As 3D printing technology progresses, one of the biggest issues businesses will have to deal with is intellectual property theft. 3D designs can quickly be created, and shared online, creating a major obstacle for many 
There are already several online 3d model repositories, such as Thingiverse, which allows designers to offer up their designs for free, but the paid market has not materialized because rampant file sharing. One person can purchase the design, and easily share it with 100 friends or collegues. This is where 3D-Pioneer Systems’ Appaloza platform comes into play.
Today the alpha build of Appaloza was launched. The platform is an e-commerce cloud marketplace, which gives 3d designers a secure place to sell their designs without having to worry about theft.
3D-Pioneer Systems’ CEO, Alexander Tsingos, described the platform as follows, “Appaloza, by the nature of it being created as a Cloud Platform, it is anticipated to
stream data directly to a 3D printer, allowing customers to download the original 3D files. This model is being designed to ensure that a single print of an object will not expose the user’s source file. Appaloza is intended to allow artists the ability to manage their own virtual e-commerce store and sell their original 3D design files directly to customers. Appaloza is also intended to allow customers to view, edit and send designs directly from the cloud to their printer. The secure Cloud Platform being design is intended to enable users to log in, upload or buy designs, select the appropriate type of printer and print projects either directly to their local FDM printer, or via an affiliated third-party printing bureau.”
There is tremendous growth opportunity within the paid 3D design industry, and Appaloza is looking to get a head start on the competition when it comes to secure distribution of these designs. The Platform includes the following features:
- Simple Search Service for making easy product discovery with predictive search suggestions.
- Secure print ability focused on Intellectual Property Rights Protection
- A community for users to share, comment and collaborate on designs and projects
- A virtual marketplace for artists to create and manage their own online store
- Users will have the ability to track analytics on their designs
- Users will have the ability to rate sellers on the marketplace
- Users will have the ability to rate and review and comment on designs
- Users will be able to slice, edit and print designs directly from
- Appaloza to their 3D printer
Note that the Alpha build of Appaloza is for testing and user feedback of the sites functionality, and will not permit users to participate in any transactions. The Beta build, and final release will follow in the coming months ahead. More details on this new marketplace can be found at the Appaloza forum thread. To test out some of the platform’s features, check out the website here.