3G streaming services provider Vollee's mobile open beta application for Second Life has been downloaded by consumers in more than 98 countries, across more than 253 carrier networks for 70 supported handset models.

The Vollee technology streams a PC experience to mobile, including multiplayer online role-playing games and persistent worlds. The company claims that its mobile application for Second Life, launched in June, was the first to offer access to the complete Second Life virtual world on a mobile device, letting Vollee's registered users explore, interact and communicate via their handsets.

"Via the Vollee technology, we are able to stream the entire virtual world of Second Life to 3G enabled mobile handsets, and this is the first application of its kind," said Martin Dunsby, president/CEO of Vollee, Redwood City, CA.

"Residents can now explore, interact and chat in-world from their handset, without having to be in front of a PC," he said.

Linden Lab created the Second Life 3D virtual world platform.

The VolleeX technology adapts applications for screen size and key layout and then streams the original application to mobile devices.

Vollee's interactive video streaming platform optimizes compression to minimize bandwidth requirements and leverages the 3G mobile networks to let consumers easily and smoothly navigate the application.

Vollee's technology is also extensible to fast-paced video games previously unavailable on mobile.

Second Life operates on an ad-supported model.

"Since we are streaming the entire Second Life virtual world directly to the handset, all of the in-world existing advertising we also be served, so essentially you'll be experiencing Second Life as you do at your PC, except optimized for mobile," Mr. Dunsby said.

"Therefore all of the current advertisers in Second Life will also have the benefit of also being viewed by the new audience of mobile Second Life Residents," he said.

Consumers can download the free Second Life mobile application and view a complete list of supported handsets at http://www.vollee.com/secondlife.

Much like mobile television, the data is streaming, so Vollee strongly recommends an unlimited data plan.

By hosting unmodified PC applications on servers, adapting them for mobile handsets and then streaming them over 3G networks, Vollee lets consumers access MMOs and virtual worlds such as Second Life or play console-quality games on mass-market handsets.

Vollee claims that it adapts games in a matter of weeks without touching source code.

Vollee also claims to increase deployment reach, as it enables just about all 3G and Wi-Fi enabled handsets to run these rich PC applications.

Vollee has already announced partnerships with intellectual property owners such as ActivisionBlizzard, Linden Lab, Codemasters and Encore Software.

Vollee has been involved in various marketing efforts.

"We have been reaching out directly to the Second Life community to help drive adoption via PR and online marketing," Mr. Dunsby said. "We're working closely with the blogs and the forums where residents come together to help get the word out among the fans of Second Life.

"We are also considering in-world marketing, as well as some efforts in conjunction with Linden Lab," he said.