Shengri La

Shengri La™  is the trademarked name Fashion Research Institute uses for its virtual world regions.  Currently, Fashion Research Institute maintains grid presence on four grids, including ScienceSim, the OpenSim-based grid hosted by Intel Corporation; IBM’s OpenSim-based v-Business grid, with hosting provided by SimHost; FRI’s own OpenSim-based FashionableGrid™; and regions in Second Life.

Shengri La began as a research experiment in collaborative working space, to assist with communication between Fashion Research Institute and IBM Research during this official research agreement. Fashion Research Institute is focused on the $1.7 trillion apparel industry, and the Fashion Research Institute team continues to focus its efforts heavily in areas including fashion design education, fashion merchandising and marketing, and licensing of virtual content such as avatar apparel between grids.

The Shengri La regions in ScienceSim focus on performance development and testing, with large-scale, complex regions being provided as part of Fashion Research Institute’s official research agreement with Intel Labs.  These regions generate data, which Intel engineers analyze and evaluate and use as a test case against which new developments can be tested.  In addition, these regions serve as a test site for new educational explorations into new ways to use OpenSim for educational efforts, including connecting OpenSim-based regions to the existing  web 2.0-bsaed content repositories such as Wikis.

Shengri La vBusiness is a showcase pilot for a 3-D web site using OpenSim as the platform.  The existing web 2.0 website for Fashion Research Institute has been linked into this new development to showcase its work and products in virtual worlds.

The Shengri La regions in the Fashionable Grid are regions behind our firewall where FRI’s Black Dress Design Studio is sited, and where most of the work of design and development for both real life apparel, and virtual goods avatar apparel, occur. Increasingly, Fashion Research Institute is moving its educational efforts and explorations to this grid, which will server as the backbone of the coming diaspora of content creators.

Lastly, Shengri La in Second Life is currently being used for FRI’s official Linden Labs Community Gateway; for ongoing education and courses; and for research into retail virtual good market behavior.

None of the Shengri La regions offer any sort of land rental or land usage by unrelated individuals.  The Shengri La regions are intended for business, education or research, and those individuals affiliated with the regions fall into one of these camps.

Shengri La: Where dreams come true.