Talk amongst multimedia evangelists would have you believe that networked three dimensional virtual worlds built in the VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Language are poised to burst onto the web. But as far as real business applications go, VRML is still some way off. Now that version 2.0 of VRML has been established, interest in the language appears to have dried up. Of the five companies that put forward a proposal for VRML 2.0 only one still has anything to say for itself. IBM Corp said its software team is not doing any VRML development. While Microsoft Corp, Sun Microsystems Inc and Apple Computer Inc did not have any comments on the subject at all. Silicon Graphics Inc, whose proposal for VRML 2.0 also happens to be the one selected by the Industry Standard Organization as a standard, was the most enthusiastic of the five.

A HUD for business?

According to Steve Watson, senior analyst in the manufacturing division at Silicon Graphics Inc, computer aided design is the secret leader when it comes to using VRML. Engineering has been using it for years. They don’t tell anyone because of the business benefits they get over the competition, he said. High end CAD companies such as Parametric Technology Corp, Dassault, SDRC and Unigraphics have been using VRML to display engine parts and move around them since VRML evolved a couple of years ago. Its benefit is the ability display large and complex three dimensional images on a small specification machine rather than needing a high end CAD machine to display models of engineering parts. It lets the user see how a car design, for example, will fit together and to spot design flaws at an early stage. A CAD model of a car is large. Using VRML the file size is small, said Watson. Cosmo Software agrees that a small file size is a key benefit of VRML. Cosmo was set up in 1995 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Graphics. VRML is better than proprietary media like Macromedia’s Shockwave, according to John McCrea, director of marketing and business development for Cosmo. A key reason is its smaller file which makes it more versatile for web applications like online advertising. Cosmo has found a niche developing VRML tools and next month it will introduce the Cosmo PageFX tool aimed at professional designers that are not up to speed with three dimensional graphics to enable them to take advantage of the small file sizes that VRML can offer. The company’s other products include Cosmo Player, a VRML viewer so users can view virtual reality worlds on their computer screen and Cosmo Worlds, a special effects tool aimed at 3D graphics professionals. Retailing is the business application where the technology is likely to be seen next. How many companies will want a virtual environment to present their products and services in, and then to interact with their customers and sell there too? We believe many will, said Franz Buchenberger, president and CEO at Blaxxun Interactive Inc. Blaxxun is a San Francisco and Munich headquartered company set up with venture capital. It focuses on developing interactive worlds for corporate clients.

By Abigail Waraker

As is so common in the multimedia industry, Blaxxun is one of those smaller, but die hard proponents of the technology that is clearing the path where larger software companies will likely follow. In the past VRML usage has been limited by three main barriers, said Franz Buchenberger, president and CEO at Blaxxun. PC power, bandwidth, and lack of useful applications in relation to cost. PC power is basically gone as an obstacle with the current hardware – Pentium, graphics acceleration and so on. Today’s PCs are perfect for that purpose and it will just take another 6-12 months until older machines are widely replaced or upgraded, he said. Bandwidth is improving, with reports stating that bandwidth grows faster than user numbers, with average bandwidth being better than a year ago. In addition to a better backbone and better modems, there are many alternatives, such as ADSL, ISDN, cable and satellite. Blaxxun feels that useful applications are now getting beyond the pilot stage. It focuses on four business markets: online services, promotion, shopping and online teamwork. Blaxxun customer, Siemens-Nixdorf is using the Web for online promotion. At CeBit it demonstrated a VRML model of its offices to let users move through and learn about different departments with the company and what each offers. The next phase is to put the model on the Intranet so sales staff can use it for customer demonstrations. Canal Plus approached Blaxxun to develop a virtual Paris site where visitors can see the city sites and enter online shops. Canal Plus charges companies to lease shops on the site, which has been running for a year. BMW is using VRML for online services. It has a model that puts details of its cars online and plans to deploy it in car show rooms so customers can see what cars will look like with different finishes and colours. Blaxxun has also developed a virtual lab tour of IBM in North America to educate users about IBM hardware. There are other demos of the interactive three dimensional worlds on the web. Virtual reality specialist, Superscape VR Plc has its own VWWW virtual fly through world on the internet where people can walk around as if they are really there. But is written in the company’s proprietary SVR technology (which until last year it insisted was better than VRML anyway) and not VRML. It will not be compatible with VRML until the end of May, when Superscape brings out its Viscape Universal software. Superscape’s VWWW has a fledgling 15 online shopping malls from retails customers including Japanese telco NTT, CompuServe and car manufacturer, Skoda. Ian Andrew, president of Superscape and member of the board of directors of the VRML consortium, estimates that about half of those with interactive 3D sites are using them as business applications and to bring in revenue, while the rest are at the promotional demo level. Other fledgling players in the VRML market including Oz Interactive which originated in Iceland and has developed virtual trade show environments for Swedish telecoms equipment company Ericsson and Intervista Software Inc which develops visualization tools for three dimensional data worlds. From the early adopters it is clear Europe has a strong presence in the VRML development market, although the US is still ahead. The US has clearly the largest penetration and the biggest market in general. But if I compare banks in the US and Germany, then Germany is surprisingly more aggressive with respect to online banking and online service. Retailing and e-commerce is getting big in Germany, we have many inquiries for virtual shopping malls. In general, US is still clearly ahead, but Europe is catching up faster than it used to with other emerging technologies in the past decades, said Blaxxun’s Buchenberger. VRML will have a place in the future of the web, but will not be a killer application in its own right, rather an integral part in making online commerce more amenable to customers.

2000 – The first big VRML year

The year 2000 will be the first big year for VRML, according to Blaxxun. We are not seen as a technology freak anymore, but an early adopter, argues Buchenberger. While McCrea of Cosmo is even more positive. The political battles are behind us because VRML has been accepted as an ISO standard. It is now reaching critical mass, he said. The next step is for it to be adopted by the mainstream.