The project involves creation of a dynamic,scalable,collaborative virtual environment over the Web based on powerful Internet Technologies likeVRML/Java3D/DirectX for GUI layer and Javasoft JSDA(Java Shared Data Toolkit)/Microsoft DirectPlay for the networking engine layer.
This tier-based model intends to fuel a virtual society over the Web where people would represent themselves as real-life avatars,could interact with a group of persons who have similar interests,would publish their behavior and interests to the rest of the society,navigate between multiple virtual societies,discuss with each other the visual development of a product and basically share secure persistent virtual spaces.
Basic working prototypes has been developed and need to be enhanced and developed into a full-fledged real-life application meeting the specifications and requirements of important factors like Internet Bandwidth,VRML Working Group proposals,DataBase Connectivity,Audio TeleConferencing.
** This project has been a joint effort by the IBM T.J.Watson Research
Center & the NorthEast Parallel Architectures Center(NPAC)
at Syracuse University.
** It has been included in the early access release of JSDA(Java Shared
Data API) distribution by JavaSoft Corporation.