It's not a joke of April Fool's Day!!

3Di, Inc. Launches "3Di IMMERSIVE SEMINAR" Service for Holding Avatar-based Seminar Events, Opening Today

3Di, Inc., which develops and offers 3D Internet solutions (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Satoshi Koike; hereinafter referred to as 3Di), announces today the opening of "3Di Immersive Seminar" (*1), a next-generation online seminar service utilizing avatars and 3D virtual worlds.

The service makes it possible to hold seminars by using a virtual 3D assembly hall that is integrated into a web site. By using avatars, both lecturers and audience participants log in to the same shared 3D space and can take advantage of two-way communications by using features such as chat or gestures. These two-way communications features serve to increase the sense of participation and can liven up seminar events that might otherwise turn into mere one-way communication. Furthermore, compared with traditional seminars, the service can contribute to reductions in cost, such as for equipment facilities or transportation expenses, and reductions in transportation-related CO2 emissions.

3Di previously opened the service as a beta program in January this year. Already, diverse enterprises have made use of the service: for new graduate recruiting, business seminars, and celebrity talk shows, to name a few areas. Specific examples include the following.

• Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co.: "Next-Generation Services Joint-Development Forum: 3D Virtual Seminar"
• Jobweb, Inc.:"Commemorating the Publication of 'Abolish '- Sato Koji's Online Course"
• Tepco Systems Corporation:"Optimizing Summarized Aggregation Tasks in Excel"
• Rendai International, Inc.: "Ways of Using Date Courses and Restaurants in Tokyo"
• Shanon, Inc.: "Introduction to and Latest Trends in Seminar Marketing"
• Sindbad International Co.: "Company Information Session, via Remote"
• G & R, Inc.: "Discussion on Junichi Yaoi's UFOs"
• Microwave: "Career Open House for 2011 New Graduates Aiming To Begin Work in April"
• Actual Brain Corporation: "Important Announcement from the President of Nandenkanden for the Year of the Tiger"
• Rheos Capital Works, Inc.: "Hints to Raise One's Body Temperature"

3Di conducted a survey of the enterprises and audience participants that took part in the beta program and improved the service’s features based on the extensive feedback received, resulting in the current service offering. Among the feedback from the survey participants, particularly valued were the sense of “presence” evoked by the avatar and 3D space, and the “ease of speech” brought about by the effectiveness of having a persona.

Comments from companies that used the service

■Company A, which conducted a business seminar

"We were able to hold a seminar that integrated the benefits of both net life and real life. Not only does the service enable anonymous attendance from any location, but also the mutual exchange of dialogue among avatars creates an appeal that approaches that of face-to-face meetings. Furthermore, because the service is web-based, it seems well-poised to become a valid way of reaching out to the visitors of a web page.”

■Company B, which held a career open house for new graduates

"We felt that a deepened understanding of our company was made possible by means of the shared simultaneous experience. We believe that this can help decrease hiring mismatches that might be only discovered after entry to the company, and that it is also related to the company’s brand effectiveness as brought about by creating fans of our company. The students, using avatars to participate, were not overly self-conscious about the presence of recruiters or other students, but instead seemed to be able to participate in a relaxed manner.”

For more information about the 3Di Immersive Seminar service, please see the service's web site.

3Di Immersive Seminar (Japanese only)
http://seminar.3di.biz/

Using 3Di Immersive Seminar, Image 1

Using 3Di Immersive Seminar, Image 2

[Glossary]

(*1) 3Di Immersive Seminar – A SaaS service based on 3Di OpenSim, the server software developed and offered by 3Di for the construction of original 3D virtual worlds.

■Company Information

Company Name: 3Di, Inc.

President & CEO: Satoshi Koike

Major Shareholders: ngi group, inc. (60%), NTT Investment Partners Fund, L.P. (40%)

Paid in Capital: 444,497,500 JPY

Address: Fuji Building 37 4F, 1-18-3 Dougenzaka, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo 150-0043, Japan

Website : http://3di.biz/en/

Press release on April 1, it's mistaken for a joke!