Forterra Systems
Encyclopedia
Forterra Systems, Inc. was a 3D graphics software company headquartered in San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...

 that produced private and secure MMO
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...

 virtual worlds
Metaverse
The Metaverse is our collective online shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet...

 for corporate, government, defense, medical and educationalhttp://www.cattlab.umd.edu/index.php?page=research&a=00028 clients. Forterra Systems also shared a close history with the MMOG There
There (internet service)
There is a 3D online virtual world created by Will Harvey and Jeffrey Ventrella. There Inc. was founded in the spring of 1998. Closed beta began in July 2001, with various stages of beta following, and ending with an October 2003 launch date...

. On February 1, 2010, Science Applications International Corporation
Science Applications International Corporation
SAIC is a FORTUNE 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company headquartered in the United States with numerous federal, state, and private sector clients...

 (SAIC
SAIC
The acronym SAIC can stand for:*Science Applications International Corporation*School of the Art Institute of Chicago*Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation*Shanghai Aviation Industrial Company*Special Agent in Charge, acronym used by some U.S...

) announced its acquisition of the company's simulation & collaboration product line, including all names, trademarks and licenses.http://investors.saic.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=193857&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1438853

Originally founded in 1998 as There, Inc., Forterra Systems built private and secure distributed virtual worlds using their OLIVE (On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment) technology platform and industry-standard PC server and client hardware. OLIVE virtual environments typically are deployed within a client's existing IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

 and network security systems. Optionally, OLIVE could be hosted externally by Forterra, depending upon the customer's preferences.

On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment

On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) customers rapidly generate realistic, three-dimensional virtual environments that scale from single user applications to large-scale simulated environments that support a vast number of concurrent users.

The virtual worlds produced or hosted by Forterra Systems and their clients appear to function similarly to public, open-invitation MMOGs (e.g., There
There (internet service)
There is a 3D online virtual world created by Will Harvey and Jeffrey Ventrella. There Inc. was founded in the spring of 1998. Closed beta began in July 2001, with various stages of beta following, and ending with an October 2003 launch date...

, Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

, Active Worlds
Active Worlds
Active Worlds is a 3D virtual reality platform. The Active Worlds client runs on Windows. Users assign themselves a name, log into the Active Worlds universe, and explore 3D virtual worlds and environments that other users have built. Users can chat with one another or build structures and areas...

). OLIVE environments differ from consumer-based MMOGs in that access to the virtual world is privately managed, and granted only to specific groups of users. OLIVE applications typically focus on employee or staff training, and secure collaborative business decision-making, for example, rather than focusing on entertainment or broadly-defined social networking purposes.

Another difference between conventional MMO virtual environments and OLIVE environments is that real-world locations are replicated in an OLIVE virtual world, as opposed to fantasy-based worlds or hypothetical "islands".

There is based on shared technology with Forterra Systems that was initially developed in conjunction with a US Army project.http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04/21/news_6093860.html The There service was spun off to Makena Technologies in 2005. Theres operations remained uninterrupted during the various corporate changes. Since then, two additional instances of There have been created, both owned and administered by Makena Technologies.http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-6150206-7.html

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK