3D Media Walls: From the Oil Patch to the Research Lab

For the last decade or so, energy companies have much-reduced the risk they face in the oil patch through the use of 3D technology. Rather than blindly drilling underground on the basis of little more than sonic data transferred into lines on long sheets of paper, the companies have been able to project 3D images of a subterranean reservoir onto a screen, snap on some fancy glasses, and figuratively walk through an oilfield, picking precisely where to drill.

Now the companies responsible for this technology are branching out. Companies like Norway’s Cyviz, Belgium’s Barco and Canada’s Christie Digital are marketing 3-D “media walls” to militaries, to pharmaceutical companies, to aerospace companies, and more. Pharmaceutical researchers based in offices around the world can simultaneously, for instance, make a close examination of the molecular structure of a virus, and figure out strategies for attacking it. The companies are hot competitors in Washington, D.C., at the moment, vying for the business of government agencies.

I asked Washington-based Cyviz executive Jeff Eisenhard to talk about the technology.

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