VR: Experimental network in the works

Virtual reality – the stuff of many a sci-fi cyberpunk anime. Now, if we were to tell you somebody’s working on a massive network for this tech, what would you say?

In a Thursday announcement, The Vancouver-based International Association of Virtual Reality Technologies announced that they’ve started work on a VR-based network system.

Titled Neuronet, it will operate separate from the internet, and as the IAVRT announced, “Will evolve into the world’s first public network capable of meeting the data transmission requirements of emerging cinematic and immersive virtual-reality technologies.”

The Neuronet will be released initially in 2007 as a first-generation network. It’s planned to serve as an exploratory platform for the likes of game developers interested in testing the potential of VR. In line with the technology, the group explained that one major reason for the separate network was the high speeds required to make a workable VR networks – speed not available on normal internet connections.

And while the group didn’t say who its backers were, it did give clues: “IAVRT represents the interests of individuals and organizations spanning a wide range of industries working with VR technologies, including the medical, education, entertainment/new media, software, hardware and telecommunications industries, to name a few.”

For guys interested in joining up with Neuronet, IAVRT announced that it was accepting registrations for company domain names from February 5 to June 1 next year, with the general public set for June 4.

For the GITS and Masamune Shirow fans out there – yeah, we’re wondering if Shirow-san’s vision of a fully VR internet environment may not be too far off…or what this could spell for established MMOs like World of Warcraft. What’s next: tachikomas, cyber-brains, and comatose-inducing VRMMORPG’s (Sorry, Tsukasa…)?

Via Cnet

Virtual reality – the stuff of many a sci-fi cyberpunk anime. Now, if we were to tell you somebody’s working on a massive network for this tech, what would you say?

In a Thursday announcement, The Vancouver-based International Association of Virtual Reality Technologies announced that they’ve started work on a VR-based network system.

Titled Neuronet, it will operate separate from the internet, and as the IAVRT announced, “Will evolve into the world’s first public network capable of meeting the data transmission requirements of emerging cinematic and immersive virtual-reality technologies.”

The Neuronet will be released initially in 2007 as a first-generation network. It’s planned to serve as an exploratory platform for the likes of game developers interested in testing the potential of VR. In line with the technology, the group explained that one major reason for the separate network was the high speeds required to make a workable VR networks – speed not available on normal internet connections.

And while the group didn’t say who its backers were, it did give clues: “IAVRT represents the interests of individuals and organizations spanning a wide range of industries working with VR technologies, including the medical, education, entertainment/new media, software, hardware and telecommunications industries, to name a few.”

For guys interested in joining up with Neuronet, IAVRT announced that it was accepting registrations for company domain names from February 5 to June 1 next year, with the general public set for June 4.

For the GITS and Masamune Shirow fans out there – yeah, we’re wondering if Shirow-san’s vision of a fully VR internet environment may not be too far off…or what this could spell for established MMOs like World of Warcraft. What’s next: tachikomas, cyber-brains, and comatose-inducing VRMMORPG’s (Sorry, Tsukasa…)?

Via Cnet