Forterra Systems, Inc. was a

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the ...

software company headquartered in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

that produced private and secure

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, alt ...

(MMOG)

virtual worlds A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

for corporate, government, defense, medical and educational clients. Forterra Systems also shared a close history with the MMOG ''

There There may refer to: * ''There'' (film), a 2009 Turkish film (Turkish title: ''Orada'') * ''There'' (virtual world) *''there'', a deictic adverb in English *''there'', an English pronoun used in phrases such as ''there is English grammar is the se ...

''. On February 1, 2010,

Science Applications International Corporation Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support. History The original SAIC was created in 196 ...

(SAIC) announced its acquisition of the company's simulation & collaboration product line, including all names, trademarks and licenses. Founded in 1998 as There, Inc., Forterra Systems built private and secure distributed virtual worlds using their OLIVE (On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment) technology platform and industry-standard PC server and client hardware. OLIVE virtual environments typically are deployed within a client's existing IT and network security systems. Optionally, OLIVE could be hosted externally by Forterra, depending upon the customer's preferences.

On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment

On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) customers rapidly generate realistic, three-dimensional virtual environments that scale from single user applications to large-scale simulated environments that support a vast number of concurrent users. The virtual worlds produced or hosted by Forterra Systems and their clients appear to function similarly to public, open-invitation MMOGs (e.g., ''

'', ''

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

'', ''

Active Worlds Active Worlds is an online virtual world, developed by ActiveWorlds Inc., a company based in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and launched on June 28, 1995. Users assign themselves a name, log into the Active Worlds universe, and explore 3D virtual wo ...

''). OLIVE environments differ from consumer-based MMOGs in that access to the virtual world is privately managed, and granted only to specific groups of users. OLIVE applications typically focus on employee or staff training, and secure collaborative business decision-making, for example, rather than focusing on entertainment or broadly-defined social networking purposes. Another difference between conventional MMO virtual environments and OLIVE environments is that real-world locations are replicated in an OLIVE virtual world, as opposed to fantasy-based worlds or hypothetical "islands". ''There'' is based on shared technology with Forterra Systems that was initially developed in conjunction with a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

project. The ''There'' service was spun off to

Makena Technologies ''There'' is a 3D online virtual world created by Will Harvey and Jeffrey Ventrella. There Inc. was founded in the spring of 1998. Closed beta began in July 2001, with various stages of beta following, and ending with an October 2003 launch date ...

in 2005. ''Theres operations remained uninterrupted during the various corporate changes. Since then, two additional instances of ''There'' have been created, both owned and administered by Makena Technologies.

References

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External links

SAIC: Products: OLIVE On-Line Interactive Virtual EnvironmentForterra Systems Inc.IEEE Spectrum article about Forterra Systems Inc.
* ttp://it.toolbox.com/blogs/future-of-work/focusing-exclusively-on-enterprise-virtual-worlds-32859 Review of Forterra OLIVE which emphasizes its enterprise collaboration focus Companies based in San Mateo, California Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Virtual avatars Virtual reality companies Virtual world communities Software companies of the United States