Increasingly, virtual online worlds are no longer the stuff of video games but are fast becoming a tool of the corporate world.
Few Pennsylvania companies knows that better than ProtonMedia, a Lansdale-based firm that specializes in creating online virtual environments for companies to hold meetings, conduct training and collaborate on projects.
Founded in 1999, ProtonMedia's flagship product is ProtoSphere, a suite of communications and social networking tools designed to overcome linear communications and create a networked, learning organization.
The software is versatile and interactive: employees in training can meet in 3D virtual classrooms using avatars that they customize, workgroups can share documents and programs with each other in real time over secure channels.
With a client list that includes heavyweights like Merck, BP, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson, Comcast and GlaxoSmithKline, ProtonMedia appears to have struck a nerve with companies looking to increase efficiency, reduce travel costs and environmental impact.