Fujitsu and CompuServe to launch animated on-line community; new Fujitsu division plays key role.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 1995--Fujitsu Limited, the $30 billion electronics giant, and CompuServe, the largest worldwide provider of consumer on-line services, today announced plans to launch an animated on-line world.

Combining the social dimension of chat services with the graphic dimension of interactive multimedia, WorldsAway will allow CompuServe members from North America, Europe, Japan and 150 countries worldwide, to meet, interact and join together to build a virtual community.

WorldsAway uses a client/server design to deliver rich graphical animation at standard modem speeds to today's installed base of personal computers. The service is in testing now and will be available in July.

Unlike traditional chat rooms, in which the communications environment disappears once users leave the room, WorldsAway will offer a permanent visual space and shared context for interaction. The objects users encounter in WorldsAway will also have value and give the world context and meaning. For example, a room with chairs, pictures and a sofa will be used as a living room with users sitting, standing and chatting with one another. Within each room, users can pick up, share and exchange objects with one another in real-time.

WorldsAway users will create and control their on-line identities -- called avatars -- and portray their real personalities or create totally unique on-line personas. Users will take part in a variety of activities including social functions, scavenger hunts, decorating their own apartment, even running their own virtual businesses. They will also be able to convey emotions through a variety of facial expressions and gestures, as well as "talk" to one another in real-time through text and "thought balloons."

"WorldsAway appeals to the adventurer in everyone," says Tony Christopher, director of marketing for Cultural Technologies. "We expect this world to be filled with unique and interesting characters and experiences -- like the real world. In essence, WorldsAway is a world where everyone can live."

The Underlying Technology

Because WorldsAway is based on a distributed, object-oriented technology, the service is scaleable so the world will grow to accommodate an increasing number of users. As the population grows, the technology allows new locales -- such as buildings, parks and forests -- to be added "on the fly" and managed across different servers. In this way, WorldsAway designers can expand the world ad infinitum to give the growing population sufficient space in which to interact. Gateways can also be created to allow users to explore different worlds.

Eventually, the technology will also be available to third parties for other entertainment and commercial applications.

"This technology will allow us to offer sophisticated multimedia services well in advance of switched broadband infrastructure," says Dana Timbrook, senior vice president of Cultural Technologies. "Interactive services and products are a natural extension of Fujitsu's strengths in computer and telecommunications technologies, and we plan to make a significant impact in the rapidly growing consumer multimedia market."

CompuServe

WorldsAway also reflects CompuServe's commitment to provide innovative entertainment products with broad market appeal to their more than 2.7 million member base, which is growing by 100,000 new members every month.

"Over the years, our member base has evolved from early adopters mainly interested in technology to people looking for business and information services," says CompuServe Executive Vice President Barry Berkov. "Now, we're adding mainstream consumers who will use on-line technology only if it's fun and easy to use. Since most of our new subscribers fall into this category, we want to provide entertaining products and services that have broad appeal, but don't require a lot of technical know-how. WorldsAway is a perfect fit."

CompuServe members will be able to access the service with a local phone call in 11,750 cities in North America, 33 cities in Europe and from 150 countries through gateway networks, CompuServe members pay a standard fee of $9.95 per month for unlimited access to 100 basic services and an additional $4.80 per hour to access CompuServe's other 2,000 extended services, including WorldsAway.

"Social Computing"

WorldsAway is a natural evolution of what is becoming known as the "social computing" phenomenon. From forums and "chat" rooms on commercial on-line services to Internet Relay Chat and newsgroups, more and more personal computer users are "logging on" to visit old friends and make new ones. Studies also show that the majority of the six million on-line consumers log-on primarily to be in touch with others through text-based chat, e-mail and bulletin boards.

Fujitsu Development Team

The WorldsAway design team is led by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer, the visionaries behind the creation of LucasFilm's Habitat in the late 1980s -- the first graphical cyber community. Fujitsu, which licensed and eventually purchased the Habitat technology from Lucas Arts and Entertainment Company, introduced "Habitat" in Japan in 1989. In 1994, Fujitsu organized a U.S.-based team of technical and creative professionals to re-engineer the original Habitat for introduction to the U.S. market -- as WorldsAway.

WorldsAway is the first product to be introduced through Fujitsu's newly formed division, Cultural Technologies, which was officially launched in August 1994. The division was formed to develop and market multimedia technologies that extend, enhance and facilitate interaction between people to promote the growth of global social computing. Fujitsu expects the division to contribute to the company's goal of achieving 20% of revenue through multimedia products and services by 1997.

CompuServe-Fujitsu Background

CompuServe and Fujitsu have been working together for nine years. In 1986, NIFTY-Serve (a joint venture between Fujitsu and Nissho Iwai) began working with CompuServe to build what is currently the largest on-line service in Japan and Korea. In 1994, Fujitsu Australia became the exclusive distributor for CompuServe services in Australia.

Founded in 1935, Fujitsu Limited is the world's second largest computer manufacturer and international leader in telecommunications, semiconductors and other electronic devices. The company offers a broad line of information processing systems, ranging from the world's fastest super computers to the smallest palmtop computers. The Fujitsu group of technology, software and services companies posted global revenues of more than $30 billion in the fiscal year ending March 1994.

Established in 1979, the CompuServe Information Service provides databases and services to meet both business and personal interests of its 2.7 million members worldwide. In addition to various entertainment services, CompuServe offers television tie-ins, news features, consumer magazines, late breaking news, weather and sports information, as well as extensive travel information, hobby-related forums and electronic shopping. For access to even more information, CompuServe offers "Internet Made Easy," a user-friendly channel into the worldwide network of computers known as the Internet.

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Note to Editors: To access WorldsAway on CompuServe, users type "GO AWAY" from the CIM software. This will bring users of CIM (WIN CIM version 1.3 or MAC CIM version 2.4.1 or higher) to the WorldsAway front page which is available today. From that menu, selected individuals who have installed WorldsAway client software will be able to enter the WorldsAway world. WorldsAway client software will be available only to selected individuals during the testing period. For information on how to join CompuServe, call 800/239-2247.

For additional information, contact: Fujitsu -- Diane Bancroft or Daphne Jackson

408/456-7940 or 408/456-7885

[e-mail] or [e-mail]

CompuServe -- Debra Young

614/538-4553

Additional information regarding the WorldsAway announcement can be obtained through Cultural Technologies' World Wide Web home page, fax, or e-mail. To obtain information through the home page, use any web browser and send to http://www.worldsaway.ossi.com. For fax delivery, please call 800/770-4869 and provide the document number below. For e-mail delivery, send a message to: worldsaway.<document number>@ossi.com and include the appropriate document number below (e.g., for the WorldsAway Announcement Summary, send email to: [e-mail]).

Document number Press material

101 WorldsAway Summary Sheet

102 WorldsAway Announcement

103 CompuServe Backgrounder 

104 WorldsAway Backgrounder

105 WorldsAway Fact Sheet

106 Fujitsu Multimedia Backgrounder

CONTACT: Fujitsu Cultural Technologies

Diane Bancroft, 408/456-7940, [e-mail]

CompuServe

Debra Young, 614/538-4553, [e-mail]