Archive

iOpener product successfully tested in Zolder 24hrs race

Monday, September 01, 2008

Last weekend during an official race, the iOpener product was fully tested. The test was a great success and members of the iOpener team and some guests were actually able to game from behind a PC in real-time against the drivers of the Moritz Racing team driving on the Belgian Zolder circuit.

The stress test was made possible through cooperation with the Zolder Circuit, and Moritz Racing Team. 'You can indeed call this a stress test! For the equipment, as well as the team!', iOpener CEO Andy Lürling says. 'And we are really satisfied with the results'. One of the main concerns was whether all in-car equipment would hold out for 24 hours, and it did. 'Surviving 24 hours of shocks and the heat, sometimes reaching above 70 degrees, gives us confidence that the equipment will perform in all other race conditions', Lürling mentions.

'The reason for Moritz Racing Team to cooperate in testing the iOpener technology is that we are a team that stands for the improvement of motorsports in general', driver and team owner Bert Moritz explains. 'And we (Moritz Racing) believe that iOpener has an application that if used wisely by the race association will stimulate a new channel to attract a new younger target group to motorsports'. Moritz is convinced that this immersive feature will attract more sponsors to the motorsport. He adds; 'Personally, I also really like that iOpener's technology can be used to train young drivers and optimize their driving skills'.

Last year iOpener Media, a spin-out of the European Space Agency Incubator Programme, received EUR 4.1 Million from Triangle Venture Capital Group to make its technology ready for market introduction. Lürling: 'This was the ultimate test to prove that we are ready for the market launch later this year or early next year. We are looking forward to the introduction, and from all the reactions of gamers we receive and read on the game forums, we know the gamer is also'.

iOpener delegation will visit GDC in Leipzig

Monday, August 11, 2008

An iOpener delegation will visit this year's Game Developers Conference in Leipzig on 21 and 22 August, with the objective of introducing its Real-time Live Play product to specific game publishers and developers. The delegation will also explore the opportunity participating in next year's edition. Click here to visit the GDC website.

iOpener CEO speaker at MSC Malaysia Lecture Series

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

On request of the Malaysian's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) organization today iOpener's CEO Andy Lürling will speak about the future of gaming with respect to reality. One of the reasons for iOpener's activities in Malaysia is looking for partnerships in Asia. Click here to hear to see the invitation.

RWTH Aachen graduation party boosted by iOpener

Friday, June 27, 2008

Today iOpener boosted the graduation party of the Computer Sciences department at the RWTH Aachen (University of Technology in Aachen, Germany). Graduates and invitees were given the opportunity to be on the photo in an original Arrows F1 Car, and two of iOpener's promo girls.
Click here to see the photo's.

iOpener CEO at Sepang F1 Circuit

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Andy Lürling, CEO of iOpener, today met with the management team of the Malaysian Sepang F1 Circuit. The reason for meeting was to discuss collaboration between the circuit and iOpener regarding iOpener's innovative technology. The first results were promising and parties will explore the opportunity of using iOpener's technology on the track in further detail.

iOpener gives Press Conference to Northrhein-Westfalia press

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Today the iOpener management team presented their company to the regional press at the Technologiezentrum in Aachen. The press conference was organized by the AGIT, the regional development agency for the Technology Region Aachen.

iOpener attends 'Dutch Career fair' in Amsterdam (NED)

Friday, March 14, 2008

iOpener attends the biggest Dutch Career fair: 'Nationale Carrière Beurs' which takes place in Amsterdam to promote vacancies in iOpener's development team.

iOpener delegation visits GDC in San Francisco

Thursday, February 21, 2008

An iOpener delegation visited this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, with the objective of introducing its Real-time Live Play product to specific game publishers and developers. Reactions were more than positive, with follow-up meetings already planned. The delegation also explored the opportunity to be participate in next year's edition.

iOpener's COO key note speaker at Kick of European Satellite Navigation Competition

Monday, February 18, 2008

Today iOpener's COO, Sven Bakkes, had the honour to present the company as one of the Success Stories of the European Satellite Navigation Competition In Munich (GER). iOpener was the 2006 regional winner for its innovative 'Real-time Racing Game' product. Today's summit marked the official kick-off for the 5th competition. Click here for the anniversary version of the ESNC magazine.

iOpener CEO meets Singapore Minister of State for Trade and Industry

Friday, January 25, 2008

iOpener CEO, Andy Lürling, met Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran today in Singapore to discuss opportunities in Singapore and potential modes of collaboration. iOpener was presented as an example of space technology transfer in satellite applications downstream ICT in the course of the Global Space Technology Convention (organized by SSTA) at the Singapore Airshow. The meeting was arranged by J. Kreisel, JKIC and the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA).

Triangle finances iOpener

Thursday, January 17, 2008

European Space Agency (ESA) spin-off iOpener receives €4.1 million to start up operations. iOpener has developed a technology to map real-world competitions such as Formula 1 to an artificial world, allowing gamers to participate in the race virtually and in real time! Their first product is based on "rocket-science" innovations from ESA, which allow the efficient transmission of telemetric data from a plurality of moving objects and their mapping into the game's virtual world. Download press release (pdf)

iOpener - new headquarters in Aachen (Germany)

Thursday, January 03, 2008

In preparation for the upcoming investment, iOpener will base its new headquarters in Aachen. Together with their office in Delft, iOpener is strategically positioned to leverage the world-class technical universities found in both locations. iOpener's address in Aachen is:

iOpener Media GmbH
Roermonderstraße 199
52072 Aachen
Germany

iOpener moves office to Yes!Delft building in Delft

Monday, December 03, 2007

Having successfully concluded their participation in the European Space Agency Business incubation period, iOpener moved today from the ESA site in Noordwijk to their new offices in the Yes!Delft Building, located at the Delft University of Technology site (Delft, the Netherlands). The move will facilitate an optimal knowledge transfer and cooperation between the Delft University of Technology and iOpener, to integrate Real-time data into (serious) game applications; using satellite navigation technology. Due to the mutual benefits realised during the incubation period, both the ESA incubator and iOpener management teams are happy to announce that they will continue efforts to develop their collaborative relationship for the future.

iOpener's new address is:

iOpener Media BV
Rotterdamseweg 145
2628 AL Delft
The Netherlands

iOpener successfully completes the ESA incubation period

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

After almost a year of participation in the European Space Agency Business Incubation Initiative, iOpener enjoyed a successful final review today. Both the ESA incubator management and the iOpener management looked back on an enriching and mutually beneficial period. With the financial and knowledge support afforded by ESA, iOpener demonstrated that it's Real-time Games concept works according to the requirements to turn it into a commercial product. ESA and iOpener agreed to continue to develop their relationship in the future.

iOpener showcases Real-time Games on Euronews

Monday, November 19, 2007

From 19 to 25 November 2007, Euronews will broadcast a daily feature on the European Space Agency Business Incubation Initiative. iOpener, as a promising incubatee of the initiative, was invited to participate in the segment, which focuses on the objectives of the ESA incubator, namely to facilitate and support start-ups to develop non-space applications based on space technology.

'Real-time Games' Proof of Concept succeeds

Thursday, October 25, 2007

After a ten month period of development and testing, iOpener successfully concluded the Real-time Games Proof of Concept on receiving finalised reports today. Results show that iOpener's objectives with Real-time Games are possible. The next phase will focus on turning the current technology into a marketable product - the 'Real-time live play' feature - which is expected to launch in the consumer market by the end of 2008. iOpener would like to take this opportunity to thank their partners during this period; Bleekemolen's Raceplanet, Circuit Park Zandvoort, Last Mile Solutions, Blue Lace, Omnistar, Delft University of Technology and the ESA.

iOpener wins Ernst&Young Best Business Case Award 2006-2007

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Andy Lürling of iOpener today received the Ernst&Young Best Business Case Award. The award is related to the 'Writing a Business plan' course of Delft University of Technology, which is offered in participation with Roland Berger.

The course is designed to guide students through the initial phase of starting up a new venture, in which a well-written business plan is essential for entrepreneurial success. During the course different aspects of entrepreneurship are discussed, which lead to writing a complete and professional business plan. The various subjects are discussed by a group of lecturers and consultants from Roland Berger. The participants are intensively coached by Roland Berger consultants.

iOpener agrees to test Proof of Concept with Bleekemolen

Friday, May 11, 2007

iOpener and Bleekemolen's Raceplanet agreed today that Bleekemolen's Porsches will be used for testing the Proof of Technology of the Real-time Games concept. The tests will take place throughout the summer during Race Experience days at the circuit park Zandvoort. The iOpener management team is excited by Bleekemolen's involvement, as this will make it possible to optimise the tests.

iOpener presents at ESA Investment Forum

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

iOpener presented their product 'Real-time Games' at yesterdays launch of the European Space Agency Investment Forum. Organised by ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO), in collaboration with EC-projects FinanceSpace and INVESaT, the forum was held at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands.
The event attracted more than 100 participants from all over Europe, including representatives from the finance and investment communities, the European Special Applications Fund and in addition to iOpener, 19 other start-up companies. The focus of the Investment Forum was to highlight the commercial benefits of satellite and space technology in applications on Earth and to give potential investors an opportunity to meet with a number of start-up companies using spin-offs from space technology.
Feedback from the participants was extremely positive; the Forum gave a good overview of the potential commercial benefits emerging from the space sector, featured a selection of impressive business cases and iOpener enjoyed the opportunity to establish additional valuable contacts from the investment community.

iOpener launches campaign to attract technical students

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Being an innovative technical company, supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), iOpener today started its internship programme for technical students/ graduates.
iOpener is currently looking for enthusiastic students with an affinity for gaming and auto racing. You need to have sufficient knowledge of satellite navigation (dgps), and telecom (GPRS) technology, and/or computer science (especially game and virtual world applications). Good written and spoken English is a must. Furthermore, you need to be pro-active and flexible. For more details visit our Talent section.

iOpener moves to ESA site in Noordwijk (NED)

Monday, April 02, 2007

As a participant in the European Space Agency Business incubation initiative, iOpener relocated their head office to the ESA site in Noordwijk, the Netherlands today. This aims to facilitate an optimal knowledge transfer and enhanced co-operation between the ESA and iOpener in addressing the integration of Real-time data into (serious) game applications; using satellite navigation technology.
iOpener's new location information:

iOpener BV
ESA/ESTEC
Keplerlaan 1 - Mb 020
2200 AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands

Kick-off event European Satellite Navigation Competition on 25 April 2007 (in Dutch)

Thursday, March 29, 2007

De Kennisalliantie Z-H en de Provincie Zuid-Holland organiseren in samenwerking met ESA de regionale wedstrijd voor de European Satellite Navigation Competition (Galileo Masters Competition). Inzenden kan in de periode 1/05/07 tot 31/0707. De competitie daagt bedrijven, onderzoeksinstituten, onderwijsinstellingen, studenten en particulieren uit om nieuwe toepassingen in te zenden die gebruik maken van satelliet navigatiesystemen, zoals bijvoorbeeld Galileo, dat momenteel in ESA verband ontwikkeld wordt.

U bent van harte welkom op deze kick-off.

Sprekers

- Niels Eldering (ESA): Laatste stand van het Galileo-systeem
- Andy Lürling (iOpener bv) de regionale winnaar van 2006
- Thorsten Rudolph (AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen):       Voorwaarden voor de wedstrijd
- Ludwig Holtzapffel (Octrooi Centrum NL) over geheimhouding en octrooien

Tijd
16.00 tot 19.00 uur.
De kick-off wordt afgesloten met een borrel.

Plaats
Sociëteit Het Meisjeshuis
Oude Delft 114
2611 CG Delft

iOpener and ESA sign incubator contract

Thursday, March 15, 2007

 iOpener today signed a contract to participate in the European Space Agency Business incubation initiative.

The European Space Agency, in participation with Senternovem (body of Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs) provides seed funding to iOpener. Additionally, the initiative will involve mutual knowledge transfer between iOpener and the ESA, and both parties are extremely positive about the benefits of this relationship.

In the coming months, iOpener's focus will be on the development of iOpener's initial product the 'real-time live play' feature for games.

iOpener article in ESA Today

Monday, March 12, 2007

Galileo Masters, the European Satellite Navigation Competition, is an international event that seeks to help the creation of new applications and services for the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) industry.

Everybody is a Formula-1 driver thanks to Galileo Satellite

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Who doesn't dream of it?
Racing against Michael Schumacher in the Formula 1 and against Jeroen Bleekemolen in the A1 Grand Prix. Or competing in the Paris-Dakar rally. It could become real thanks to a new, exciting idea for an application of navigation satellite technology. 'Real-time Racing' is the Dutch contestant for the European Galileo Masters 2006 Competition. The results will be announced on Monday 23 October 2006.
The idea is simple. On the one hand, you have reality: a race in which every car, motorbike or boat has a small satellite transponder integrated. All race data about the location and the behaviour of the drivers goes in to one central computer. On the other hand, you have the virtual world: a race fan with his (game) computer, logged-in on the internet. Integrate the data of the reality real-time in the virtual world and every race fan and gamer can race virtually, but live against the professionals on race days.
Dutch company iOpener invented the 'Real-time Racing Game' and won the Dutch award for the Galileo Masters 2006 Competition.  The competition aims to stimulate the development of new applications using navigation satellite technology. Commercial director Andy Lürling says, "Our idea has received a lot of attention in the gaming industry and there is also interest in the racing world. Right now we are focusing full speed ahead on the development of the game".

The Challenge
Before race fans can really log-in for an A1 or Formula-1 Grand Prix in Germany or Australia, a few things need to happen. Race organisations and teams need to co-operate. The Galileo satellite navigation system needs to be fully operational (until then the less accurate GPS system can be used, enhanced by EGNOS, a European system that improves the fault margin of GPS signals). And the greatest challenge; the software still needs to be written which links the real world to the virtual world.
What, for example, would you do if, as gamer, you crash into the car of Schumacher? Or if two cars crash in front of the nose of the gamer? All those things will be covered, assures Lürling, "We really use all data, even that of the race teams; petrol, tires, motor oil and weather data. This is how the most optimal race experience will be achieved". iOpener has patented their solution, and hopes to launch the game by the end of 2008.

Business Incubator
iOpener is also a promising candidate for the ESA techno starters centre (ESA Business Incubator) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, where the company can further develop their game. Should iOpener win the European Galileo Masters 2006 Competition, they will win six months free office space the support and expertise of ESA's navigation specialists.
If it is up to Lürling, the racing game is just the beginning. Urban games (for example, hide-and-seek type games, such as www.ditisdedruppel.nl) can be made even more exciting with satellite navigation: 'actually our idea applies to all things in the real live world to which you could attach a satellite transponder. The opportunities are endless'.
The Galileo Masters Competition 2006 Nederland is organised in partnership with ESA's Technology Transfer programme, the Province of Zuid-Holland, the city of Leiden, West-Holland Foreign Investment Agency (WFIA), Centre for Technology and Innovation Management (CeTIM) and the Chamber of Commerce Rijnland. The European winner will be announced at the Systems exhibition in Munich on 23 October 2006:
http://www.systems-world.de

iOpener launches new 'Real-time Racing Game' website

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

iOpener is delighted to announce the launch of the logo and website for it's new revolutionary 'Real-time Racing Game'. The site provides an overview of the unique features of this game. This is the first game which will be developed, based on technology patented by iOpener. The site describes both the patent and the development, from first idea to current status. We encourage you to visit the site and would very much welcome your feedback.

iOpener to exhibit at annual Systems exhibition in Munich: 23-27 October 2006

Monday, October 02, 2006

If you would like to meet with one of iOpener's delegates during the exhibition, please contact Andy Lürling by e-mail or phone prior to the exhibition to schedule a meeting. During the exhibition, you can find us in the Satellite Navigation area in Hall 5 at Stand 316-08.

iOpener regional winner of the 2006 Galileo Master Competition

Friday, September 29, 2006

It was announced today by the European Space Agency (esa) that iOpener is this year's regional winner of the Galileo Master competition for it's innovative 'Real-time Racing Game'. This European Satellite Navigation competition is being organised for the third time throughout Europe under the patronage of the Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Erwin Huber. This year the competition had been extended to include contestants whose concepts are already currently achievable through available satellite navigation systems, such as GPS, GLONASS and EGNOS and will experience a significant enhancement through the GALILEO system. On 23 October 2006, iOpener, as regional winner, will represent Holland in the European final of the Galileo Masters 2006, in Munich, and hopes to become overall winner for 2006.