VenueGen Offers Free Migration for Second Life Business Customers

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC- –  VenueGen, provider of a 3-D virtual meeting platform for collaborative meetings, training, and events today announced a migration solution for users of the Linden Labs Second Life virtual world platform. Linden Labs Second Life announced a reorganization and lay off stating that the company is exiting the enterprise business space to focus exclusively on its virtual world for the consumer market. VenueGen has built and deployed a platform that was designed specifically to meet the needs of business and training organizations. VenueGen is now offering a migration solution for Second Life customers who now find themselves left with an unsupported platform.

SL leaving the enterprise space was no surprise to VenueGen’s founder and CEO who stated that his company was conceived three years ago as a reaction to SL’s lack of support for the specific needs of the business customer. VenueGen was architected and deployed from the beginning as a business platform. “The requirements for business collaboration, learning and events are dramatically different than those of individual consumers,” stated Gardner, “We are reaching out to the Second Life community, to make sure that they have business continuity and understand that the right immersive 3D environment is still the most engaging, personal and productive modality for their distance gatherings.”

As an early pioneer in the space, Linden Labs tried to do everything for everyone and as such built a platform that was not very adaptable for the needs of specific market sectors. “We were able to focus specifically on the needs of one market sector and do that one thing really well,” states Paul Rowan, VenueGen’s CTO, who continues, “We addressed the important issues Second Life missed such as:

• Firewall and proxy server transparency
• Ease-of-use: No navigation issues and practically no required training
• Privacy and complete attendee controls
• Seamless content integration (including ability to run Flash® applications natively)
• Screen and webcam sharing
• Support for low-end computers
• Browser-based on-demand offering
• Multi-channel positional VoIP
• Security/privacy/robustness
• High fidelity environment with photo-realist avatars
• No requirement to build 3D environments or art assets (all types of pre-built venues)
• Very low risk: No initial cost and month-to-month agreements starting at $90 for unlimited meetings

A lot has been learned about what it takes to meet the needs of enterprise customers (See Whitepaper: Functionality Requirements for Successful 3D Environments). Gardner continued, “Second Life’s decision to leave the space should not be seen as a failure of the 3D modality for business but rather a maturing of the industry… customers are no longer happy to just be in a cartoonish 3D environment, they want seriously focused tools that will measurably improve their productivity and learning outcomes.” VenueGen is like having a superior Second Life, WebEx®, Skype® and other tools all rolled into one incredible platform for business.

VenueGen is offering free migrations of SL business customer data into VenueGen for a limited period of time at no charge. Interested organizations can contact sales@venuegen.com. For more information on VenueGen, or to sign up for a free trial, please visit http://www.venuegen.com

About VenueGen
VenueGen is a browser-based 3D immersive Internet meeting platform where business colleagues meet, collaborate, share and present information in board rooms, training rooms, and meeting halls. Users simply select a meeting room, upload their content, and instantly enter a virtual room with directional voice where they can hear colleagues around the room! Engaged, active and immersed attendees communicate, make decisions, learn faster, and are more productive than with online alternatives. No more boring conference calls, no more travel, and no more expensive, complex video conference systems. VenueGen is “Business Ready.” VenueGen is based in Research Triangle Park, NC. To view a VenueGen demo or create a free account, please visit http://www.venuegen.com