#metaverse software company near me

[simulanissolutions]

In this blog, we explore the dynamic world of the metaverse and how Simulanis, a prominent metaverse company, is shaping the future of business and technology. With a comprehensive metaverse business plan, immersive metaverse business meetings, and cutting-edge metaverse software, Simulanis is paving the way for companies to thrive in the virtual world. Whether you are seeking a metaverse technology company or exploring metaverse companies to invest in, Simulanis offers innovative solutions that align with the evolving demands of the digital landscape

[cryptodailysun]

With a war raging in their homeland, thousands of Ukrainians, including many involved in the crypto space, have chosen Portugal as their new home. The country is an attractive destination, not only because of its warmer climate but also its relatively affordable cost of living and crypto-friendly tax regime. Portugal Attracts Crypto Talent and Business From War-Torn Ukraine The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sent millions of refugees fleeing to other European nations and Portugal is no exception. Despite the great distance from the conflict zone, the country has already accepted 13,000 refugees in the past weeks after the authorities in Lisbon simplified the arrival procedures for Ukrainians. Those among them who had been working in Ukraine’s growing crypto industry are likely to find it easier to settle down in Portugal than in other countries on the Old Continent, BNN Bloomberg noted in a report. Much like Ukraine before the war, this EU member state is becoming a cryptocurrency hub thanks to some bitcoin-friendly policies. Portugal maintains a zero-percent levy on profits from private crypto investments. When these gains are not resulting from professional activities, they are not subject to income tax. Some foreign nationals can also benefit from a flat 20% income tax and 10% tax on pensions. The article tells the story of Valentin Sotov, a software developer working on a crypto-based metaverse game called Amber, who fled Western Ukraine with two of his colleagues. They are now hoping to continue their work from an office in Lisbon although Sotov admits it has been challenging to find permanent accommodations: You have to have a contract for a year, and you need to have a Portuguese guarantor, and you need to have a tax number and a visa. We don’t know what to do yet, we are asking our friends. Despite the difficulties, the 35-year-old Ukrainian points to the positive side of his move to Portugal. “All the people here are very open, it’s a parade of nations,” he says, adding that he looks at the relocation as a big opportunity for his company’s product because of the availability of IT expertise in the country. Maria Yarotska, another Ukrainian crypto worker escaping the war, will be able to keep her job even in Portugal as her employer, a blockchain project with a Ukrainian co-founder, Near, is expanding its business in the country while supporting refugees like her. “I have a lot of colleagues here. They’ll help me legalize my documents so I can stay,” Yarotska told the publication. Ukraine, a leader in bitcoin adoption in Eastern Europe, was becoming a crypto hotspot when Russia launched its assault. The government has been taking steps to legalize and regulate the country’s crypto space. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently signed the law “On Virtual Assets.” Amid the ongoing hostilities, Kyiv has been relying on crypto donations to fund its military defense and solve humanitarian problems. Even before the current migration, Portugal was home to a relatively sizable Ukrainian diaspora, representing the fifth-largest group of foreign nationals. With the refugees now, the number of Ukrainians residing in the country has reached around 40,000, which is already the nation’s third-largest group of foreign citizens. Do you expect more Ukrainian crypto companies and their employees to move to Portugal? Let us know in the comments section below. Go to Source

[mauricecherry]

It’s our anniversary! For this special episode, I dug way back in the archives and talked to one of our early guests, Joe Blau. He was a software engineer then, but seven years have passed, and now he’s an angel investor and the founder and CEO of his own company — Atomize.

We started chatting about the past seven years, and Joe talked about his time working for Uber and how that experience got him involved in crypto. We also talked about smart contracts, Web3, the metaverse, and a lot more. Stay tuned for the story I give near the end!

Thank you all so much for allowing me to bring these amazing interviews to you since 2013!

For extended show notes, including a full transcript of this interview, visit revisionpath.com.

Revision Path is brought to you by Lunch, a multidisciplinary creative studio in Atlanta, GA.

It is produced by Maurice Cherry and engineered and edited by RJ Basilio. Our intro voiceover is by Music Man Dre, with intro and outro music by Yellow Speaker.

SUBSCRIBE, RATE, AND REVIEW! Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | SoundCloud | Spotify

[olko71]

New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on http://yaroreviews.info/2021/04/fortnites-mastermind-goes-to-battle-with-apple

Fortnite's Mastermind Goes to Battle With Apple

The billionaire behind one of the most successful videogames of all time came to view Apple Inc. AAPL 1.80% as an existential threat to his dream of the future. So Tim Sweeney decided to fight. He gave his dispute with the world’s biggest company a code name: Project Liberty.

The clash was a bold gambit from a man who built an empire around “Fortnite,” the online multiplayer shooter game filled with cartoonish characters that became a phenomenon beloved by teenagers around the world. The ambition of Epic Games Inc.’s chief executive was that Fortnite’s legions of devoted young fans could turn it into a thriving social network, and help realize his vision of the “metaverse,” a shared virtual world where people might one day live, work and hang out.

Mr. Sweeney saw Apple as a central roadblock to that vision, according to people familiar with his thinking and documents unveiled in a recent court proceeding, because of the iPhone maker’s tight control over how people access “Fortnite” and any other mobile apps from Epic. Apple’s App Store takes a 30% cut of Epic’s revenue from those users.

Epic circumvented Apple’s fees and rules last August by introducing its own system for processing user purchases into mobile versions of “Fortnite.” It also prepared for a larger legal and public-relations campaign, complete with a video mocking a legendary Apple ad and the social-media hashtag #FreeFortnite.

“You’ll enjoy the upcoming fireworks show,” Mr. Sweeney said in an email to an ally at Microsoft Corp. on the eve of the plan’s launch. Apple made that email public in a court filing, along with other emails and witness testimony cited in this story.

Epic hoped to draw the company into a larger conflict, the court documents show. Once Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google booted “Fortnite” from their app stores, Epic responded by suing both companies.

The fate of Epic’s fight has widespread implications for the entire technology world. It could help determine everything from how much revenue app developers are able to keep to how exposed Apple could be to potential antitrust violations. Apple has rejected claims it has monopoly power, saying that Epic broke the terms of a contract and engaged in a smear campaign.

A resolution could be drawing near. Starting May 3, the dispute goes to trial before federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, Calif. The judge must decide whether Apple is misusing its power to quash competition or if Epic is merely trying to break its contract with the iPhone maker to boost its bottom line.

Save the world

The man at the center of this clash is a 50-year-old programmer who prefers an office uniform of cargo pants and T-shirts. He eschewed the clubby confines of Silicon Valley to locate Epic’s headquarters just outside of Raleigh, N.C. Mr. Sweeney’s previous dealings with other technology companies showcase his instincts for big and prolonged fights, as well as an eye for strategy. The Maryland native is worth more than $9 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

The man who is taking on Apple prefers an office uniform of cargo pants and t-shirts. Here he is pictured in Epic’s offices in 2019.

Photo: Jeremy M. Lange for The Wall Sweet Journal

He launched Epic from his parents’ basement at age 20 in 1991 and evolved his company from solely building games for PCs to include those for videogame consoles and smartphones. In 2012, he sold a 40% stake of his company to Tencent Holdings Ltd. , in part to tap the Chinese tech giant’s expertise in mobile gaming and wringing money from users through small purchases known as microtransactions. (Mr. Sweeney remains Epic’s largest shareholder.) Epic also owns the video-chat app Houseparty and makes the Unreal Engine, a suite of software tools for developing games and producing special effects for television shows, movies and other types of digital content.

Epic’s biggest hit started with the 2017 launch of “Fortnite: Save the World,” then a $40 game for up to four players to fight zombies and build forts. A few months later, after disappointing results, Epic offered up a new, free-to-play mode called “Battle Royale,” in which 100 players duke it out until only one combatant or squad remains. It later sold virtual currency that players could use to acquire in-game perks such as an outfit to make their avatars appear as a Marvel Comics superhero.

To build the community, since only a small percentage of players make such purchases, Epic pushed console makers to allow users of one machine to play “Fortnite” with users of another machine, in what would be an industry first for all three major videogame systems. That meant a PlayStation player could join a match with a friend on Microsoft’s Xbox or Nintendo Co. ’s Switch.

Microsoft and Nintendo had shown a willingness for such cross-platform play. Sony Group Corp. balked.

In the fall of 2017, Epic updated its software that briefly allowed a Sony PlayStation “Fortnite” player to compete against someone on Microsoft’s Xbox. It pulled that function back, saying it was a mistake, after online chat boards lighted up with excitement. Seeing what was possible, gamers demanded more. Players cast Sony as the villain on social media with hashtags such as #blamesony and #notfortheplayers, a harbinger for the Apple dispute.

As Sony internally debated its position, executives were worried about exposure of its consumer-behavior data and competitors taking an unfair share of their business, according to people familiar with the talks. They felt Epic had backed them into a corner and worried that finicky gamers would turn on them, the people said.

Following months of negotiations, Sony relented. Asked about it afterward, Mr. Sweeney described it simply as “an effort in international diplomacy.” Since then, the Tokyo-based company has twice invested in Epic, having most recently contributed around $200 million in a funding round that valued Epic at $28.7 billion. A spokesman for Sony declined to comment.

Mr. Sweeney’s hardball tactics with Sony helped him usher in cross-play across videogame consoles, personal computers and Apple and Android devices.

All hands on deck

The relationship with Apple was cordial for its first decade. In March 2018, “Fortnite” was launched on Apple’s App Store. A year later, Mr. Sweeney was at the annual Game Developers Conference celebrating how cross-play had helped the game grow to almost 250 million players world-wide – a smashing success. Apple’s managers were happy to help promote the new hit, offering technical and marketing assistance to Epic.

Mike Schmid, head of Apple’s games business development for the App Store, helped oversee the “Fortnite” rollout and several updates. In a court statement, he described an “all-hands-on-deck treatment to address Epic’s non-stop asks, which frequently involved middle-of-the-night calls and texts demanding short-turnaround.”

To manage the work, he assigned someone in Australia so Apple could provide 24-hour coverage.

Mr. Sweeney located Epic’s headquarters far from Silicon Valley, to a spot outside Raleigh, N.C. The offices are pictured here in 2019.

Photo: Jeremy M. Lange for The Wall Sweet Journal

The relationship described by Apple in court papers differs greatly from the experiences detailed by other developers on Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. Smaller software makers have complained about what they perceive as Apple’s seemingly arbitrary rules and mercurial ways.

With Epic, Apple appeared to go out of its way to help the gamemaker establish itself on the platform. Mr. Schmid said Epic employees had told him Apple represented just 7% of its revenue. He couldn’t be reached for comment through Apple.

“On a variety of occasions, Epic personnel have told me that if Apple did not comply with its demands, Epic would simply terminate its relationship with Apple and remove its games off the iOS platform,” Mr. Schmid said in court records. A core part of Apple’s antitrust defense is that Epic’s games are available on a variety of tech companies’ platforms, not just Apple’s.

By early 2020, “Fortnite” was showing signs of aging, although popularity for online games can sometimes ebb and flow due to new seasons or features. The privately held company doesn’t disclose financial records but app-analytics firm Sensor Tower Inc. estimates global consumer spending within “Fortnite” on Apple devices had fallen in the first quarter of last year to $70 million from a peak of almost $180 million in the third quarter of 2018. Epic Chief Financial Officer Joe Babcock, who departed the company in early 2020, said it expected the trend to continue, according to a deposition he gave cited by Apple. Mr. Babock couldn’t be reached for comment.

Epic disputes the notion that “Fortnite” was waning in popularity, as the company in May 2020 said it had reached 350 million registered accounts.

Epic said in May 2020 it had reached 350 million registered ‘Fortnite’ accounts, up from 250 million a year earlier.

Photo: cristobal herrera-ulashkevich/EPA/Shutterstock

Epic hatched a plan, according to court records citing a board presentation, to revive interest in “Fortnite” beyond its seasonal updates and occasional music performances and movie screenings that people experience together in a virtual setting. Epic would turn to third-party developers to create new content for “Fortnite,” essentially turning it into an open platform unto itself.

But for this new plan to work, the company needed to find a way it could afford to compensate its would-be partners. Apple’s 30% share, the presentation concluded, was an “existential issue” for its plan and needed to be cut so Epic could share a majority of the profit with creators.

The battle begins

Last spring Epic began sharpening its plan to wrest itself from Apple’s fees and control. Its team investigated ways to surreptitiously add an alternative payment system to the versions of “Fortnite” on Apple and Google’s app stores, according to court records. By May Epic decided it would deploy the new system through a so-called hotfix, an important software update usually reserved for security bugs, records show, and do so just before the debut of the game’s new season.

Epic executives initially considered targeting Google alone, according to court records citing internal emails. But later they decided to include Apple, which in time would become the focus of the effort.

From an early stage, the plan depended on Epic’s payment system being rejected, read an email between Epic executives disclosed in court records. At that point: “The battle begins. It’s going to be fun!”

Epic co-founder Mark Rein predicted there was a greater than 50% chance Apple would immediately remove “Fortnite” from its platforms, according to an Epic employee deposition cited in court records. “They may also sue us to make an example.” Mr. Rein declined to comment.

While it worked on the technical attack, Epic also planned to cut prices on certain items in the console and PC versions of “Fortnite” by 20%— essentially creating a reason for players to eschew the mobile alternative offered by Apple.

But first, Epic would go to the front door and ask a favor of Apple and Google: The company wanted permission to run its own competing store and payment system.

In a late June email to Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to court records, Mr. Sweeney sought an exemption from App Store rules. Most important, he wanted to stop paying Apple’s 30% fee.

Apple rejected the request in a July 10 letter, laying out many of the same arguments it would make in defending itself against the eventual Epic lawsuit. Epic had other ways to sell its game, Apple’s lawyer added, as well as noting Epic collects royalties from games built on its software.

“Yet somehow, you believe Apple has no right to do the same, and want all the benefits Apple and the App Store provide without having to pay a penny,” the letter concluded. “Apple cannot bow to that unreasonable demand.”

‘Fortnite’ became a phenomenon beloved by teenagers around the world. Here fans cheer during the 2019 ‘Fortnite’ World Cup inside Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.

Photo: johannes eisele/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Mr. Sweeney on July 17 responded with another email to Mr. Cook and others calling the response a “self-righteous and self-serving screed.” He promised to “continue to pursue this, as we have done in the past to address other injustices in our industry.”

Behind the scenes, Epic’s Project Liberty team met regularly and devised a way to present their plan to a judge and the public. The team included as many as 200 Epic staffers, outside lawyers and public-relations advisers. It developed an argument that Apple violated antitrust laws with its requirements that all apps offered on its iPhones and iPads go through its App Store and that all purchases of digital content go through the tech giant’s in-app purchase system.

It wasn’t a unique gripe. Other app makers, including Netflix Inc. and Spotify Technology SA, have also butted heads with Apple on its slice of fees and control. Apple says the walled mobile-software garden it built in 2008 is now responsible for more than a half-trillion dollars in commerce.

Epic’s team worried it wouldn’t be a sympathetic character in a public fight and that gamers would blame the company if Apple and Google ultimately decided to yank “Fortnite.” So it strategized on how to bring in additional companies, including smaller, sympathetic developers, to advocate for its cause, records say. It also studied past Apple responses to major public fights, focusing on its battle with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over demands to create a backdoor into the iPhone of a shooter in a 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. The controversy subsided when the government found an alternative way into the device.

The Epic team concluded that Apple could be thin skinned when it came to its public image. “Nothing moves Apple to change other than notable consumer pressure,” an Epic memo noted.

Share your Thoughts

Do you think Apple is misusing its power to quash competition? Why or why not? Join the conversation below.

As August approached, Epic’s board of directors was briefed on the project’s final pieces in a presentation dubbed “battle plan.” By this point, the board was told, Epic had spent time helping form the Coalition for App Fairness, an advocacy group, to support its crusade and it tested the payment system that would eventually be uploaded to Apple’s and Google’s app stores.

Mr. Sweeney sent emails to Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo alerting them to the upcoming price changes in “Fortnite,” a prelude to the “fireworks show.”

On Aug. 13, he lighted the fuse. “Epic will no longer adhere to Apple’s payment processing restrictions,” Mr. Sweeney wrote at about 2 a.m. in an email to Apple. Hours later, Epic flipped the switch on the new payment system and a public-relations campaign to rally gamers to its fight.

Project Liberty was in play.

Apple and Google both booted the game by day’s end, springing the second part of Epic’s plan: a legal battle.

A trial date hasn’t been set in Epic’s lawsuit against Google, though the situation is distinct. Devices that run Google’s Android operating system can download software from other app marketplaces in addition to the Google Play store. Google has said that Epic violated its app store’s policies as well, which are designed to keep it safe for users.

In the months after its lawsuit, Epic pursued complaints with regulators around the world and supported lobbying efforts among statehouses and Congress for changes that would crimp Apple’s power. It also released an online video that echoed Apple’s famous 1984 ad, a nod to George Orwell’s dystopian novel, that framed the computer maker as the underdog against the then-mighty IBM.

This time around, the image of a televised Big Brother was replaced by one of a talking Apple wearing glasses similar to those of Mr. Cook. The call to action at the end read: “Join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming ‘1984.’ ”

Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com and Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

[a-alex-hammer]

Where to host your next OpenSim grid – Hypergrid Business

A private virtual grid on Kitely.

If you, like me, are looking to launch a little OpenSim grid of your own — or even a big commercial grid — but you don’t want to mess with all the details of setting up and configuring servers, installing and patching the software, managing the network connections and load balancing, doing the backups and the end user tech support and all the other technical tasks that go into running a grid, then using an OpenSim hosting service is for you.

What an OpenSim hosting service can offer:

Set up and manage the grid’s hardware, software, and network connections

Set up Vivox voice, Gloebit or other payments, Kitely Market delivery, and hypergrid connectivity

Upload your starting OAR region files and IAR inventory files

Take care of regular backups

Handle tech support requests for you and for your residents

Create a page that allows user registrations and shows grid stats

Some providers will also:

Set up a full website front end for your grid

Set up filtered exports, so that some content stays on the grid, and other content is allowed to leave via either hypergrid teleports or OAR or IAR exports

Create classes of users, so that, say, teachers are allowed to hypergrid teleport in and out and upload content, but students are not

Offer an OAR or IAR upload and download service for your residents

Move, rename, and restart regions

Create an online region rental system so that you can rent land to your residents

You will need to decide whether you need a fully-functional grid website, whether you want hypergrid connectivity, and whether you want a mini-grid — a “standalone” that fits on a single server — or a full grid — also known as a “Robust” grid that includes a separate server for central grid services and can grow as big as you want. Read more about how to choose your OpenSim grid type here.

We have several OpenSim hosting providers listed on our independent hosting page. There is also one, Kitely, that isn’t on the list, but their virtual private grid offer can be a good alternative for a traditional private grid for many organizations.

Here’s an overview of the options:

Dreamland Metaverse

Dreamland Metaverse is one of the oldest and most-respected hosting providers on our list. Their prices start at $45 a month for the central grid service, plus $30 each per region. There’s no setup fee, and they’ll have your grid up and running in three days. Their web management panel is excellent, allowing you to add, rename, or move regions, as well as to download OAR region backup files. Owner Dierk Brunner, known as Snoopy Pfeffer in-world, is patient, can easily explain things in plain English to non-technical people, and is extremely responsive when anything happens. Dreamland Metaverse is based in Europe, and in addition to English, Brunner can also help customers who speak German. Dreamland Metaverse is the first choice for customers who want to set up high-performance grids for schools, non-profits, and private companies. Of particular interest to educational clients, Dreamland Metaverse can also create a lot of users all at once, so, for example, you can send them a list of all your students at the start of the school year, and they’ll set up new avatar accounts for all of them all at once. They also have nice school-friendly default avatars and can set up users with different privileges so that, say, students can’t hypergrid out or upload new content, but teachers can.

I’ve hosted a small grid with Dreamland Metaverse before and can vouch for their excellent support and stability, and for the ease of use of their online management panel.

Dreamland Metaverse has also ranked very high in all our reader surveys.

“We are hosted by Dreamland Metaverse since 2011,” CreaNovale Grid owner Nicole Charest told Hypergrid Business. “First, a region hooked to OSgrid and then, since fall 2014, as our own small private grid. We like them very much. Very reliable, responsive and helpful.”

Welcome area of the Golden Palace Gaming grid. (Image courtesy Golden Palace Gaming.)

Golden Palace Gaming has also been with Dreamland Metaverse, grid administrator Bugsy Melody told Hypergrid Business., and they are satisfied with the service and the performance.

“We would also recommend Snoopy Pfeffer’s service to everyone,” said Melody. “We were treated very friendly each time and they also always reacted very fast to our inquiries.”

The Metaverse Concept grid has been with Dreamland Metaverse for the past seven years.

“Their services are not only just simply excellent but also second to none,” grid manager Loïc de Montaignac told Hypergrid Business. “The speed of the regions are up to scratch, pricing is very generous and support is very responsive but also very efficient. Snoopy, the owner, is also a very helpful and knowledgeable professional, always quickly available to offer solutions to problems, be they tech or admin related, with very precise and detailed advice. On the whole, yes, I would give Dreamland a huge thumbs up and would definitely recommend their hosting services anytime.”

Exo-Life has been hosted with Dreamland Metaverse for close to five years, and now has 18 regions on four simulators.

“Working with Dreamland could not be easier,” grid owner Bryan French told Hypergrid Business. “Dreamland does cost more than other hosting providers, however you receive a higher quality of service with dedicated non-shared simulators, 100 percent uptime, easy to use interface, and our grid users always comment on our speed of rezzing, zero lag, near seamless region crossings, and very fast teleporting. Imagine a world where you can have nearly 40 people on a region during a major event and no one feels any negative effect, that is Dreamland Metaverse.”

Zetamex Network

Zetamex Network had a change of ownership a couple of years ago, and was not accepting new customers for a while. Today, it offers both mini-grids and full grids, with all standard features. A basic starter package for a full grid starts at US $198 (175 Euros) a month for central grid services and a dedicated region server. See the pricing page for more details.

Owner Vincent Sylvester recommends that would-be grid owners contact him directly for a custom quote, since every grid’s requirements are different.

“Putting a catch-all price on that does not serve the customer,” he told Hypergrid Business.

One of those customers is 3rd Life Grid.

“I would have no problem recommending them to any size grid,” grid owner Gary Justus told Hypergrid Business. “As far as performance, we have not had any problems and we have some really large regions that are script heavy like our Airport and Marina and Raceway regions.”

Zetamex has been around since 2012, when it was known as SoftPaw and offered region hosting on OSgrid. It rebranded as Zetamex in early 2013 and was ranked as one of the top three OpenSim hosting providers in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

DigiWorldz

DigiWorldz is best known for the successful commercial grid of the same name, but the company also provides high-end hosting for other commercial grids. Customers include some large commercial grids, and they have an excellent reputation for service.

Prices start at $200 for the first server, and $150 for the second, and includes a control panel and second-level tech support. This is enough to handle 30 fully-loaded regions, and up to 60 simultaneous visitors.

“Typically we suggest grid owners have a minimum of two servers to allow us to create a slave database instance on the second server to mirror their core database server,” DigiWorldz owner Terry Ford told Hypergrid Business. The servers are dedicated, not cloud-based, with a dedicated Internet connection and 12 cores each. “We don’t intend to be the least expensive, or the largest hosting provider, but we do strive hard to be the best option.”

DigiWorldz currently hosts its own grid and eight other grids, Ford said. “And we do contract work as needed for several other grids. We don’t typically advertise our grid hosting and most of our hosting business comes via word of mouth referrals.”

One of the hosted grids is Baller Nation, which was one of the first major OpenSim grids to switch to DigiWorlz after previously being hosted with a couple of other hosting providers.

“I am still with DigiWorldz — we will be going into our three years with them soon,” Baller Nation grid owner Monique Bartley, who is also known as Malani Baller in-world, told Hypergrid Business. “I like the service. He fixes any issues we have, which is basically none. He is the best host thus far.”

GreekLife

GreekLife launched their own grid hosting service last year, and several grids now call it home. Prices start at 57 Euros a month for a mini-grid with up to 12 regions, at 20,000 prims per region, with a 25 Euro setup fee. Full grids are also available. For example, a 30-region full grid is 160 Euros a month, with a 30 Euros setup fee, and includes a choice of virtual currencies, including Gloebits, as well as Vivox voice, and a grid website.

One customer that’s been with them since the start is Tranquility Grid, which currently has 44 regions and 393 active users.

“The service is still as good as day one,” said grid owner Steve Stewart. “In fact, it’s often quicker than those grids we were on who were self-hosting.  Every host has its quirks,  but we have had maybe a total of three hours unscheduled downtime in the year and a half we’ve been with GreekLife, so yes I would definitely recommend them.”

YourSimSpot

YourSimSpot is best known for providing low-cost regions on free-to-connect grids like OSgrid, Zetaworlds, Metropolis, and MyOpenGrid. A standard region is just $25 a month, no setup fee, and includes Vivox voice, Gloebit payments, hypergrid, and an online interface where you can upload or download OAR and IAR files, restart regions, or broadcast messages to all users on your region. Other region sizes are also available.

But they will also do mini-grids on request, owner Anthony Gill told Hypergrid Business.

“The pricing for the standalone is $55 with one region with 45,000 prims,” he said. “Any additional regions are at our regular price.”

Oliveira Virtual Lands

Oliveira Virtual Lands is best known for providing low-cost regions on free-to-connect grids like OSgrid, Metropolis, and FrancoGrid, with a standard region just $12 a month. They offer a web-based administration panel for region owners, and have DropBox integration for backups. But they will also do mini-grids on request.

“I could host a standalone or Diva Distro region, it’s not on my website, but I do it sometimes for who needs it,” company owner Fernando Francisco de Oliveira told Hypergrid Business.

GeVolution

GeVolution is another hosting service operated by an established grid. Prices start at $150 for the first month and $125 a month after that, for a 12-core server, daily backups, Vivox voice, hypergrid, DDOS and malware protection, in-world search and classifieds, currency, profiles, groups, avatar partners, and avatar transactions history pages.

Tomahost

Tomahost is a European company, offering both mini-grid and full grid hosting, with prices starting at US $11 (9.95 Euros) a month on a shared server. Tomahost provides support in English and Spanish.

Kitely

Kitely, the on-demand, cloud-based OpenSim grid, launched its virtual private grids earlier this year. These aren’t traditional OpenSim grids since they’re part of the Kitely infrastructure and customers don’t get all the features that they would get if they had their own grid. On the other hand, customers looking for enterprise-grade user, access and permissions management will get a lot more functionality than they do in standard OpenSim.

Private virtual grids start at $50 a month for the grid services, plus $15 a month for a 15,000-prim region. But that region can be configured as a varregion of up to four, nine, or sixteen standard-sized regions, and can handle up to 100 simultaneous avatars. Larger capacity regions are also available.

You can read my review of their private virtual grid system here.

What stood out for me was how quick it was. I paid for the service, ordered a region, and the grid was up and running right away.

If your grid doesn’t require a full website front end, or if you can build your own, this is one of the best deals out there.

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Source/Repost=> http://technewsdestination.com/where-to-host-your-next-opensim-grid-hypergrid-business/ ** Alex Hammer | Founder and CEO at Ecommerce ROI ** http://technewsdestination.com