FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For press information, contact: To join the VRMLConsortium, contact:
Josephine Mong Deepak Kamlani
Horizon Communications Interprise Ventures
408-969-4888 x103 510-277-8110
jmong@horizonpr.com dkamlani@inventures.com
http://www.horizonpr.com http://www.vrml.org
VRML Consortium Charts Roadmap for VRML Standard
Consortium forms Executive Committee to lead VRML
marketing and specification strategies
San Ramon, CA - March 12, 1998 - The VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling
Language) Consortium today revealed a technology roadmap for the VRML
specification designed to drive the continued growth of 3D on the Internet.
The Consortium has also elected a new Executive Committee which will form
Task Groups within the Consortium to lead the marketing and specification
initiatives outlined in the roadmap.
Core roadmap issues that will be addressed by Consortium Task Groups include:
* Use of VRML as a lightweight, integrated media format for page animation
* Improved download time for VRML files via compression and streaming
* Interoperability of VRML content between popular clients and between
clients and authoring tools
* Use of VRML in enterprise computing and database applications.
These issues reflect the changing industry perspective on VRML. In the
past, VRML was perceived solely as a way to deploy immersive 3D worlds on
the Web. Today, VRML is being used for a much wider variety of applications
that are designed to suit a range of client bandwidths.
The Consortium Task Groups will be led by the Executive Committee, which
will coordinate the participation of the Consortium membership. The six
members of the committee, elected from the Consortium Board of Directors,
are:
* Neil Trevett of 3Dlabs, President
* Tony Parisi of Intervista Software, Executive Vice President
* Don Brutzman of Naval Postgraduate School, Vice President of Technology
* David Frerichs of Cosmo Software, Vice President of Marketing
* Rick Rafey of Oracle Corporation, Treasurer
* Deepak Kamlani of Interprise Ventures, Secretary.
"Gratuitous 3D demos are dead," said David Frerichs, vice president of
marketing of the VRML Consortium. "The growing momentum of VRML has led to
an explosion of applications throughout the Web in advertising, page
animation, online gaming, education and enterprise computing. No other Web
media technology has that kind of versatility."
"This is an exciting time to be a part of the Consortium and the 3D
industry," said Neil Trevett, president of the VRML Consortium. "A growing
number of real applications for 3D on the Web are being deployed, and the
Consortium has organized itself for proactive industry leadership to ensure
VRML continues to meet the needs of the market."
VRML Consortium Information
The VRML Consortium is a rapidly growing non-profit organization with a
mandate to develop and promote VRML as the open, ubiquitous standard for 3D
content on the Web. The Consortium successfully gained approval for VRML 97
as International Standard ISO/IEC 14772 in December 1997.
The Consortium is comprised of 65 leading organizations including charter
members such as 3Dlabs, Apple Computer, Cosmo Software (a Silicon Graphics
company), Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, Intervista Software, Microsoft, Mitsubishi
Electric Research Labs, Oracle Corporation, Platinum Technology, S3,
Samsung Electronics, Sony, Superscape, and Template Graphics Software. VRML
Consortium members provide technical and marketing expertise for the
continued evolution of the VRML standard while gaining early access to
ongoing technology and commercial opportunities.
For more information on the VRML standard and on joining the Consortium,
visit the Consortium Web site at (http://www.vrml.org.)
