IEEE Spectrum Predicts Forterra Systems a Winner
07 August 2009
Forterra Systems’s OLIVE™ virtual worlds software platform, along with IBM’s new chipmaking process and Sprint’s Xohm high-speed wireless broadband data network, are just three of the five projects identified by the editors of IEEE Spectrum as 'winners' in the fifth annual issue highlighting the best and worst of global technology.
"With the signs of life becoming stronger every day in the technology sector, it’s time to take stock of some key initiatives that have the potential to transform major industries or that are likely to squander huge amounts of money, time and resources," said Glenn Zorpette, executive editor, IEEE Spectrum. "IEEE Spectrum editors considered well over 100 technology projects, representing work on every continent. We picked five outstanding ones, along with six that seem destined for obscurity."
"To pick the winning and losing projects, we considered the feasibility of the goals described by the project leaders themselves," Mr Zorpette added. "We analyzed these goals in light of technical and technology-related factors: regulation, competition, relevant technology and market trends, and more. Forterra should be very pleased with this endorsement of their transformative technology by our editors."
For the report, the magazine’s editors considered six mainstay categories in technology: communications, semiconductors, transportation, power, biomedical and computers. To come up with their final lists of winners and losers, the staff relied heavily on the global resources of the IEEE. The professional organization has nearly 400,000 engineers, computer experts and technologists who will also be asked for their input on the success or failure of all the reported technologies in 'You Tell Us', a web-based opinion poll that should engage the entire IEEE membership.
"As a lifelong admirer of the IEEE organization this selection is an incredible honor given the wide field of technologies considered," said Dr David Rolston, CEO of Forterra Systems. "However, we agree 2008 will be an inflection point in our industry as more proof points are published about enterprise business processes being transformed by 3D applications. We will be making exciting announcements this year about customers using virtual applications for new forms of training and collaboration. Fundamentally, we are addressing how enterprises and their extended ecosystems can work more productively and effectively by operating virtually. Within three to five years we envision the typical business worker spending large portions of their day in immersive 3D environments."
The January issue of IEEE Spectrum is available by subscription, on many news stands throughout the north-eastern United States and online.
Forterra’s OLIVE software platform enables end-users and partners to create realistic, collaborative 3D Internet solutions. Applications developed using OLIVE allow users to sit at their PCs with a network connection, log on and appear in an interactive, virtual environment represented as a fully animated avatar (3D character controlled by the user). Through a keyboard and mouse users are able to navigate through realistic environments, share and present documents, access and deploy equipment, drive/fly vehicles, don personal protective equipment and communicate with one another. As a scenario is executed, the results are captured by a built-in session replay system that supports debrief so users can learn from what they practised.
