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	June 20, 2008 Case Study: IBM's Visionary Foray Into Web3D by Connie Moore with Norman Nicolson	Average: 9  (2 ratings)

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Executive Summary

IBM is a microcosm of all that's happening in Web3D. Since the company announced it would invest millions of dollars in Web3D (in IBM's terminology, the 3-D Internet) in late 2006, the company has set up an emerging business opportunity business unit called Digital Convergence and established an internal Virtual Universe Community, which currently has about 6,000 members. The company is now using Web3D to manage real-world systems remotely, develop software collaboratively, interact with customers, rehearse business activities, bring new employees and interns onboard, and formalize mentoring and knowledge transfer. The benefits so far? Eliminated travel and meeting costs, new business and leads, regained productive time, reduced energy costs, and communities sprouting up that span this huge organization.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• It All Started With A Little Jam
• IBM Lets Usage Grow Organically And Resists Focusing On ROI Too Early
• IBM: A Microcosm Of All That's Happening In Web3D
• The Concept Of A Guild Is Borrowed From Gaming And The Pre-Industrial World
• It Takes Heavy-Duty Evangelism To Get Buy-In And Adoption
• IBM's Take: It's Too Early To Standardize On One Virtual World Platform

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Follow IBM's Lead And Experiment With Web3D
• Related Research Documents

This is an excerpt