LAS VEGAS – Consumer and enterprise excitement and interest about concepts like the metaverse stems from its ability to bring so many disruptive technologies into one place – but it’s also a concept that isn’t ready for the hype around it.
The metaverse is a vision that many believe will usher in the next phase of the internet – a virtual world that combines “web connectivity and immersive spatial computingsaid Neil Trivett, vice president of developer ecosystems at Nvidia and chair of the Metaverse Standards Forum. Trivet spoke during the “Road to Metaverse Open” session at the Global Technology Conference CES 2023 Thursday, at a panel with other business leaders in virtual reality and the metaverse.
“It’s the GPU, it’s the XR, it’s virtual reality, it’s Web3 and the magic dust, and it’s the artificial intelligence and machine learning that makes everything magical,” Trivett said. “When you put these potentially disruptive technologies together, interesting things happen.”
When you put these potentially disruptive technologies together, interesting things happen.
Neil TrevittVice President of Developer Ecosystems, NVIDIA
But the metaverse has yet to emerge, so Forrester analyst JP Gownder issued a word of warning to companies looking to invest in the metaverse.
“In 2023, metaverse technology vendors need to focus on the nuts and bolts of business fundamentals,” said Thubder. “If they show a flashy demo but don’t have any customers? That’s a red flag.”
While Trivet warned business leaders to avoid getting caught Metaverse He said they should now prepare for it.
“It will gradually creep into our lives,” he said. “People really need to be aware of the opportunities that are being created.”
Nvidia points to Digital Twins as a metaverse use case
Nvidia offers the omniverse platform companies through which to develop digital twinor an accurate simulation of a real-world structure, such as a train yard or building, in a virtual world.
The platform enables collaboration with its virtual tools, which Danny Shapiro, vice president of Automotive at Nvidia, describes as “Google Docs for 3D environments.” Shapiro spoke during Deloitte’s analyst fair CES “Playing to Win in the Metaverse” session.
“It’s about creating a digital twin or a 3D model of an environment, product or experience,” Shapiro said during the session. “This is where we see him go.”
Shapiro said Mercedes-Benz is using the end-to-end platform to create a digital twin of an entire factory, including the assembly line and the people needed to operate the machine.
“Everything was designed in a simulator before they built the real factory,” Shapiro said. He said that the tool can be used in any industry.
For Forrester’s gownder, organizations may have more opportunity in metaverse-style experiences of employee collaboration, such as what Accenture has done on the “Nth Floor,” the name of its metaverse learning and collaboration platform. However, it’s still a growing area, Thubder said, noting the Meta’s struggles with its own metaverse experience Horizon Workrooms.
“Different employee experiences can be tangible and measurable – creating training and onboarding scenarios that bring people together across geographies,” he said.
Hardware, interoperability are still obstacles
Increased enterprise interest and investment around use cases such as digital twins and collaboration could lead to more cutting-edge devices in 2023, said Edwina Fitzmaurice, chief global customer success officer at technology company EY and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council, who studies concepts such as metaverse. Fitzmaurice spoke in session with Nvidia’s Trevett.
“I think we will see augmented reality glasses come out for the first time in a meaningful way,” she said during the session. “We may start to see some really good applications start to emerge for this.”
Devices such as VR headsets that consumers and organizations use to access virtual worlds are expensive and often heavy for long-term wear, making adoption of these tools slow.
Better hardware and interoperability, and easier access between the speakers Virtual worlds can’t come close enough to make virtual projects more valuable in the long term, according to CES attendee Carlos Colazos, founder of multimedia creative firm C+8 Design.
Collazos said C+8 has been commissioned to build a nuclear power plant in virtual reality in 2023. Viewing the final product will be limited to those with a select VR headset to access it.
“The Meta headset, the Meta Quest, works really well for the purpose of this, to show the people who are invested in it what it sounds like,” he said. “But in the end, anything you build you want to be more for the masses.”
Mackenzie Holland is a news writer covering big tech and federal regulations. Prior to joining TechTarget Editorial, she was a general reporter at TechTarget Wilmington Star News and correspondent for crime and education in Wabash is an ordinary dealer.
