DARPA's RealWorld Winner: Not Accounting Anymore, Mildred

In the 80's, "Realworld" meant an entry-to-midlevel accounting package that was itself a derivative of MCBA software. Realworld was one of the earliest semi-cross-platform packages which made several appearances on Unix-based systems otherwise only used for scientific or engineering applications (thanks to some terrific porting by the forerunner of Acucorp). But DARPA has co-opted the term and given it a serious combat connotation. DARPA's version unites a laptop with a 3D game-based environment that is intended to make real time simulations easier to design and deploy.

That's the stated goal of a $12M contract mod to Total Immersion Software, who supplies DARPA with the core technology. According to Defense Industry Daily, the original contract was heavily competed, with over 100 proposals received for DARPA's 2005 solicitation. Total Immersion has also developed ACE, an air Combat Environment system used as a mission rehearsal system. TI claims this system allows for import of a realistic order of battle and interoperability with existing mission planning software.

This "RealWorld" sounds like a lot more fun, and the UI is, on the surface, light years ahead of the green screen era. But underneath I suspect the software challenges are more the same than different.

IBM Tivoli Promotion uses Game-based Portlet

IBM's Service Management Simulator is a Tivoli campaign, as is made clear by the URL. What is less obvious is how IBM hopes to lure new business to its legacy network management package by teaching web visitors about service management and what is in North America a lesser-known set of service practice standards-- ITIL.

Here's IBM's value proposition for taking the time to register to play the simulator:

Through the virtual simulation experience, you will gain a better understanding of the challenges facing different people in a company from the CEO to technical support, the value of processes and tools, and how various parts of the company positively and negatively impacted the hypothetical company’s performance.