Nortel's Virtual Business Environment Could Mark the Future of B2B Communications

A Toronto-based telecom equipment maker, though it has faced financial struggles, reportedly is far ahead of the curve in a technology that market analysts say is poised to gain traction over the next five years.

 

Though Nortel Networks Corp said its third-quarter revenues were down 14 percent year-over-year, forcing a lay off of 1,300 workers, the company is getting a shot in the arm from IT insiders who say it may be leading the way for future business communications with its virtual world technology.

 

Generally speaking, virtual worlds are computer-based environments that simulate reality so that users can move around and interact, using avatars. One popular example of a virtual world is the Second Life. Launched in 2003, Second Life is an advanced social networking virtual world where users can explore, meet others, participate in activities and even create and swap services or items.

 

In business, virtual worlds already are being used as a cost-effective way to advertise. Apple (News - Alert), for example, created an online store within Second Life.

 

Business also may use virtual worlds as gathering places, and, as TMC President Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) reports in a new, graphics-filled blog entry, Nortel (News - Alert) – the largest telephone equipment maker in North America – appears to be taking the Second Life model and turning it into a secure enterprise virtualization environment.

 

With its so-called “web.alive” software application, Nortel apparently has sketched a vision for future business communications that includes workers (avatars) gathering for meetings and informal conversations, roaming company “halls” to view Microsoft (News - Alert) Powerpoint presentations, entering lecture halls for seminars and even sit for telepresence meetings. Part of the technology includes high-definition voice features that function as they do in real life, where people become louder the closer they are to each other, and avatars can overhear snippets of conversations around them.

 

Here’s what a departmental meeting could look like for workers physically located, say, in different field offices:

 

 

Imagine working from home, but getting a job done in a virtual office that has common areas that look like this:

 

 

On its site, Nortel says that web.alive is directly embedded within a Web page, so that users don’t have to leave the site to launch their virtual worlds.

 

“Combining stunning 3D graphics and unparalleled in-world realism, web.alive also contains industry revolutionizing 3D spatial audio,” company officials say. “With a feature-set designed specifically for the enterprise, web.alive integrates with your existing network, security and existing business software tools in order to enhance your communication, collaboration and employee or consumer engagement.”

 

Users apparently have total control over how their avatars look.

 

Here’s a screen shot of one virtual world character – in this case, sleuth Maxwell Smart – that shows how users can select vital statistics, facial characteristics, hair and other features:

 

 

As TMCnet has reported, one Dallas-based IT research firm that focuses on the digital and home connectivity segments say that 3D virtual worlds have evolved into a sustainable industry.

 

Officials from Park Associates (News - Alert) predict that 33 million users will register for virtual worlds by 2013, drawing a wide variety of providers and companies to the relatively new technology.

 

According to Yuanzhe Cai, the firm’s director of digital media and gaming, 3D virtual world platform companies, full-service agencies and operators form a viable base that provides services to businesses, media companies, advertisers and consumers.

 

“But content and application developers and service providers are becoming increasingly important,” Cai said.

 

During his own tour of web.alive, Tehrani and his hosts were followed into different rooms to speak with the people I was communicating with.

 

“Get this – they realized their coworkers were dressed up (due to the meeting with me) so they knew not to interrupt,” Tehrani writes. “Pretty cool.”

 

For Tehrani, the virtual world technology, and its use, could more than ephemeral fads.

 

Though it may take too many years for Nortel’s technology to make enough money and reverse the company’s financial fortune, it’s still far ahead of its competitors.

 

“I have yet to see Cisco or Avaya show me something similar, so I have to say in the area of B2B virtual worlds being promoted by communications companies, Nortel is the company to watch,” Tehrani said.