Silicon Graphics Inc is extending its Internet interests with an agreement with Template Graphics Software Inc, San Diego under which the two will offer commercial products designed to deliver three-dimensional graphics and virtual reality to Internet users. The companies have introduced WebSpace, a Virtual Reality Modeling Language viewer based on OpenGL and Open Inventor, which they say adds three-dimensional viewing, browsing and navigation to Internet World Wide Web browsers from the likes of Netscape Communications Inc and Spyglass Inc. Template Graphics will be providing WebSpace for all systems, including all Unix workstations, Windows and Macintosh systems. The initiative is also said to be backed by Digital Equipment Corp, Intergraph Corp, Network Computing Devices Inc, NEC Corp, 3Dlabs Ltd, Accel Graphics Inc, Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd’s Advanced Systems Inc, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the Centre for European Research into Nucleonics – CERN, and Viewpoint Datalabs. Netscape and Spyglass each signed initial agreements to take licences to WebSpace from Template. WebSpace will be available from Template within 30 days for Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems Inc and IBM Corp Unixes, and for Windows 3.1 and Windows NT 3.5 systems. WebSpace for Hewlett-Packard Co’s HP 9000 Series 700 and Power Mac will be available by summer. Supported versions are $50. 3Dlabs says its Glint graphics accelerator is the first device to be certified as supporting and fully accelerating the Internet Virtual Reality Modelling Language.
