Raising Your Voice in Second Life
Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, today (May 20)
revealed that it has delivered over 15 billion minutes of voice
services, demonstrating the rapid growth and broad adoption of VoIP in
Second Life.
Last
month,
Linden Lab announced a series of initiatives
to provide a more customizable Second Life experience to users.
Also,
in its attempt to improve Second Life environment, in January this year
Linden Lab had announced acquisition of two
Web-based marketplaces for virtual goods, Xstreet SL and
OnRez. It planned to consolidate the two marketplaces on the Xstreet SL
platform, offering one online shopping experience for customers and
merchants.
The
company says over 50% of Second Life users, a group that includes a
broad range of consumers, educators, and large enterprises, use voice as
part of their everyday inworld experience. In addition to making
education, business meetings, simulations, training and casual
conversations more meaningful, realistic and fluid, voice is also a key
component of Linden Lab’s business model.
Every
user in Second Life is given a customized audio stream, which requires a
robust back-end infrastructure and enables features such as 3D,
“proximity-based” communication. With 96% of regions being voice-enabled
and total usage, unique users and concurrency increasing exponentially
every month, Linden Lab is constantly updating and upgrading its voice
platform to address the evolving needs of its diverse user base, the
company says.
“The
rapid adoption of voice services we’ve seen over the last 18 months
demonstrates that we have a significant opportunity to evolve our
offering while further strengthening our business model,” said Joe
Miller, VP Platform and Technology Development, Linden Lab.
Linden
Lab is also introducing a new service called AvaLine to enable Residents
to receive voice calls inworld from an outside number. AvaLine will
allow friends, customers, colleagues, and business associates connect to
the Second Life viewer via a landline, cell phone, or VoIP application.
In
addition to being the first service to monetize voice, the company says,
AvaLine marks the first time a Resident can communicate with a
non-Second Life user within Second Life. Linden Lab is launching a
beta-testing program today with the full service launching later in Q3.
Developed and launched by Linden Lab in 2003, Second Life is a leading
3D virtual world environment. It enables its users – known as Residents
– to create content, interact with others, launch businesses,
collaborate, and educate.
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