How to get started in virtual-world operations

meeting space, in which you can "import" your working materials, and costs $60 per person per month for use of its hosted service.

8. Identify resources for next steps.

Second Life's Solutions Provider Directory lists companies that can help you do a small project, like integrating one of your management applications--or create an entire "island."

9. Explore alternatives to Second Life technology, e.g.:

-- Project Wonderland, a toolkit for Building 3D Virtual Worlds, sponsored by Sun Microsystems,

-- Forterra Systems Inc.'s secure dedicated On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) platform and

-- IBM's Project BlueGrass

"It's time to get involved, to get used to the issues, the programming concerns," advises Clear Ink's Nelson.

10. Be patient.

This year, virtual-world operations centers will be expensive to create and won't be provably mission-critical reliable. However, within the next year or two, "virtual world as management interface" should get closer to reality, as a) more APIs and virtual-world representations of are built, b) the client and server software gets more provably reliable, and c) client software that can provide scaled-down access for less powerful computers and for handhelds and smartphones, becomes available.