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New Business Horizons is launching a virtual business park, Blue Horizon, to help companies market goods and services within the fast-growing and potentially lucrative Second Life internet community and take advantage of opportunities arising from this popular 3D virtual world.
Second Life has been built and owned by its residents, who have visible ‘in world’ identities or ‘avatars’. Launched in 2001, the world now has more than six million registered users, and is projected to have 25 million users by 2008. According to a recent study by ComScore*, the popularity of Second Life continues to rocket, especially in Europe, with 61% of its active residents being European in May 2007, compared to 16% from the US and 13% from Asia Pacific.
The community has its own economy in which users can buy and sell services and virtual goods that they make, but with the added dimension that benefits and profits in the virtual world can be translated into real world currency. In 2006, businesses such as Adidas, Dell Computers, Calvin Klein and Warner Brothers began moving into Second Life to exploit its marketing potential.
Alan Haymes, co-founder and chief executive of New Business Horizons, explains that firms operating on the Blue Horizon Business Park can cut the far greater cost of commissioning a private site from an expensive design studio, while also avoiding the time consuming and costly learning curve of going it alone.
“By bringing companies together, the development costs are reduced to around 10% of what it can cost to go solo,” says Mr Haymes. “A company could spend more than £40,000 ($80,000) having an online replica of its head office built by a design firm, but we can do it for a fraction of that cost.”
The Blue Horizon Business Park has been designed by Haymes’s partner, Serge Veillet from Valenkov Studios, a 3D and interactive media designer with over 15 years experience. “Companies occupying the Blue Horizon Business Park will have fully furnished offices, and can use the conference centre for demonstrations, product launches and PowerPoint presentations,” says Mr Haymes, whose in-world avatar is ‘Doctor Hickman’.
“Full-time staff provide concierge and maintenance support within the virtual business park 24 hours a day, and a marketer advises companies on how to best use their Second Life presence to increase profits in the real world. We have also built social areas including a club, beach and park where clients can meet each other, share experiences and build relationships.”
He adds: “The Second Life software is free as a download from secondlife.com. So, with a broadband connection, users can host virtual staff or customer meetings. There are no video conferencing costs, and the meeting is accessible from anywhere in the world.”
Thousands of businesses and other organisations are recognising Second Life’s potential for brand development, online sales, recruitment and communication purposes. More than 200 US universities and colleges and 72 universities worldwide use it to deliver course content to students; charities use it for fundraising; and politicians such as Hillary Clinton and John Edwards take the opportunity to go canvassing.
Linden Labs, the US company behind Second Life, is committed to the UK market, and is opening an office in Brighton to provide support.
Several firms have already taken out office space in the Blue Horizon Business Park, the Second Life location of which is Blue Horizon/128/128/47.
These include the US law firm, Plachta Law Office, which believes Second Life’s anonymity will encourage residents to approach it ‘in-world’ for initial consultations on legal matters, while ‘real world’ clients from around the country will be saved the expense of traveling to physical meetings. London-based Phoenix Film and Television, another resident of the Blue Horizon Business Park, will promote its corporate video service and sell its DVD range via website links.
Sam Palmisano, chief executive officer of IBM, has warned people not to “get hung up on how frivolous some of its initial uses may seem.” Mr Palmisano believes Second Life® to be “the next phase of the internet’s evolution”, with “the same level of impact” as the first web explosion.
New Business Horizons is a new company formed to educate and assist other businesses in marketing their goods and services within the Second Life virtual world. The company was launched by London-based Alan Haymes in 2007, and will open its virtual Blue Horizon Business Park within the Second Life at noon on Saturday, May 12, 2007.
Gartner Report
Gartner carried out an influential review of Second Life and its application to business. Its summary by Robert Jaques of Vnunet.com on 26 Apr 2007 observes:
• "Experts predict that 80% of active web users and Fortune 500 enterprises will have a virtual "second life" by the end of 2011".
• "Enterprises cannot afford to ignore virtual worlds but most should limit financial investments until the environments stabilise and mature."
• "The collaborative and community-related aspects of these environments will dominate in the future".
• "the majority of active internet users and major enterprises will find value in participating in this area in the coming years."
• "Gartner recommends that enterprises should view virtual worlds as a "long haul" experiment. They should not plan large projects, and should look for community benefits rather than commerce."
• "Despite the concerns within companies, do not ignore this trend. It will have a significant impact on your enterprise during the next five years."
* ComScore
Note to editors: Second Life® and Linden Lab® are registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.
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alan[.]nbhorizons.com 
