Rustic Canyon

Intel Capital and Rustic Canyon Ventures contribute second round of capital to support InSync's continued growth.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- InSync Software, Inc., provider of the fabric for the world's leading RFID, GPS and sensor-driven line-of-business software applications, announced today that the company has closed $4.7 million in Series B funding. The latest investment round was led by existing investors Intel Capital and Rustic Canyon Ventures, along with participation by strategic individual investors.

The funding comes as InSync experiences increasing momentum and growth in its business. In 2009 alone, InSync has doubled its customer and partner base and completed major deployments of its award-winning iApp platform and Applications by market-leading companies such as Dole Foods, Bayer, SonicWall and others. Additionally, InSync has been rapidly expanding its global presence with customer wins in Asia, the Middle East, Canada and elsewhere. Much of this activity has been recognized by the marketplace, as InSync's products have increasingly garnered the attention of customers, partners and industry analysts alike in 2008 and 2009 - culminating in numerous product and company awards from organizations including NSF International (for Food Safety), Managing Automation (for Food Safety and Yard Management), Supply and Demand Chain Executive (for Supply Chain), Inbound Logistics (for Logistics) and others.

InSync has developed a strong partner network comprised of industry-leading hardware providers, systems integrators and technology companies such as IBM, IDENTEC Solutions, Intermec, Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Honeywell and Mojix.

InSync has also established itself as a leader in innovative application delivery models as the only automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) Software Company to offer its platform and application products as both a hosted, on-demand model (SaaS) and a traditional licensed model. Part of InSync's OnDemand offering includes access to the iApp Solutions Gallery - a collection of rich line-of-business application templates that enable partners and end-users to jumpstart application development and deployment. This infrastructure and flexibility allows InSync to cost-effectively and rapidly deliver its products to customers, and in the model of their choice.

"This funding is a significant milestone for InSync," says Ashish Chona, CEO and co-founder of InSync. "The investment comes at a crucial time, as momentum is increasing and the AIDC and RFID applications market is starting to mature. Our software solution is being deployed worldwide through our outstanding partner network, and we are seeing strong levels of interest and demand for both our platform and solution products."

"This investment helps to secure InSync's place as a leader in this industry," says Ravi Panja, CTO and co-founder of InSync. "We are the only company capable of offering these solutions as an on-demand service model, which resonates well with cost-minded managers in today's economy. The additional capital puts us in an excellent position for extended growth and success."

About InSync Software, Inc.

InSync Software, Inc. provides the fabric for the world's leading RFID, GPS and sensor-driven line of business software applications. InSync's renowned iApp Platform and iApp Solution Templates allow customers to rapidly develop and deploy applications to locate and track assets, improve operational efficiencies and manage risks. InSync's software combines sensory data and enterprise information (via ERP, WMS, etc.) to actively manage assets regardless of their location. InSync is headquartered in San Jose, CA, with offices in India and Asia.


SOURCE InSync Software, Inc.

Serious Materials Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., was recognized in this category for its EcoRock drywall substitute, which is made with recycled material and, the company says, requires 80% less energy to make and produces 80% less carbon dioxide than standard gypsum-based drywall. EcoRock, which is also termite- and mold-resistant, will be priced to compete with premium drywall products. Serious Materials has been selling limited test quantities of the product to a few contractors since early this year and plans to expand production and distribution over the next two years.

Though some judges wondered if a relatively high price would limit how widely the product is used, it is a "novel solution to a basic problem that has enormous impact," says Darlene Solomon, chief technology officer of Agilent Technologies and an Innovation Awards judge.

9/23/2009 – Serious Materials Inc. raised $60 million in a Series C round to further build up its green construction supply business, which it says is prospering while traditional construction-supply companies continue to suffer.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company actually bought two manufacturing facilities from bankrupt window makers and renovated them to create energy-efficient window plants. It then hired back a total of 70 laid-off workers between these plants in Chicago and Pennsylvania.

"We're growing really, really fast right now," said Sandra Vaughan, Serious Materials chief marketing officer, in an interview with Clean Technology Insight. "A lot of other folks in the building materials space are struggling with challenges, we feel fortunate we're on an aggressive track."

She said she couldn't disclose specific sales figures, but that the company has grown from 125 employees last year to 250 now. The company has five plants in total, all in the U.S.

Vaughan said that the company would use the $60 million to expand the company's market share and develop new products.

The round was led by Mesirow Financial, a diversified financial services firm in Chicago. Additional new investors included Enertech Capital, Cheyenne Capital Corp., and Saints Capital. Previous investors participating in the round included New Enterprise Associates, Foundation Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners, Navitas Capital and Staenberg Ventures.

Serious Materials focuses largely on highly energy efficient windows, but also makes environmentally friendly drywall and other products.

Vaughan said that government stimulus money focuses a lot of attention on energy efficiency and is helping create demand for products such as those made by Serious Materials. But even after that pile of money runs dry in a few years, she said there is a business case to be made for her company's products as payback times on the company's energy-efficiency products can be as little as two years.

"We are selling the fact that we are saving people money," she said.

New Enterprise Associates and Foundation Capital led a $50 million Series B investment in the company in late 2007, with participation from Rustic Canyon Partners, Navitas Capital, and Staenberg. Rustic Canyon raised $5 million for Serious Materials in an A Round in August 2006. Angel investors backed the company before its Series A round.

New York City, NY — August 24, 2009 — Live Gamer (www.livegamer.com), the global leader of total commerce solutions for micro-transaction-based businesses spanning online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Twofish (www.twofish.com), the premier provider of virtual economy data solutions for casual gaming and social application developers.

The Twofish acquisition accelerates Live Gamer’s recent strategic initiatives over recent months. In conjunction with the recent acquisition of N-Cash, the combination of Live Gamer and Twofish creates the first truly global, end-to-end solution for the micro-transaction industry. Publishers can now turn to one partner – instead of many – for the entire spectrum of micro-transaction and in-game economy features.

Through the acquisition, Live Gamer adds Twofish’s powerful virtual economy data platform and focus on post-purchase intelligence to its Total Commerce Solution. Twofish’s core product, Twofish Elements, combines the deepest currency, inventory, and account data available, with an unparalleled ability to test and optimize retail pricing, economic policies, and in-game content. Twofish’s EasyElements application toolkit makes the most popular Elements features even simpler to implement, so that setting up a virtual marketplace take just a few hours, instead of days.

“With the microtransaction business model taking off rapidly in North America and Europe, our Publishing partners are increasingly looking for highly sophisticated technologies to manage and build their businesses. Twofish’s technology has set the gold standard for in-game virtual economy management and analytics,” said Mitch Davis, CEO and Chairman of Live Gamer. “Combining their engineering talent with our proven transaction platform, fraud management, large-scale publisher support, and international payment gateways provides an end-to-end commerce solution that goes beyond monetization to drive core business metrics.”

“This acquisition caps six months of explosive growth for Twofish,” said Lisa Rutherford, President of Twofish, “Virtual economies have become a driving force in social and casual gaming, and now we’re delighted to be joining the Live Gamer family to deliver best-in-class technology for our partners.”

The combined company has over 70 live customers handling over 3 million transactions per month. Live Gamer is already integrating the technologies to enhance the services for partners, and Davis expects to roll out new initiatives in the coming months.

In addition, two current Twofish Board members, Michael Kim from Rustic Canyon Ventures and Twofish co-founder Sean Ryan, will join the Live Gamer Board of Directors.

Live Gamer: Total Commerce Solution

Live Gamer offers publishers a seamless primary and secondary market engine leveraging a full e-commerce platform featuring virtual item SKU management; e-wallet and billing; global payment gateway integration; anti-fraud; and analytics and reporting. Handling 56M+ users in 23 countries from over 100 game integrations, this complete yet modular technology stack is one of the first market-proven total commerce solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, and allows operators the ultimate flexibility in choosing the right elements for their particular needs. Live Gamer works closely with publishers to drive ARPU and improve conversion rates while maintaining a great user experience.

About Twofish:

Twofish Elements is the only virtual economy data platform that harnesses powerful post-purchase intelligence to manage virtual economies for leading social, gaming, and entertainment experiences. The EasyElements application toolkit lets developers quickly launch a virtual economy, while still leveraging the scalability and security of the core Elements platform. Based in Palo Alto, California, Twofish is led by a team with world-class expertise in consumer Internet, electronic payments, and economic research, and is funded by Rustic Canyon, Triplepoint, and Venrock. For more information, log onto www.Twofish.com, blog.Twofish.com

About Live Gamer

Live Gamer combines leading e-commerce software with virtual economy advisory services to help online game publishers, virtual world operators, and social networks create and optimize new transaction-based revenue streams. Founded in 2007, Live Gamer began legitimizing the estimated $2 billion player-to-player market for virtual goods with its Live Gamer™ Exchange, adopted by leading game publishers including Acclaim, Funcom, GoPets, NHN USA, IAC’s InstantAction and Sony Online Entertainment, among others. With the acquisitions of Korea’s N-Cash, the world’s premiere micro-transaction platform, and U.S. based Twofish, the only virtual economy data platform that harnesses powerful post-purchase intelligence, Live Gamer now offers a total commerce solution to power any transaction-based business model. Headquartered in New York with offices in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, CA and Seoul, Korea, the company is led by pioneers in both the gaming and digital entertainment industries and is backed by $24 million in venture funding from Charles River Ventures, Kodiak Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital. For more information, visit www.livegamer.com or connect with us on Twitter (@livegamer), Facebook or MySpace.

Media Contact
Vanessa Camones, Jennifer Lankford, theMIX agency
for Live Gamer and Twofish
livegamer@themixagency.com
415 - 829- 7902

By JAMES FLANIGAN
Published: August 19, 2009


ENTREPRENEURSHIP is as vibrant as ever in the American economy, but the capital that finances new companies is still in retreat. Venture capital is running at the lowest levels in more than a decade, and angel investors, who invest in far smaller companies than venture capital funds do, are holding back, too.
The reasons for the cutbacks begin with the recession. Angel investors — typically individuals with more than $1 million who join together to back start-up companies — have seen their net worth decline. And these days, many angels find they need to offer additional support to companies they’ve backed in previous years, rather than take on new commitments.

Then too, payoffs seem farther away. “The exit strategies are more difficult, public offerings are really not available, and acquisitions of small companies by large ones are fewer these days,” said Alfred E. Osborne Jr., senior associate dean of the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a founder of its entrepreneurship program.

The clouded environment has not dampened the energy of people wanting to start a business, but it has caused some angel groups to take a look at the cost of coaching entrepreneurs and listening to their pitches. Some groups have started levying fees on entrepreneurs for guidance on finance and introductions to sources of capital.

For example, FundingPost.com, a network of venture and angel investors, holds meetings between entrepreneurs and investors, charging for the get-togethers and for prepping entrepreneurs in the art of presenting their stories to venture and angel groups.

Recently, FundingPost held its first event in Los Angeles and drew more than 100, including 16 angel and venture investors and 18 hopeful entrepreneurs, who paid $350 for a two-hour tutorial. Start-up companies that wished to make a 20-minute presentation at the meeting had to pay $2,000.

“The fees go toward salaries for the staff, legal fees, accounting, etc.,” said Joe Rubin, a director of the company, which is based in New York.

John Babcock of Rustic Canyon Partners, an early-stage venture capital company in Santa Monica, Calif., didn’t find any attractive prospects at the session and was not pleased that entrepreneurs were charged. “You shouldn’t have and don’t need to pay to talk to me,” Mr. Babcock said.

But John Stefani, chief executive of the Zipz Shoes Company in Irvine, Calif., was happy to pay $350 for the event. He met potential investors and was later contacted by two angels, including a representative of the Fat Cat Club, a group based in Dallas of 100 angels who meet quarterly to review investments in start-up firms.

Zipz Shoes got its start at a family barbecue, Mr. Stefani explained, when one mother mentioned that her children changed clothes often and wanted shoes to match their outfits. That barbecue was six years ago, and Mr. Stefani and three other family members — his father, Jerry, a retired entrepreneur in flooring and carpeting businesses; John Stefani’s brother Brian; and his sister Terri — invested $100,000 to develop interchangeable shoe tops put on by zippers so styles can be changed frequently.

“We made some mistakes along the way,” said John Stefani, “but now we have the product right, and we know it’s ready for broad commercial distribution.” The family’s investment has grown to $1.5 million, and they want to raise $1 million to $2 million more to support commercial marketing of the zippered shoes.

Maverick Angels is another group that charges for its support. John Dilts organized Maverick Angels three years ago in Westlake Village, Calif., a community straddling Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. His idea was that start-up companies would benefit from training and guidance and that angel investors would benefit from vigorous due diligence of potential investments.

Accordingly, Maverick charges entrepreneurial applicants $495 for eight-hour “boot camps” and, after some preliminary screenings, charges them another $1,000 each for introductions to the angel investors. The fees “cover expenses of 60 to 90 days of due diligence and preparation of the companies,” Mr. Dilts, a former Silicon Valley patent lawyer, explained. Maverick Angels has 25 members and is forming new chapters.

One company that received help from the Maverick model is Voice Genesis, which developed an application that allows cellphone users to check e-mail and reply by voice transmission rather than text. Voice Genesis raised $1.65 million from venture and angel investors in 2004 and 2005, according to its founder, Mark J. Marriott. He credits Mr. Dilts, who arranged angel financing, with “advice that was absolutely key to my success in raising capital.”

Still, most angel capital groups do not charge entrepreneurs sizable fees. The Angel Capital Association, which includes more than 330 groups in the United States and Canada, stipulates that fees for applicants be nominal and charges for presenting to investors be $500 or less.

The Pasadena Angels, for example, a nine-year-old group of 105 members who examine 250 applicants a year and have backed 60 companies with investments of $1 million or more, charge “no fees to entrepreneurs for applying, presenting or mentoring,” said Joe Platnick, a Pasadena Angels director. The group covers its expenses partly by charging $1,000 a year in membership dues. Pasadena Angels recently helped back Jirbo.com, a Los Angeles company that develops game applications for iPhones, with $5 million.

With or without fees, with or without the recession, angel groups continue to see a flood of entrepreneurial applicants. Maverick Angels examines 80 proposals a month. The New Vantage Group in Vienna, Va., which manages accounts for several angel funds, receives more than 100 applicants a month, closely screens eight to 10, and invests $250,000 or more in some 24 companies a year.

“Angels are a pretty select people, barely 1 percent of the investing public,” said John May, managing partner of the New Vantage Group. “They are people who invest in strangers.” This year, New Vantage’s member funds backed Latista Technologies, a maker of software programs that can constantly update blueprints on construction sites.

“We’re also seeing a new kind of applicant, distressed properties,” Mr. May said. “Companies that may have had their loan called or credit line reduced with the words ‘through no fault of your own’ are looking to angels.”

By Cary O’Reilly and Susan Decker

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device, agreed to pay $267.5 million to license Visto Corp. patents and settle all patent litigation between the companies.

Most of the payment will be recorded as an unusual item in the second quarter of fiscal 2010, Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion said in statement on its Web site. In exchange, the company gets a perpetual and fully paid license on all Visto patents, as well as a transfer of certain Visto intellectual property, it said.

Research In Motion and Visto have been battling for years, each accusing the other of infringing patents. The settlement “removes a potential overhang and could modestly lower RIM’s legal costs,” said Maynard Um, a UBS AG analyst in New York who has a “buy” rating on the shares.

Cases in San Francisco and Marshall, Texas, were put on hold last year to allow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to take a second look at the Visto and Research In Motion patents.

Visto, whose software is used by Vodafone Group Plc, Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel Corp., claimed Research In Motion was using its technology without a license. Research In Motion argued the Visto patents contain no new inventions.

Patent Violation

In May 2008, Research In Motion won a case it filed against closely held Visto in Canada. Visto, based in Redwood City, California, agreed to pay royalties after a Canadian court found the company violated Research In Motion patents.

Allen & Overy, one of Britain’s largest law firms, was criticized by a judge in December for charging fees of 5.2 million pounds ($7.8 million) in the dispute between the companies, the Financial Times reported.

The firm said it was instructed by Research In Motion to leave “no stone unturned” in the case, the FT reported.

In 2006, Research In Motion paid $612.5 million to settle a patent dispute with a closely held Virginia company and avert a shutdown of the BlackBerry service.

Research In Motion is still in a patent dispute with Motorola Inc. that began when the companies were unable to come to terms for a contract to replace one that expired in 2007. A federal magistrate judge in Dallas last month put Motorola’s infringement claims on hold because the patent office is reviewing them.

Research In Motion rose $2.08 to $72.23 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have gained 78 percent this year.

The cases are Visto Corp. v. Research In Motion, 06-cv-181 and 07-375, both U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall), and Research In Motion Ltd. v. Visto Corp., 07cv3177, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco).

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AlwaysOn (AO), open-media pioneer and creator of the AlwaysOn executive event series, today announced its coveted AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies Awards, naming audience-measurement service Quantcast the AO Global 250 overall winner. Other category winners include:

Cast Iron Systems – Cloud and Infrastructure Mint – Consumer Internet Knewton – Digital Education Twofish – Digital Media EveryZing – Enabling Tools and Devices BrightSource Energy – Greentech uTest – SaaS and Enterprise Skyhook Wireless – Wireless

The AlwaysOn Global 250 Private Companies will be honored at a reception at the AlwaysOn & Stanford Technology Ventures Program Summit at Stanford taking place on July 28-30, 2009 at Stanford University.

“We are proud to present our top honors to Quantcast after seeing the quality of their product and the scope of their business,” said Tony Perkins, founder and CEO of AlwaysOn. “Quantcast has already created one of the most widely-used audience measurement services, and is now poised to bring both breadth and granularity to the targeted advertising marketplace.”

In 2006, Quantcast arrived onto the scene offering a free service that gave Web publishers data on the type of people visiting their sites via a digital pixel it placed on these sites. The company began by measuring sites too small to be noticed by larger services such as Nielsen and comScore, but the service quickly signed up top media companies as well, including Hulu, ABC Television Group, FOX, NBC, CBS, MTV Networks, CNNMoney.com, and People.com. Quantcast now claims it is measuring more than half the top 100 ad-supported sites on the Web.

After spending quite a bit of time (and venture funding) building up its audience-measurement service, Quantcast is taking what it has gathered and applying it toward its first revenue-generating product, becoming the frontrunner in realizing the potential for advertising analytics in the digital age. The Quantcast Media Program lets its clients -- advertisers and marketers -- define their own audience, then buy it, wherever it is on the Web.

With assistance from KPMG's emerging business practice, KPMG VC Practice, hundreds of venture investors, investment bankers, and technology insiders were surveyed, and these respondents nominated more than 1,000 companies to determine the AO Global 250 winners. Companies demonstrating significant market traction and game-changing technology were selected to be part of the AO Global 250. All innovators in their given technology sectors, the AO Global 250 winners all demonstrated leadership among their peers in the following areas: innovation, market opportunity, commercialization, media buzz, and stakeholder value creation.

A full list of all the AO Global 250 winners can be found on the AlwaysOn Web site here: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/32719.

About the 2009 AlwaysOn & STVP Summit at Stanford

July 28-30, 2009 at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

The AlwaysOn & STVP Summit at Stanford is a two-and-a-half-day executive gathering that highlights the significant economic, political and commercial trends disrupting the global technology industries. The AlwaysOn & STVP Summit at Stanford features the most innovative companies, eminent technologists, influential investors and journalists in keynote presentations, panel debates and private company CEO showcases. The goal of the AlwaysOn & STVP Summit at Stanford is to identify the most promising entrepreneurial opportunities and investments in the global tech industry.

About AlwaysOn

AlwaysOn ignited the open-media revolution in early 2003 by being the first media brand to launch a global blog network (alwayson-network.com). In 2004, AlwaysOn continued to lead the media industry in innovation by introducing a social network where members can connect and engage. AlwaysOn is also applying its open-media principles to its executive event series (Summit at Stanford, OnDC, OnHollywood, OnMedia, GoingGreen East and West, and Venture Summit East and Venture Summit Silicon Valley) and quarterly print “blogozine.” These venues empower its members to post and share their ideas and meet each other online. As our loyal readers know, AlwaysOn is committed to a free-market, merit-driven approach to reporting and event programming. No other media brand has dared to create such open interaction with its readers and event participants.


Contact:

AlwaysOn List Editor
Matt Bowman
matt@alwayson-network.com
or
LEWIS PR for AlwaysOn
Emelyne Interior, 415-992-4400
stanfordsummit@lewispr.com

AdMonsters is proud to announce that Derek Dukes, CEO & Co-Founder of Dipity, will deliver the keynote session at its upcoming Publisher Forum US XXI to be held in Portland, August 16 - 19. Derek’s presentation: “Expecting The Unexpected - Ad Ops in Uncertain Times” will draw on his many years of experience and focus on innovation on the Internet and in Ad Operations. Derek will provide his unique perspective on what Ad Operations should be doing in these challenging times.

Over the past decade we’ve built, scaled and evolved our ad systems. We have integrated new technologies, sales models and ad programs. Our models for development and operational management have been built around a pace of change we know and trust. The rules of the game have changed. We’re being asked to do more with less, run fast down unfamiliar technical paths and explore new sales models that are evolving week to week.

These changes bring new questions. How do we approach the challenges of uncertain times and react quickly? How can we manage the day to day operations of  Ad Ops while at the same time serving the rapidly evolving needs of our sales and product teams? What’s the right way to structure your team and still maintain motivation and direction? How can you create a technical structure that lets you pilot new technologies in a way that scales with your existing team and infrastructure? How can you accept new sales models without bringing down the house? Derek will address these questions and help provide a map for navigating in uncertain times.

AdMonsters semi-annual US Publisher Forums bring together the leaders in online ad operations and technology to address common issues facing the industry community in a unique round-table format that focuses on the pragmatic and practical solutions that will immediately help your team’s performance. Designed exclusively for senior managers and decision makers, AdMonsters’ publisher forums are a vital tool to ensure the continued success of your team.

For more information and registeration: http://www.admonsters.org/cn/cn-us-21.php

Derek Dukes is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dipity an interactive topic search platform.  Derek is responsible for strategy for the consumer site and the  platform licensing of Dipity and day to day operations of the company.

Prior to Dipity, Derek was the VP of Products at VideoEgg and managed the deployment of their video hosting platform on social networks such as Bebo, Hi5 and AOL. He also managed the launch of VideoEgg ad network and built the sales operations teams. A 10+ year veteran of Yahoo!, Derek was the original product manager of the Yahoo! Ad System developing programs for beaconing, behavioral targeting, streaming media ad serving and measurement. He also spent 5 years working on pioneering interactive media for Yahoo! through its FinanceVision (now TechTicker) and Digital Home (now Connected Life) and holds several patents in the areas of online advertising and interactive content systems.

By Jenna Busch

Heroes of Telara is an upcoming fantasy-style MMORPG from Trion World Networks, but that's not what the developers are calling it: Company spokesman Dave Geffon told SCI FI Wire at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles Thursday that the game is a "massively social, fully dynamic server-based game." Quite a mouthful, but it really is different.

Server-based gaming takes a large percentage of a massively multiplayer online game and puts it onto the server instead of the client. What that means is that Trion can publish far more content much more easily than they could on a traditional client patch system.

If you play World of Warcraft or anything similar (and this game has the same feel), you have experienced a patch. You sign on to the game, and whatever updates or fixes are available take time to load onto your computer. And you have nothing to do but, I don't know, actually leave the house. And I say that with affection, since I'm a player.

Geffon explained that the new system means that every time you log onto the game, you'll see something new. New monsters, new quests, new items, etc. And in different places all the time.

"All this can be done because of the flexibility of server-based gaming," Geffon told us. It also allows Trion to create "hundreds and hundreds of dynamic events." They can be random or scheduled or triggered by in-game actions.

As an example, we were told, imagine you're out questing or gathering items or crafting (the game has all the traditional features of an MMO). You hear a call to arms because the city is being attacked. "There is an army marching from a nearby city," Geffon said. "You mount up. You charge back to town to see how you can help. What you'll find is tons and tons of other like-minded players coming together who want to be a hero. Who want to save the city. ... So you band together and save the city from certain destruction. This won't happen every night. There are some nights where you just want a quest ... or maybe you want to sit on the wall and watch the city burn, because sometimes watching buildings fall over in a fire is mildly entertaining."

If you're worried that it will be a mess if tons of other characters are doing the same thing as you, Geffon says not to worry. "If you're playing a traditional MMO, you're absolutely right," he said. "In a traditional MMO, the servers distribute their processing power by in-game geographical environments. ... With the Trion platform, instead of distributing our server's processing power by in-game geographical environments, we do it based on in-game systems such as A.I. or gameplay in the world. If we know we're going to have a huge event with tons of players coming together, we can actually scale all the appropriate systems to ensure that they have a great gaming experience."

Related Sections: Games  News  Opinion  Trailers  Video
E3: Could Heroes of Telara's new social gaming replace Warcraft?

Heroes of Telara is an upcoming fantasy-style MMORPG from Trion World Networks, but that's not what the developers are calling it: Company spokesman Dave Geffon told SCI FI Wire at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles Thursday that the game is a "massively social, fully dynamic server-based game." Quite a mouthful, but it really is different.

Server-based gaming takes a large percentage of a massively multiplayer online game and puts it onto the server instead of the client. What that means is that Trion can publish far more content much more easily than they could on a traditional client patch system.

If you play World of Warcraft or anything similar (and this game has the same feel), you have experienced a patch. You sign on to the game, and whatever updates or fixes are available take time to load onto your computer. And you have nothing to do but, I don't know, actually leave the house. And I say that with affection, since I'm a player.

Geffon explained that the new system means that every time you log onto the game, you'll see something new. New monsters, new quests, new items, etc. And in different places all the time.

"All this can be done because of the flexibility of server-based gaming," Geffon told us. It also allows Trion to create "hundreds and hundreds of dynamic events." They can be random or scheduled or triggered by in-game actions.

As an example, we were told, imagine you're out questing or gathering items or crafting (the game has all the traditional features of an MMO). You hear a call to arms because the city is being attacked. "There is an army marching from a nearby city," Geffon said. "You mount up. You charge back to town to see how you can help. What you'll find is tons and tons of other like-minded players coming together who want to be a hero. Who want to save the city. ... So you band together and save the city from certain destruction. This won't happen every night. There are some nights where you just want a quest ... or maybe you want to sit on the wall and watch the city burn, because sometimes watching buildings fall over in a fire is mildly entertaining."

If you're worried that it will be a mess if tons of other characters are doing the same thing as you, Geffon says not to worry. "If you're playing a traditional MMO, you're absolutely right," he said. "In a traditional MMO, the servers distribute their processing power by in-game geographical environments. ... With the Trion platform, instead of distributing our server's processing power by in-game geographical environments, we do it based on in-game systems such as A.I. or gameplay in the world. If we know we're going to have a huge event with tons of players coming together, we can actually scale all the appropriate systems to ensure that they have a great gaming experience."

We were shown a trailer that we were told is 100 percent in-game footage and some live gameplay. I'm using World of Warcraft as a reference here, but the game looks beautiful. The graphics are quite a few steps up from WoW, and everything is crystal-clear and incredibly detailed, from the armor to the texture of the buildings and the skin of the monsters.

One major issue, though. The character we saw walking through the game—how to put this nicely?—looked like she had a rash on her inner thighs or had just come back from the "Ministry of Silly Walks." It was the strangest loping gait, and it was pretty distracting. I'm hoping that will be fixed before launch. But the mount we saw her ride was really cool. You summon those just as you do in WoW.

We started in what looked like a medieval town, with a castle on the hill behind us. The NPCs in the town all had incredibly distinct faces. More so than I've ever seen in an MMO. We watched as the character joined a fight against skeleton creatures and a mini-boss outside of town. We saw her help out during a demon attack on the town.

She passed other characters from the world engaging in battle with monsters and ran to help. And she changed classes. No, I'm not kidding. In Heroes of Telara, you can change from a fighter to a mage or any of the four character classes you wish, depending on the situation, with a whole separate set of armor or robes, different items and different skills that are reflected on your action bar. Your face stays the same.

If you are a level 5 mage, and the friend that you're playing with that night happens to be a mage as well, one of you can be something different. When you change to a new class, however, you have to start back at level one and build it up separately. In addition, you have subclass "cards" that allow you to specialize with separate actions and abilities. You can switch these at any time and even loot them off enemies and take some of their power.

Geffon told us that many features were still under wraps, and I'm looking forward to future announcements. After seeing Heroes of Telara, I'm starting to think it might be possible to distract me from WoW.

Trion is also developing a science fiction MMORPG with the SCI FI Channel. It's top-secret right now, but stay tuned! Heroes of Telara's release date has not been announced.

We’ve seen much speculation in the past month about Facebook’s impending virtual currency tests. Its initial forays will be, by all accounts, relatively simple and small. But it’s the potential of “what Facebook could do” that has everyone talking. Yes, it’s cool that in the short-term, application developers will be able to use its “credits” currency to make money, and it’s nice to see Facebook making a smart business decision, but there’s a larger and more serious question:

Can Facebook introduce a universal virtual currency that makes it easier and cheaper to buy/sell virtual and real goods?

The short answer is yes.

But they’re not the only ones eyeing the market. From startups like Jambool and SpareChange to behemoths like Apple and PayPal, companies of all sizes are preparing to chase the modern alchemist’s dream of turning virtual coal into real dollars.

Virtual Currencies

For those of you reading this who aren’t sure what a virtual currency is (love you, Mom), let’s do a quick primer. In the real world, we’re used to sovereign/fiat currencies, which serve as a standard unit of account and representation of value within a given economy, facilitating all types of trade. Virtual currencies do the same thing, except that the economy is online, and they are backed by private companies (here’s a more in-depth discussion of how we define virtual currencies).

Virtual currencies have gained popularity because they reduce two major points of friction - consumer inconvenience and merchant cost. A user enjoying a social or gaming experience doesn’t want to be pulled away to enter payment info, and the seller doesn’t want to pay transaction processing fees that were scaled for more expensive purchases. As transactions have gotten smaller and more frequent, reducing friction has become a key driver for increasing overall revenue.

Enter virtual currencies, which allow customers to buy a chunk of virtual money with real world money. It’s one processing fee, and then the consumer can spend the virtual currency over time for no additional fees (essentially lowering effective transaction costs) and without leaving the application.

A universal virtual currency extends across a host of applications. Instead of each application having its own micro-economy, they puddle up onto a shared currency system. Vertical examples include Microsoft Points, SparkCash, and Hi5 Coins.

Why You Can’t Buy Lisa Dollars from Twofish

I have a pretty unique view on the space, simply because my company, Twofish, markets a virtual economy data platform that was actually built to manage and optimize exactly these types of universal currencies. Sitting here with a world-class infrastructure and watching the market evolve relatively slowly, we’ve stopped several times to (re)assess whether or not we should launch our own Twofish-branded currency.

I’m not going to lie, I really love the idea of having everyone spending Lisa Dollars all over the internet, but at the end of the day, we’ve chosen to white label for brand partners and not launch a Twofish currency for a fundamental reason: We’re a startup, and a universal currency should come from a trusted consumer brand that has the resources to promise—and provide—customer support, stability, and security, as well as the scale to attract an appropriately diverse set of economic partners.

No matter how great your technology or how much you want to be the central bank for all of the virtual coins of the world, it’s just unrealistic to think that mass consumers will be willing to entrust a significant portion of their income to a startup tech company (note that I do not consider the people who invested in Second Life’s Ginko Financial to be representatives of the mass market).

Importance of Brand and Scale

When virtual currencies were just a fanciful piece of game play, the need for that brand promise was low. But now that we’ve started thinking about universal virtual currencies that carry real world value across the Internet…well, they’ve become tangibly important, and a new level of care is expected. The brand needs to be trusted and recognized.

A large brand can also attract a more diverse and plentiful set of partners, which is important from an economic theory perspective. At the risk of glazing over some eyes, consider what’s called the Optimum Currency Area (OCA), the optimal geographic domain of either a single currency or several that are permanently pegged together. An optimal area has labor mobility, price and wage flexibility, open trade, diversification in resources/production and consumption, and fiscal integration, so that when the global economy shifts, the region has the flexibility to optimize its monetary power through different resources.

Following OCA theory, a small, land-locked country, like Luxembourg, or even Austria, doesn’t have enough flexibility to optimally support its own currency. But if you put it together with the surrounding 26 nations, take away trade barriers, and build a great rail system… well, now you understand the EU.

My point is that the same principle applies to online economies—let’s call it the Optimal Virtual Currency Area (OVCA). For a shared virtual currency to take hold and maintain its long-term stability, it needs to be accepted across multiple verticals (i.e., not just games or SNS apps), it should have open trade and dynamic pricing (so that users can buy or earn a currency in one app or platform and sell in another), and it needs to have some loose infrastructure or clearinghouse to step in and balance when needed.

So who can succeed?

Remember, were not talking about a small gaming currency here. We’re talking about the potential to create a global virtual wallet system that extends and simplifies all types of commerce.

It’s just not going to come from a startup. But there are several companies that I think could make a massive and transformational shift, though they each have very different motivations:

I don’t think Facebook sits around thinking about virtual currency domination. Rather, the mantle has been thrust on them by demand and the evolving nature of their application developers. Time will tell if they decide to embrace and run with it, but if they do, they can continue to diversify their business outside of the core social network and start leveraging the power of the transactional graph.

PayPal’s motivation should be much different. They need to think about blocking someone else from coming into their space and replacing their “e-wallet” with a “v-wallet,” which would be designed to essentially circumvent existing fee structures. PayPal used to be at the forefront of lower-friction commerce, but now they’re risking becoming one of the old boy network if they don’t innovate. If I were them, I’d start here.

Apple has the best interface (iTunes) and the most goodwill, and they’ve expertly managed expectations around their mobile micro-transactions, so that people love them even when they’re late to the game. What’s interesting about Apple is that an iPhone-friendly virtual currency can wreck the carriers, who are still charging exorbitant fees for mobile payments.

I also think that Amazon is well-positioned to outflank PayPal and start consolidating v-commerce into their existing e-commerce model. It’s also a great fit for some of their long-term ideas for the Kindle.
Then there’s that most ubiquitous web company of all… Google. Why wouldn’t they move to beat PayPal in the v-wallet space? Particularly since they are so focused on analytics and understanding massive amounts of information.

The War is Coming

All of this is not to say that there will be only one currency. There will always be places for specialized currencies, as well as tools to clear/exchange different virtual currencies.

But the domination that would come from a consumer-embraced universal virtual currency is just a massive opportunity. And while right now it’s just startups, game-centric portals, and minor social networks who are playing with shared currencies, Facebook’s impending tests are going to escalate the current skirmishes to-all out battle.

The universal currency wars are coming. It’s going to be interesting to watch.

Lisa Rutherford is President at Twofish, based in Palo Alto, California.