IEEE Spectrum, the monthly magazine published by the IEEE tech and business organization, has identified several projects in its annual "best and worst of global technology" issue, and Forterra Systems' OLIVE virtual worlds software platform made the 'best of' list, along with IBM’s new chipmaking process and Sprint’s Xohm high-speed wireless broadband data network.

Glenn Zorpette, executive editor of the magazine, explained, “To pick the winning and losing projects, we considered the feasibility of the goals described by the project leaders themselves. We analyzed these goals in light of technical and technology-related factors: regulation; competition; relevant technology and market trends, and more. Forterra should be very pleased with this endorsement of their transformative technology by our editors.”

Forterra’s OLIVE™ (On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment) software platform lets end users develop 3D environments that can be navigated with a keyboard and mouse. Previously, the Serious Games Institute and the Defense Department’s Joint Advanced Distributed Learning announced they were using the OLIVE platform.

Added Forterra CEO David Rolston, "We agree 2008 will be an inflection point in our industry as more proof points are published about enterprise business processes being transformed by 3D applications. We will be making exciting announcements this year about customers using virtual applications for new forms of training and collaboration. Fundamentally, we are addressing how enterprises and their extended ecosystems can work more productively and effectively by operating virtually. Within 3 to 5 years we envision the typical business worker spending large portions of their day in immersive 3D environments.”