IBM and Linden Lab, the operator of the Second Life virtual world, plan to jointly develop standards for technology that will support more seamless and secure interaction between people and processes in different virtual worlds, and in the wider Internet.

As part of their mission to make virtual worlds fit for real business, Linden and IBM plan to create “universal” avatars – the digital representation of an individual that is used to interact with other avatars in a virtual world – that can ‘migrate’ between different worlds.  They also want to create software to support the “security-rich” exchange of assets in virtual worlds, and open standards for linking virtual worlds with other Web applications.

Virtual worlds like Second Life are still primarily treated as as games, but a growing number of commentators believe they have the potential to be effective platforms for business collaboration and trading.

In Information Age’s latest cover feature “Serious Business in Virtual Worlds”, Gartner’s virtual worlds analyst, Steve Prentice predicts a “massive uptake” of virtual world technology as more organisations recgonise its collaborative potential.

However, in the same article, CASS Business School’s Professor Clive Holtham warns that businesses may have to build their own world’s outside of first generation locations like Second Life. Today, says Holtham, first generation world aredominated by people whose primary reason for beng there has nothing to do with business - and it is likely to remain that way.

Nevertheless, “serious” businesses continue to set up shop in Second Life. As well as IBM , which uses Second Life to hold conferences and seminar, the Linden world now hosts properties owned by ING Bank, Philips, Diageo and Vodafone. More recently the venerable Italian insurance company, Assicurazioni Generali, revealed that it has bought an ‘island’ in Second Life that will host games, information and sales outlets promoting its business.

Further reading

Serious business in virtual worlds - Businesses are exploring the use of virtual worlds for collaboration, for training and for a host of other ‘3D web’ applications.

IBM workers to protest in Second Life

Find more stories in the Collaboration and Messaging Briefing Room