Fashion Research Institute, headquartered in New York, NY, conductsresearch into technology-based initiatives and develops emergingtechnologies to overhaul traditional fashion practices and methodologies.FRI's mission is to reduce the carbon footprint and change theenvironmental impact of the industry in ways that are sustainable,replicable, respectful of the practitioners, and meaningful for allstakeholders. FRI maintains Shengri-La, a five-island complex in SecondLife, and an OpenSim complex.

"We're proud to pioneer the first big business solution that leverages theOpenSim virtual world platform to address economies of scale," said ShenleiWinkler, FRI. "The Fashion Research Institute understands how to designreal world consumer goods using a virtual world environment, and IBMunderstands the scaling challenges of global enterprise. Taking on bothsimultaneously is a winning move."

This virtual world enterprise solution, expressly created as a productdesign environment, will offer a fundamentally new work flow addressingcritical issues facing the design industry, such as ensuringmanufacturability of designs and decreasing substantial sample costs bytwo-thirds. Users of this solution will ultimately be able to enter avirtual world, receive training on the systems, and take a design fromconcept to prototype -- with every step short of actual manufacturing beingdone virtually.

This first-of-a-kind system will allow fashion and consumer packagingdesigners to access and use 3-D tools with the Second Life clientinterface. In addition it will also connect to the OpenSim virtual worldplatform to create packaging and fashion products, provide efficientworkflow queues, and allow groups with an interest in the product tocollaborate and modify designs. The program will also generate virtualproduct samples and accurate factory specifications that enable highquality product mass-manufacturing in the real world.

FRI will offer an IBM-backed and co-developed enterprise solution providinga simpler and more intuitive user interface than currently existingdesign-industry-oriented software including scalability for businesses ofall sizes. Users of the IBM-built technology could see product samplecreation costs and time to market decrease dramatically.

The initial proof-of-concept solution expected to go live in 2H09 will bepiloted with up to 20 international design houses. Ultimately thissolution will be offered as a design service or enterprise installation, tocreative industry design houses of all sizes globally.

"As the Fashion Research Institute continues to enhance the IT capabilitiesof the fashion and consumer packaged goods industries, IBM's deep knowledgein product design, enterprise systems, and virtual worlds will help FRIbring new market opportunities to the fashion world," said Jeffrey Russell,IBM Global Business Services. "A design house implementing this solutioncould reduce dozens of weeks of design time, minimize the number ofphysical samples manufactured, and increase product manufacturing qualityenough to put into development and production many additional collections."

The initial agreement was signed in March 2008 but was expanded in August2008 to include consumer package design.

About the Fashion Research Institute

Fashion Research Institute conducts research into technology-basedinitiatives and develops emerging technologies to sweepingly overhaultraditional fashion industry practices and methodologies. FRI's mission isto reduce the carbon footprint and change the environmental impact of theindustry in ways that are sustainable, replicable, respectful of thepractitioners, and meaningful for all stakeholders. FRI maintainsShengri-La, a five-island complex in Second Life, and an OpenSim complex.FRI is an IBM business partner, and has been working closely with top IBMarchitects and researchers over the last year to develop itsvirtual-worlds-based product design solution.

About IBM

For more information, visit www.ibm.com.

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Media Contacts:IBM ContactPasha Ray DahnckeIBM Communications914-766-2176646-342-4013 (mobile)bipasha@us.ibm.comFashion Research InstituteKaren Ann Kurlander917-604-0500