U.S. employment attorney and HR consultant Dave Elchoness has launched a "virtual reality workplace" company called VRWorkplace. The company has a Boulder, CO facility, but operates out of Second Life, leasing, designing and constructing spaces for business use on the Second Life grid. VRWorkplace is also offering consulting services for businesses on virtual worlds strategies.

The company's Second Life facility currently includes office and meeting space, an amphitheater, coffee house, and, of all things, an amusement park -- everyone needs break time, one supposes.

Elchoness says he founded the company after running global IT outsourcing and noticing the challenges. He commented, "Geographically separated teams and client bases are increasingly the norm. Until now, we've used air travel, telephone, and other technologies to help us with distance. But there's nothing like virtual worlds technology to bring people together. Having a virtual workplace reduces air travel and improves workplace collaboration because virtual worlds offer one-of-a-kind shared experiences. With VRWorkplace, coworkers 10,000 physical miles apart can meet in a virtual 'hallway,' conference room or coffee shop, any time they like. It's what we call 'remote togetherness.'"