On the heels of its announcement to build a $360 Million USD data center, IBM has built a virtual version for Second Life. In an article by Paul McDougall at Information Week, Big Blue plans to unveil the data center on a webinar later this week. Beyond this, IBM is working to create standards for creation of objects and avatars in virtual worlds.

I didn't realize just how much IBM did in Second Life, but you'll find that they're using the technology to assist with visualizing many of the company's projects. Not only this, the company is working towards creating a viable selling process within Second Life and other virtual worlds.

The data center should be interesting to people looking to attend our Next Data Center event in Atlanta this October, as we'll talk about the greening of IT and other similar topics. But the marketing and sales ideas behind using virtual worlds might appeal more to people considering attending our New Marketing Summit. This makes two posts in one issue of the newsletter that point to where technology and marketing are crossing paths.

Find out more about IBM's plans for Second Life here.