The so-called Internet hype of the 90s had just receded when the incoming managing director, Peter Schickel, teamed with his dedicated heads of development Holger Grahn and finance Axel Koerfer founded Bitmanagement Software GmbH in Berg near Munich, in the south of Germany. Their business plan centered on selling real-time 3D client software predominantly via Internet marketing. This client software the team had developed while working with “blaxxun interactive AG”, Munich. The young company first marketed its product under the moniker BS Contact VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), subsequently revised some years later to BS Contact VRML/X3D when the VRML standard evolved into X3D (eXtensible 3D). According to a recent market survey the VRML and X3D ISO standards are the most popular formats of their type for integrated 3D application development. In just five years Bitmanagement has attained technical leadership in offering 3D software which is capable of displaying real-time, interactive 3D content over the Internet.
Vision Becomes Reality
Bitmanagement attributes its success firstly to the rapid technical progress which has occurred in the computing hardware market. Much 3D software that had its genesis in the hype of late 90s won critical recognition, but only a handful have been commercially successful to date. Up until recently consumer level computer hardware has lacked the speed, power, memory and broadband access required for adequate real-time 3D performance delivered over the Internet. Now that the situation has reversed, we see that these “cyber dreams” from the 90s have become the viable real-time 3D business applications of today. Another reason for the company's success is the ongoing and significant investment in its web 3D player BS Contact VRML/X3D. Bitmanagement today is in the position to offer a substantial portfolio of 3D software products to suit different markets. The final key to Bitmanagement's success is Peter Schickel's ability to attract and recruit an excellent team of international developers with diverse talents and content development partners from around the globe.
Bitmanagement will exhibit its extensive product portfolio, including a number of recent additions, at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference and exhibition in San Diego, California, USA, the worlds largest and most influencial trade show for computer graphics.
Virtual Realism and Performance Drives Growth
Enhancements and additions to the BS Contact platform include BS Contact Geo for the visualization of geographic data, BS Contact Mobile for utilzation on Windows Mobile devices, as well as BS Contact Stereo for the rendition of stereoscopic 3D content on a wide variety of stereo displays.
Bitmanagement also offers a range of workflow tools, which aid developers in creating content and seemlessly integrating BS Contact into custom real-time 3D applications. Using Bitmanagement’s web 3D engine developers have the creative and technical power at their fingertips that they've always dreamed about. In addition to a breadth of features, developers interactive frame rates (high performance) and photorealistic rendering. DirectX9 programmable shader support in BS Contact means that developers can achieve realistic looking water, wood, steel, skin and special visual effects. The integrated physics in BS Contact also enables realistic simulations for games and business and scientific applications.
Bitmanagement’s 3D software now supports the COLLADA format, which is becoming more recognized throughout the general 3D and games industries as a viable interchange format for digital assets. With this new addition the developer from the Starnberg Lake area opens the door to the
gigantic games market. Lastly based on customer demand, BS Contact VRML/X3D will soon support the Linux and Mac OSX operating systems, thereby encompassing users and developers of all the major computing platforms and extending its reach in the marketplace.
Real-time Rendering and Interactivity the Key Words in the 3D Industry
“We are particularly proud of the Internet-ready real-time rendering power of our 3D software.
It enables, for instance, someone on a virtual globe to fly over countries and continents, navigating their own course and altitude with complete freedom. In fact, this very scenario was proved recently as we developed an interactive 3D globe with integrated encyclopedia for one of our customers, a subsidiary of the European Bertelmann media group, Guetersloh, Germany”, explains Peter Schickel. “Many of our customers have confirmed our leadership in terms of our rendering technology”, adds the company founder. “The home ground arena of HSV (a major German soccer club), visualized with BS Contact, is another great example which clearly demonstrates our products' capability for high-permance, photorealistic rendering with real-time interactivity”.
Bitmanagement Positioning as Leading Web 3D Player
“We anticipate that business will be conducted increasingly on the internet (B2B) as will applications for consumers (B2C). The third dimension will be used for transmitting graphical information more and more with the end-user benefiting from the interactivity that real-time 3D affords”, states Schickel. He is expecting a transition from today's R&D related niche applications towards more B2C applications, and the resulting development of a mass market for real-time 3D applications.
In summary, Schickel sees Bitmanagement well positioned to tackle the upcoming challenges and opportunities of the growing web 3d market.
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