Increasing its investment in Second Life, IBM will spend $10MM on virtual worlds over the next year and is already conducting development for around 20 clients inside Second Life.

IBM aims to conquer what it calls "v-business" the same way it's tackled e-business,
according to Reuters, which itself has established a bureau in Second Life. IBM says seamless virtual worlds will become the new face of the Internet and is already speaking with a grocery chain in the U.K. about opening up a virtual storefront that will allow consumers to buy real-world groceries online.

"The essence of e-commerce today is built around the idea of catalogs. That's very useful, it fits with the idea of web pages and catalog pages, but most people don't think of shopping in terms of catalogs and pages, but in terms of stores that they go into," said IBM chief technology strategist Irving Wladawsky-Berger.

IBM uses Second Life primarily for internal training and meetings, but has also used it to create a simulation of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Second Life is home to more than 1 million users and boasts a strong currency - half a million actual U.S. dollars change hands every day via the virtual world.