History

2010-2012

The vision for ZetaWorlds was first forged on two small regions on an already establish grid. The idea was simple, provide an open-minded place for everyone to call their home. Over time that idea became a self-runner and grew into providing not just parcels, but regions and more. Zetamex grew out of this original idea, but so did the desire to create something more. It became clear the best approach to provide good service was to push OpenSim itself and that meant digging into it and pulling it as far apart as possible to uncover the hidden potential.

How better to do that than to fork the whole thing and take a hacksaw to it; Aurora was born. Initially just to demonstrate what was possible and what OpenSim in a way refused to acknowledge. It had great promise working on the features that, at the time, seemed the most needed. Forward thinking and performance being on the agenda of the Aurora team aligned well with the vision for a technology demonstrator grid. Both to attract new people, and potential customers, and to further the development. This looked like the future.

2013-2015

In 2013 ZetaWorlds existed as an Aurora/Whitecore grid, then called AuroraScape, with the idea to further the development of the platform and provide a somewhat stable environment for people to experience the benefits the platform had. Unfortunately the good connections made here did not last long and over time the project faded into abandonment. ZetaWorlds stayed on the platform until there was simply no way to continue on. OpenSim meanwhile was making steady, but slow, progress and after a while became the platform with the better future and so ZetaWorlds moved platforms. This meant a complete restart as not much of the old was compatible with the new.

Fairly soon after the switch the parent company, Zetamex, began to change and the grid fell once again on the backburner. It remained a technology demonstrator, but without much of a purpose still. After the restructuring was almost complete it became apparent that fresh wind was needed to revive the project and get its gears turning again. The grid officially entered beta and more attention was given toward defining more concrete goals for it. Much of the current legacy was written here.

Zetamex, now Zetamex Network; A shift of ownership and a renewed interest in pushing the grid not just as a demonstrator for technology, but much more. ZetaWorlds became the forerunner in technology with the shift to file-based assets and advances to its network. The idea was simple enough, provide the most stable and best-performing experience for its users. With many stuck on long obsolete principals the grid began to challenge the established norms and thinking outside the box became the big mantra.

2016-2018

With the shift to newer technology and systems complete everyone, operators and users, started to settle in. It was not long until a community started to form and the grid started to shake up the metaverse. Everything was running like clockwork, perhaps even a little bit too well. There was less and less noise to report and eventually the overall tight, but fairly quiet community we have today began to form. The foundations had been made and there was nothing more to do than to enjoy the building ahead.

The creation of the Ocean project and a renewed interest in pushing the grids performance a new strategy was adopted. No longer would the grid sit around, instead it would grease its gears and plow itself to the bleeding edge. Advances were made on an almost daily basis and it meant only one thing; To keep its promise of performance, stability and capability the grid was going to chase the very latest technology OpenSim had to offer. This came along with the realization that much could be improved with little fixes here and there and so ZetaSim, a custom flavor designed specifically to take advantage of the grids technologies was created.

Over half a decade the project had evolved and grown mature to a point that allowed some leisure in the daily operations and so beside the celebrations marking the fifth anniversary the days were quiet. Much time was spent by everyone just enjoying what had become not just a vessel to call home, but a beacon in times of growth around the metaverse, which more often than not spawned entities you would not wish upon your worst enemy. It was clear that transparency and freedom were the big points that would draw loyal people and so began the campaign to embrace the open nature of the grid.

2019-2021

Over the years ZetaWorlds underwent numerous drastic changes and adapted a forward-thinking approach. The changes became more subtle and advancements made changed from raw performance to stability and usability. One of the biggest changes was yet approaching on the horizon. It was always the intention of the OpenSim project to completely implement everything "to spec". To do so many individual modules had to come together, but now a new one would finally provide the bandaid for a long-running wound. YEngine, the big brother to XEngine would finally bring the script engine realm into alignment with the specifications most are familiar with. It was decided to embrace this new module, as untested as it was.

Further advances were made to bring more parts of ZetaSim in line with the modular vision OpenSim once had. OpenSim itself continues its steady development these days in close conjunction with ZetaWorlds. Many of the problems fixed in recent times were first reported from here with it becoming the testing grounds for some longterm tests with stability and performance in mind. There are new things on the horizon still, as always, and ZetaWorlds continues to grow steadily in all departments.

ZetaWorlds kept growing which meant by the time the 8th birthday came around the times without a soul on the grid were far and few between. The activity warranted new hardware and more resources dedicated to maintain the performance. Meanwhile advances to OpenSim and the underlying architecture greatly reduced the resource requirements, ultimately leading to ZetaWorlds running better than it has ever been. Small improvements and adjustments still happening on a daily basis. The work never stops, but the foundation being solid and strong there is ever more opportunity for growth and prosperity as they say. As the world is becoming a more complex web to navigate there is some solice in the constants on ZetaWorlds; the more things change the more they stay the same, albeit in a good way that is.

2021-2023

The involvement in the OpenSim project grew heavily and contributions first tested on ZetaWorlds found their way into it. The community expanded and new staff members came aboard to handle the growing challenge of maintaining the grids various systems and capabilities. Big changes were on the horizon so work began to handle those as gracefully as possible as OpenSim moved forward to a newew runtime version.

The mission hasn't changed, but the goals have moved towards not just providing a testing platform for changes, but providing research into new features and capabilities as well. From re-engineering problematic areas of the OpenSim codebase, to enhancing existing features with logical additions. All the while maintaining a highly stable and available platform for the community and educators alike.

A growing community requiring greater care and involvement leading to new staff members joining the team to provide critical services and support. Splitting workloads and allowing for new capabilities to be offer to the grid's community and the greater metaverse. Building spaces aimed to bring the community together and fill the void left by previous communal places vanishing into the pages of history. Something that requires a lot of dedicated time and great effort to achieve for the years to come.

With a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the metaverse and the direction dictated by various factors, but certainly hopeful as new pillars in community and development announce themselves. Actively taking a role as grid, with the experience and knowledge, as well as developers, shaping new standards and systems to strengthen the position of OpenSim itself. A lofty goal with many hours and days of hard work and many more to come, but ultimately a necessity for the project and the metaverse.

2023->

The future is what we make of it as a community, grid, developer and people.