IBM BENELUX ISLAND -- The Second Life headquarters for the IBM offices of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, is the latest in the group of more than 30 regional IBM offices in SL to create a custom sim, and its turning heads.

The futuristic "Jetsons" style IBM Benelux Island was built by designer Dalian Hansen, creative director of Tretiak Media, and freelance contractor.

"We wanted to craft an entire environment for work and play," Hansen said. "The sim is part of the IBM business, but we felt it needed the social component of being fun and entertaining."

The build is noted for its consistency in theme and color. "The majority of developers believe SL needs to mirror RL so people have some connection. I agree to a point, but think people yearn for imaginative environments," Hansen said. "So our design for the sim is based on the principles of RL architecture, but with the flexibility of the SL environment. People hover at meetings and fly around instead of walking, so we understand user habits and traffic patterns in SL and applied it to our build. That is why the island is not just one building on a flat square of land, but a collection of layers that allow for exploration."

Hansen, a photographer and creative director in real life, designs a sim like an architect. He draws up a blueprint, then builds 1/10 sized models before building the real thing. The model for this project used almost 4000 prims while the actual sim used more than 6000.

IBM Benelux island will also accommodate trade shows. The Virtual Worlds lead for Benelux, Haja Mimistrobell, explains, "We will use it for events. For example IBM is supporting a large innovation event in The Netherlands using our islands, make it available for support of business partners and internal events."

IBM executives believe social interaction in SL is key, that is why IBM Benelux Island is not just eye candy but a place where entertainment complements business. Hansen chose simple and clear textures and created a unified look for this sim. "IBM is supposed to be a tech leader, so why not look like it," Hansen says.

Hansen adds playful humor to his builds -- the toys he sprinkled around the sim include a submarine, scuba gear, hover car, and Jetson-like suspension bridge.

The futuristic look of the Benelux island mimics IBM's vision of the future of virtual worlds. "IBM is convinced that a 3D Internet will grow. In order to let this happen IBM is taking part in standards committees to drive to development of open standards," Mimistrobell says. "IBM sees a 'planet' vision that will make it possible to have many 3D worlds next to each other that will form together the 3D internet. Standards are required to make this vision reality. IBM is planning to play an important role in hardware, software and services for Virtual Worlds. Currently we see SL as the best virtual world to test business concepts. This explains our presence in Second Life.