Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 8, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The so-called Internet hype of 1999 to 2001 had just blown over when the future managing director Peter Schickel, in July 2002 with his later head developer Holger Grahn and his commercial director Axel Koerfer, founded “Bitmanagement Software GmbH” in Berg am Starnberger See. The business basis was 3D client software that the team had developed at blaxxun interacive AG, Munich, and a business model that relied entirely on the Internet.
Bitmanagement marketed the software under the name “BS Contact”; and because it supports the 3D ISO standard with the addition VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), later also X3D, the further development of VRML. This 3D standard is – far ahead of all proprietary formats – the best known and most widely used worldwide. Altogether, after only five years Bitmanagement has succeeded in becoming the technologically leading provider of 3D software that displays images and 3D content in real time, can be used interactively and is designed for the Internet. Bitmanagement has thus also been able to set new international standards in the field of three-dimensional visualization.
Bitmanagement owes its success firstly to technical progress in the electronics sector. The many ideas from the years 1999 to 2001 – as good as they may have been – were for the most part not yet feasible. The PCs did not have the “power” of today, the Internet had too little broadband and distribution, and storage media were still far removed from their current capacity because of the higher price per bit at the time. The ideas of the past are the applications of today. Secondly, the success is based on Bitmanagement’s extensive investments over the past 5 years in their Web 3D player “BS Contact VRML/X3D”. Today the company can offer an extensive portfolio of different 3D products. And finally – success factor three – Schickel succeeded in recruiting a highly professional team of international developers and content partners for the company. Bitmanagement is again showing its expanded portfolio and customer applications this year at Siggraph, the world largest graphics trade fair, 2007 in San Diego, in the state of California, USA.
The extensions to the basic software “BS Contact” include the software components “BS Contact Geo”, which visualizes applications based on geoinformation data, “BS Contact Mobile” for mobile applications on a mobile phone or minilaptop, or “BS Contact Stereo” for the stereoscopic visualization of 3D content. The portfolio was expanded and rounded out with additional tools that support the workflow through to the implementation of Bitmanagement software in customer applications. Nearly all important functions that a developer wants for his 3D visualization can now be realized with this software. The claims “photorealistic” and “interactive” are at the forefront: Virtual images look as though photographed, walls collapse as in reality, and surfaces exhibit the structures of wood, metal, or water.
Currently the Bitmanagment 3D software now also supports the increasingly prevalent game format “Collada”, giving the developers from Berg access to the billion-dollar “Games Market”. In addition, BS Contact VRML/X3D will shortly also support the open Linux operating system as well as the Apple operating system MAC OS for Macintosh computers, rounding out the potential customer base for Bitmanagement.
Real-time – Rendering and Interactivity are Key Words in the 3D Industry
“What we are particularly proud of is the Internet-capable real-time rendering of our software. This makes it possible, in the best playback quality, for example to fly over the globe across countries and continents. In doing so, the user controls his course himself, determines when he zooms himself and where to Earth. We have also not failed to provide proof, because for a subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Group, Gütersloh, we developed an interactive 3D animated world atlas as a globe and handed it over to the customer”, Schickel explains. “Many customers confirm to us time and again that we are leaders with our rendering technology”, the company founder adds. Another example demonstrating photorealistic playback and interactive experience of 3D content is said to be the HSV Arena developed with Bitmanagement software.
International Orientation
From the beginning, the business objective was geared toward internationality. Thus the compa-ny sells software licenses not only to most European countries, but above all also to the USA, Asia – first and foremost China and Australia. At the same time, Peter Schickel is a member of the Board of Directors of the Web3D Consortium in the USA, the standardization body for ISO-based 3D software. Here Schickel performs standardization tasks and at the same time is committed to spreading stereoscopic playback of 3D content. The technology of autostereoscopic displays will be the next development step in the 3D field, according to Schickel. He even already sees an imminent market breakthrough here. With his 3D software “BS Contact Stereo”, he is well prepared for this special market, Peter Schickel explains.
Bitmanagement Positions Itself as a Leading Web3D Player
“We assume that business processes will increasingly be handled over the Internet (b2b) and consumer applications will increasingly move onto the Internet (b2c). The third dimension will increasingly be used for the transmission of graphically prepared information, with the user being offered interaction possibilities for the applications”, Schickel explains. He is also convinced that applications for the b2c market will increasingly emerge from today’s niche of rather R&D- heavy applications and thus reach the mass market. Bitmanagement sees itself as well equipped overall for the growing Web3D market.
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