Second life to grow behind ibm firewall
By The Nation

IBM and Linden Lab, creator of virtual world Second Life, announced the two companies are exploring the development of enterprise solutions for security-rich, custom virtual-world-creation and collaboration on the Second Life Grid platform.

The two companies will demonstrate hosting regions of the Second Life Grid behind IBM's firewall which combine the operational scale and security of IBM's BladeCentre with Second Life's content-creation tools and vibrant user community.

This marks the first time a portion of the Second Life Grid will be deployed behind a corporate firewall, with the goal of creating a solution that businesses can quickly deploy to get work done in a new way.

IBM plans to pilot a solution internally which will allow its employees to explore Second Life and cross over into IBM's behind-the-firewall world without logging off. This is similar to using the same browser to access intranet pages and Internet sites.

The aim is to allow IBM employees to access public spaces and private spaces within one Second Life client-interface while prohibiting regular users of Second Life to gain access to the portions of the Second Life Grid that are behind IBM's firewall.

"Combining IBM and Linden Lab's solutions together has the potential to make custom-created environments a viable option for enterprises," IBM Digital Convergence vice president Colin Parris said.

The Second Life Grid is a platform that enables firms to create a  virtual environment using Linden Lab's 3-D online virtual world technology.