Prior to being quarantined, much of the world’s understanding of Virtual Reality (VR) surrounded the gaming industry. As a nice-to-have platform largely used by gamer enthusiasts, VR and other XR solutions have quickly become a need-to-have for businesses across industries. Today, only five months since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global pandemic, organizations are looking beyond 2D web video to provide an immersive experience unlike anything else to their customers, employees, and communities.
With client needs rapidly demanding enterprise-ready XR solutions, Trace3 is currently supporting projects in academia, manufacturing, entertainment, and healthcare. As a technology solutions provider, and leader in innovative services and emerging tech research, Trace3 has been meticulous in helping our clients get ahead of the curve through our Venture Capital Briefing program. By taking an engaging look at a client’s environment and needs, our VC program connects them to the most effective emerging technologies to provide transformative results for their business.
Given that the remote work model is here to stay, recently one of Trace3’s longtime clients and VC regulars has engaged our team to implement a solution around a new VR pilot. The multinational automotive manufacturer is exploring new VR platforms with Trace3 to support remote assistance use cases on the manufacturing floor— allowing content or 3D models to be seen up close while collaborating with others via avatars.
Tom Funk, principal technologist at Trace3 and VR/AR expert is supporting this client and others to focus their strategy on new XR technology platforms capable of multiple scaling options. “XR lets you ‘walk through’ a digital twin of a physical asset (data center, retail store, manufacturing floor, etc.) and simulate optimizations or explore 3D models up close. More importantly, it allows collaboration across distances,” he shares. “To deliver collaborative opportunities for industry-specific use cases, our ability to assist with rapid 3D modeling, rendering, and AI training through Nvidia or with partner support, including events like concerts or conferences, is showing our clients just how versatile Trace3 is.”
The ability to connect with others without physically being at risk is a value that is evolving this new era of business, especially in the entertainment industry. A well-known organization responsible for putting on one of the most notable outdoor music festivals of our time is exploring the XR space with Trace3 with hopes to take their globally recognized event virtual. It doesn’t get much more compelling than an industry leader demonstrating their relevance and transformative edge by showing how they will continue to operate in interactive space. Especially when the consensus among virtual event attendees seems to be that 2D web events have become commonplace, and the value of an immersive experience is worth their time and dollars.
Given that the environment now requires an increasing number of virtual events, this notion is being explored at all levels. From executive-led “stage” presentations to event breakout rooms and social hour activities, XR technology is being justified and explored. In addition, large B2C product groups are reviewing technologies that support the new hybrid work model where they anticipate 50 percent of their workforce will continue to operate remotely and the other 50 percent will come in the office; therefore diving into new collaboration technologies that bridge the gaps between Zoom, Slack and Teams.
One of our latest partners in this category is HTC Vive, with their Virtual Events and Virtual Campus platforms. Alvin Graylin, HTC President, China is very excited to be partnering with Trace3, as the team has connected him to one of our tier one clients looking to leverage Vive technology. “It’s been a great pleasure working with Trace3, they are deeply connected to their clients and have proven to be an outstanding resource in connecting HTC to the right companies that are ready for growth.”
Trace3 and its partners are also leveraging AR marks, AR video markup apps and remote POV. To learn more about Trace3’s VC Program or how to get involved, visit: https://www.trace3.com/innovation/vc-briefings or contact VRARA Member, Savitha Srinivasan at SSrinivasan@trace3.com
Contact
Name: Savitha Srinivasan
Email Address: ssrinivasan@trace3.com
Website URL: https://www.trace3.com/
