IBM sales representatives in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have begun staffing the company's virtual Business Center in Second Life, signaling the growing popularity of so-called immersive online worlds.

"The real reason why we're doing this is because we do feel the beginning of a major transformation on how people are going to interact on the web, going from a flat to an immersive experience," Maggie Blayney, director of global web strategy and innovation at IBM, told Reuters.

Earlier this summer, IBM began staffing its Second Life Business Center with employees in North America and Europe.

Blayney says IBM doesn't believe the virtual world will replace the two-dimensional internet experience, but she does think destinations like Second Life offer a nice complement to the online experience.

IBM's website boasts 250 million annual visitors compared to just 10,000 visitors to its Second Life Business Center.

While the numbers make it easy to dismiss IBM's venture as a lackluster marketing ploy, Adam Broitman of Morpheus Media said IBM is conducting an important experiment in an emerging space.

"As marketers continue to abandon their experimentations in Second Life like lemmings, computer giant IBM continues to support their experimentation within the virtual world," Broitman said. "IBM however is not necessary leveraging this new platform for marketing purposes; rather they see Second Life as a model for things to come. A model capable of enhancing the way we learn and share information on a global scale."

According to Broitman, it's an experiment that will pay dividends for IBM as well as the rest of the internet as virtual worlds continue to develop.