Huntsville's i3 Joins VR/AR Association, Starts Local Chapter as It Expands to Orlando

Integration Innovation Inc., known as i3, has joined the Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Association (VRARA). The Huntsville-based company builds virtual and augmented reality training products for the military, and several of those products have won awards over the past couple of years.

As part of its membership, i3 has launched a Huntsville chapter of the association. The company also recently opened a permanent office in Orlando, Florida.

Jeff Cunningham, president of the VRARA Central Florida chapter, welcomed the new member. "We are excited to have i3 join the VR/AR Association," he said. "One of the goals of the association is to provide support to our members to help them with their business goals and to connect them within the XR community both locally and around the globe."

CJ Jacobs, i3's chief growth officer, said the company is eager to take part in association activities. He said i3 looks forward to engaging with other members of what he described as a growing community in both the Orlando and Huntsville areas. According to Jacobs, i3's participation in the Central Florida chapter will support cross-chapter collaboration with Huntsville personnel and with the forthcoming Huntsville chapter, which will extend the Central Florida chapter.

The company's training and simulation products are designed to make training faster and more effective than the Department of Defense's more standard materials, such as PDFs and PowerPoints.

Jacobs described Orlando as a key location known for its strength in modeling, simulation and training for the Department of Defense. He said the city offers many opportunities to work more closely with current and future customers and to build working relationships with other area companies. In his words, those companies' mindsets "align perfectly" with i3's mission statement: "Growing people while solving our nation's toughest problems."

i3's immersive training products and serious games have won recognition. They include the Best Overall Award and the People's Choice Award at the 2021 I/ITSEC Iron Dev Competition. I/ITSEC is described as the world's largest modeling, simulation and training event.

Although the company specializes in military applications, it has also worked in health care. i3 developed the Virtual Reality Simulated Delirium Environment, an immersive VR training setting that lets health-care workers experience the real-world effects of delirium.