The workplace is preparing for a major shift aas the Metaverse progresses to reality
The metaverse workplace may seem like a distant possibility, but innovators have been planning how to make it a reality over the last few years. Meaning ‘beyond’ and ‘a single, unified entity’, the Metaverse will reshape how people explore ideas, socialise, and work with a new spatial communications environment.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, tech firms and enthusiasts have worked to develop the Metaverse with Web3 technologies. Issues with Zoom fatigue, intermittent connectivity, and other hybrid meeting concerns have sparked a drive for future XR technologies. As the Metaverse develops, creatives and computer scientists will give birth to innovations never seen before.
Despite the industry and media focusing on gamers, artists, and virtual real estate, the Metaverse shows the real possibility of changing how businesses operate. Here’s a quick look at the next Internet iteration.
Defining the Metaverse
The Metaverse aims to supersede the Internet as the next communications platform, combining Internet connectivity and spatial computing. It will offer shared virtual spaces to combine the physical and virtual worlds using virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) technologies.
Although many are unclear on the specific definition of the Internet, most agree it will involve multiple technologies. Users will pilot digital avatars to explore immersive worlds with XR technologies to shop, socialise, research, game, and travel. It also aims to remain decentralised, offering open-source ownership of the virtual domain similarly to today’s modern-day Web 2.0.
Tech firms large and small are building the virtual spaces of tomorrow. Firms such as Virbela, Meta Platforms, ENGAGEXR, Spatial, Arthur, NVIDIA Omniverse, Microsoft, Pico Interactive, Varjo, HTC VIVE, and UPWorlds are all working to build these platforms. Some use open-source platforms for transparency and flexibility, while others rely on proprietary coding and technologies.
The Value of the Metaverse Workplace
There are a growing number of potential use cases arising for the Metaverse. Numerous firms have created successful platforms aimed at accommodating collaboration and socialisation.
For example, Meta Platforms has leveraged its Horizon Worlds suite of applications in recent months. These will provide immersive worlds where people socialise, play games, attend concerts, and even work simultaneously.
No matter a person’s location, this and similar platforms aim to keep people connected in VR, with AR slowly rising as a new format for interacting with other users and digital content.
At the enterprise level, Adobe and Autodesk leverage impressive cloud-based technologies to provide cutting-edge collaborative tools for the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. These firms have teamed up with Epic Games and Unity — two of the world’s largest gaming engines.
Professionals no longer need to meet in the exact physical location but can develop complex components such as aircraft, cars, and buildings with XR tools.
Following Qualcomm’s debut of the Snapdragon AR2 platform, the Metaverse has moved closer to becoming a strong possibility. Future smart glass designers will now have unprecedented processing power and form factor. These will deliver next-generational devices for the XR consumer and enterprise market.
Redefining the Metaverse Workplace
Concluding, the Metaverse is closer to realising its full potential with the entry of new devices, solutions, and platforms. Greater connectivity and a merger of 5G, cloud and edge computing, and artificial intelligence (AI) will empower future solutions. Telecoms are key to achieving such goals.
Latency issues and connectivity problems will fade as customers at the consumer and business level will enjoy smaller devices. Telecoms will also process data at the edge of networks, offloading computing stress from devices to telecoms infrastructure. This will allow component designers to process data with greater battery life, cooler operating temperatures, and faster computing times.
Businesses will enjoy multiple benefits of such connectivity as they can access massive catalogues of data on-demand. Employers will also leverage remote guidance tools connected across brands. This will allow a more diverse number of interoperable solutions to meet specified key points indicators (KPIs).
Soon, the Metaverse will converge with greater interoperability and industry-level standards. As an industry, such efforts will bring the Metaverse from an idealistic dream to a tangible (virtual) reality.
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