VideoPopular among scientists and engineers for collaborative design and decision-making, the technology may be overkill for a spreadsheet-weary CFO, but this same visualization-processing power is used by financial-services firms and stock exchanges. SGI's "visual area networking" technology takes this visualization one step further by allowing universal access and control of the supercomputer from any device on the network, including laptops and, in the future, even PDAs.
Another corporate adaptation of virtual-reality technology comes from a San Francisco company called Pulse, which offers "Veepers," or virtual personalities — software that brings a human element to Web sites...sort of.
The software creates a videolike three-dimensional interactive character based on a single photograph; this Veeper then becomes a customer-service rep or a corporate trainer, or plays some other role depending on the mission of the Web site. The software was initially used to bring animated versions of cartoon characters and celebrities like Jay Leno, Kermit the Frog, and Britney Spears to life on TV network Web sites. That proved a finite market, but the company saw plenty of opportunity in Corporate America.
Pulse has signed deals with IBM and Microsoft, which apparently see great potential in bringing an "emotive interface" to Web-site design. Anything that usurps the "smiley" has to be counted as a good thing.
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