VRcontext & Sensics Jointly Announce the Release of Walkinside Running on zSight Head-Mounted Display (HMD)

HOUSTON, Oct. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Brussels-based VRcontext International S.A. and Sensics, Inc. from Columbia, MD announces the release of an interface between Walkinside® virtual reality software and the Sensics zSight™ HMD.

This release is a significant milestone for major asset Oil & Gas owners, who are working under increasing regulatory and public pressures to conduct safer and more reliable operations particularly in managing their Deep Offshore production facilities.  Interacting with a photo-realistic 3D representation of their facilities via Microsoft's Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, field personnel can be trained contextually, including location awareness and inspection, maintenance and emergency procedures. This novel approach vastly improves and accelerates field operator training and delivers measurably higher retention rate than conventional methods.

The cost of the combined Walkinside/zSight training package is significantly lower than that of large CAVEs. This solution is highly portable and can be deployed for training in dedicated facilities or in the field, where the work actually gets done. Further, with Walkinside multi-avatar collaboration, multiple trainees can interact with each other, each wearing a zSight.

The powerful Walkinside® 3D visualization software facilitates access to critical enterprise asset information, such as native engineering data bases, document and maintenance management systems and applications, through an intuitive dashboard, that can be shared between users, leveraging common plant models that are automatically built from CAD data.

The zSight™ is a professional HMD with high-resolution SXGA OLED displays, comfortable and lightweight packaging, low power consumption and integrated tracker, stereo audio and microphone. It has automatic configuration that makes it a truly 'plug-and-play' professional display product. The zSight is also available with Sensics' low latency wireless for a completely untethered solution.

"The unique combination of Walkinside and Sensics HMDs paves the way to more cost-efficient, easy deployable immersive solutions to all industry segments, where on-site personnel confront complex equipments and operational decisions on a daily basis," says Francois Lagae, CEO of VRcontext.

Check the illustration of this concept on www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXlmfuMBSW0.

"We are excited by seeing VRcontext's photo-realistic models brought to life in immersive 3D using the zSight and can see how it would make a huge impact on training effectiveness," says Yuval Boger, CEO of Sensics. "With its wide field of view, integrated peripherals and bright, crisp displays, the zSight is a perfect complement to Walkinside."

About VRcontext

VRcontext International S.A. is the leading global provider of engineering and geospatial software that enables customers to visualize complex data in 3D. Over 200 businesses and governments in more than 30 countries rely on VRcontext's industry-specific software to organize vast amounts of data into understandable visual representations and actionable intelligence. For more information, visit www.vrcontext.com.

About Sensics

Sensics, Inc. offers professional head mounted displays that are panoramic, high definition and lightweight. Sensics products are used worldwide in a variety of training, research, virtual prototyping, visualization remote presence and many additional applications.

For additional information, visit www.sensics.com.

Contacts:

Marc de Buyl
VRcontext LLC, Houston
Managing Director
Mobile: 713-494-6299
Fax: 713-463-9154
[email protected]

Jason Kaplan
Sensics, Columbia, MD
Vice President Business Development
Tel: +1 443 927 9200
Fax: +1 443 927 9203
[email protected]

SOURCE VRcontext International S.A.