Gartner has for some time been reporting the potential for virtual world technology to become the next wave of the Internet, delivering what is known as the Web3.D environment. This is characterised by a high level of user participation through immersion in the virtual world. Gartner has predicted that by 2011, 80% of internet users will be regular users of Web3.D technology.
Project LifeLink was initiated to discover what opportunities for Telecom might exist in the growth of business and consumer interest in virtual worlds. This has focused on a number of technologies, in particular Second Life, OpenSimulator (OpenSIM) and JAIN SLEE. The project has been run by Telecom with coordination and support from MediaLab, and with researchers at Canterbury and Otago Universities. This report describes the work undertaken at Otago University to implement a gateway to enable demonstration of communications between an object in Second Life and the JAIN SLEE environment in order to interoperate with external network services.
