3D Internet companies from Oulu, Finland and the University of Oulu’s Center for Internet Excellence (CIE) have been chosen to participate in the FI-WARE EU-project, which is contributing to building the Core Platform of the Future Internet. The platform will increase the global competitiveness of the European ICT economy by introducing an innovative infrastructure for the cost-effective creation and delivery of versatile digital services.
The FI-WARE funding for CIE and Oulu based companies in this project is 3,4 M€. The four-year-long FI-WARE project includes 46 companies and research institutes from 12 EU countries, with a total budget of over 66M€,
Partners from Oulu will contribute to the development of virtual worlds and augmented reality
CIE’s role in the project will focus on research and standardisation of web interfaces supporting virtual worlds and augmented reality. The partner companies will focus on the implementation and productisation of the technology platform. The companies involved in the project are Admino Technologies, Cyberlightning, Ludocraft and Playsign.
”This project substantially expands the usage of the Oulu originated open source virtual world platform realXtend by widening its developer and user base, as well as accelerating the 3D Internet business potential. The project will contribute to the creation of dozens of new jobs in the Oulu region’s 3D Internet operators, and also create international business openings for other companies in the region.” says CTO Kari Autio, CIE.
What is 3D Internet?
3D Internet is an extension to the existing Internet bringing new content into Internet in form of three dimensional spaces/items, modelling either real life or imaginary objects. These spaces/ items form interactive three-dimensional virtual environments where users can move as avatars – if they like so. This gives applications a whole new dimension, including the three-dimensionality and the shared experience among users.
The FI-WARE project will provide an application and service platform, consisting of modular, general-purpose components. The service platform will improve the reliability and performance of Future Internet applications, open possibilities for new applications, and lower the threshold to start development of 3D Internet based products. The project results will enable the use of realXtend virtual worlds via an ordinary web browser. It is expected that the project will have a substantial positive impact to the development and launch of new services exploiting the possibilities of interactive three-dimensional services.
The project deliverables are open source and the specifications created by the project will contribute to the Future Internet standardisation work. The developed technology platform will be a freely usable part of the standardised Internet layer.
The FI-WARE project is a cornerstone in the Future Internet Public Private Partnership (FI-PPP) program for Internet-enabled innovation. FI-PPP is a common effort of the European community and industries, with a total investment of 600 M€. FI-PPP will accelerate the development and adoption of Future Internet technologies in Europe, advance the European market for smart infrastructures, and increase the effectiveness of internet based business processes.
For more information:
Kari Autio, CTO, Center for Internet Excellence, University of Oulu, +358 40 167 6545
Tommi Hollström, MD, Admino Technologies, +358 40 747 8886
Jarkko Vatjus-Anttila, CTO, Cyberlightning, +358 40 524 5142
Tony Manninen, MD, Ludocraft, +358 40 715 7495
Toni Alatalo, CTO, Playsign, +358 40 719 8759