Driver - Posted from August 13, 2008 -
"When you think about virtual worlds what comes to mind is probably not business documents, meetings, eLearning, or project collaboration. Well, hold onto your seat because the next few years are going to be a wild ride. Tomorrow’s immersive Internet-based information worker software platform will provide a place where people will network and meet, teach and learn, rehearse business activities, visualize and collaborate on information and documents and products – even operate real-world facilities and systems."

Click for the full story. (Link to ThinkBalm.com)


Article Library:
1 Scientific American - Therapists use VWs to Address Problems Apr 20, 2009
2 Recipe for Success with Enterprise Virtual Worlds Jan 06, 2009
3 Forrester—Virtual Worlds Relevant to Business Nov 03, 2008
4 The Power Of Virtual Worlds for Collaboration Jul 15, 2008
5 Building the Feds' Virtual War Room Mar 19, 2008
6 Simulation Enhances National Security Training Feb 14, 2007
7 "Lessons Learned Project" Nov 24, 2005
8 Conference Explores Medical Uses for Video Games Sep 22, 2005
9 Real Experiences in a Virtual World Jun 14, 2005
10 Asymmetric Warfare: Apr 12, 2005
11 Hurt Soldiers Still Help Country -- Virtually Mar 10, 2005
12 NDIA - Soldiers Learn Hazards Of War in Virtual Reality Feb 14, 2005
 
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