Activeworlds, Inc., a provider of virtual world technology on the Internet, announced the availability of the "Active Worlds 3D Avatar and World Explorer" application, built on Facebook Platform, a platform that enables companies and developers to build applications for the Facebook website. The Embedded Virtual World control is available today for web and application developers to download free at Activeworlds website.

    Activeworlds CEO, Rick Noll stated: "Activeworlds is committed to providing a cutting edge platform that works within the framework of existing standards for Internet technologies. This new release makes 3D Internet solutions available now to the Web 2.0 community. There are tens of thousands of worlds on the Internet and now anyone with an Active Worlds can embed the experience directly in their webpage. We are building towards a future where virtual world sites will be mainstream and realistically implemented."

    "Since our Active Worlds technology continues to be standards driven, we feel this release sets a new milestone on 3D Internet implementation," said JP McCormick, chairman of Activeworlds, "The push is on for interoperability and a set of standards which will drive Virtual World technology into the future. We believe that many of these already exist. By continuing to enhance our already standards driven application we greatly increase our value to e- commerce, education, entertainment, and social networking sites, as well as our core business with Fortune 500 companies."

    IBM has developed a robust "intraverse" powered by Active Worlds that sits behind IBM's firewall. This allows employees a secure, confidential channel to collaborate, explore and extend the use of the 3D Internet and virtual environments with fellow employees and customers.

    This Facebook application uses Version 1.0 of the Active Worlds Embedded Virtual World control, providing a dramatic step forward towards interoperability of its 3D browser by bringing the online 3D experience to an entirely new level of accessibility. The Embedded Virtual World technology utilizes the functionality of Internet Explorer and ActiveX from Microsoft both of which are present on the majority of personal computers.

    Tapping into existing standards, Activeworlds provides a tool that is much in demand by webmasters and developers wishing to have a virtual world experience on their existing sites, but want to control their own servers and economy. The control also allows for distribution of the key elements of the Virtual World platform through standard webpages and Web 2.0 community sites leveraging their existing infrastructures.

    Robert Frederick, the developer of the Active Worlds Facebook application noted: "Integrating the Embedded Virtual World control was trivially easy. I saw a huge opportunity to bridge the social aspects of Facebook with the real- time interactivity and building components of the Active Worlds platform. For the first time, millions of Facebook users that install the app can interact and chat with each other, explore sweeping 3D landscapes and environments, and build their own virtual structures for others to enjoy."

 ...