NEW BUSINESS HORIZONS WINS GOLD FROM SECOND LIFE CREATOR LINDEN LABS

Second Life business park and conferences developer, New Business Horizons (http://www.nbhorizons.com ), is today being awarded the prestigious accolade of Gold Solution Provider by Second Life creator Linden Labs. After a rigorous vetting programme, NBH joins just 30 other businesses worldwide in receiving the new award, launched today by Linden Labs.

New Business Horizons (NBH) runs the Blue Horizon business park in the online virtual world of Second Life, where it provides managed offices, conference facilities and other business centre services for a wide variety of clients including Universal Music Group (UMG), the Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM) and Macmillan Cancer Support. Its work for UMG, whose artists include Amy Winehouse, Elton John, Gwen Stefani and U2, includes the building of a bespoke business complex and conference centre straddling four Second Life islands.

NBH and its 30 peers were selected as Gold Solution Providers from a pool of more than 250, in a scheme which recognises them as "particularly well qualified" in providing virtual world services for enterprises and educational institutions.

"Innovative enterprises, military organizations, government agencies and educational institutions are actively using virtual worlds for distance learning, training and simulation," says Tom Hale, Chief Product Officer at Linden Lab. "The Gold Solution Provider Program makes it easy to find experienced partners that can deliver high-quality experiences for a wide range of Second Life projects."

NBH founder and chief executive Alan Haymes comments: "Our aim has always been to make Second Life as accessible and successful as possible for our clients, whether they're smaller businesses seeking serviced offices or global enterprises requiring major developments. Becoming a Gold Solution Provider is a powerful recognition - by the owner of Second Life itself - of our work's quality. It tells enterprises and institutions that we have the official thumbs up."

The award comes just a few months after NBH scooped the prestigious 'Best Use of Technology' award from the Docklands Business Club and the East London Chamber of Commerce.