Several weeks after Forterra Systems reportedly laid off almost half its staff and rumors of a possible acquisition began to spread, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has revealed that it has purchased Forterra's On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) product line, including all names, trademarks, and licenses.

Neither Forterra -- formerly a spinoff of still-in-operation virtual world There.com -- or SAIC disclosed financial terms for the purchase.

OLIVE enables clients to deploy persistent and secure 3D virtual environments where users can collaborate, train, learn, and interact in real-time with avatars. The software platform supports virtual world implementations in healthcare, financial services, energy, transportation, retail, government, and higher education markets.

SAIC is a scientific, engineering, and technology applications company that works to solve problems in a variety of fields: national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. It employs some 45,000 employees and serves customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. Government civil agencies, and selected commercial markets.

Around 12 Forterra employees will jump over to SAIC and become part of the company's Analysis, Simulations, Systems Engineering & Training Business Unit led by SVP and business unit general manager Bev Seay. Those workers will continue to work on the OLIVE platform from locations in San Mateo and Orlando.

"We look forward to working with current and future OLIVE license holders to support and extend the platform," says Bev Seay. "We see virtual worlds as the direction of the future in modeling and simulation – emphasis on interpersonal interaction and collaboration enables us to take our products in new directions, and to new markets."

By Eric Caoili
February 1, 2010 04:15:00 PM PT