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The makers of Second Life claim this is "the first time an avatar has moved from one virtual world to another" and that it is the first step to allowing users to pass between any two systems online without hindrance.

"It's an important first step toward enabling avatars to pass freely between virtual worlds, something we've been working toward publicly since the formation of the Architecture Working Group in September 2007," says a post on the Linden Labs blog<

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The move was made possible thanks to research between IBM and Linden Lab on the Open Grid Protocol, a framework which would allow different virtual worlds to operate "independently, yet interoperate to form a cohesive experience".

The tools and code used to perform the transfer will be released under an open source licence to further encourage different metaverses to support the protocol.

IBM and Linden Labs have previously worked together to create private areas of Second Life hosted on IBM's own servers.

The move allowed the company to hold meetings within the virtual world without worrying about trade secrets being exposed to the public or its competitors.

Earlier this week Google announced the launch of its own virtual world, dubbed Lively. The metaverse allows the creation of rooms which can be accessed online and embedded into existing websites such as Facebook.