Meta (formerly Facebook) is not the only one interested in the concept of “metaverse”. During its Ignite conference dedicated to CIOs, whose keynote took place on November 2, Microsoft said it wanted to create a “metaverse for the company”. In fact, it integrates its Mesh product, unveiled last March, into its Teams group chat software.
Avatars as an alternative to video in Teams
Basically, Mesh is a collaborative work solution in virtual reality. It allows several remote users to come together in the form of avatars in a 3D environment. They can also import 3D objects, for example to do a design review. Mesh is an evolution of AltspaceVR, which Microsoft bought for a pittance in 2017. The application works with virtual reality headsets under Windows, with HoloLens 2 headsets, but also with a simple PC or a smartphone.
“Mesh for Teams” will be rolled out gradually in 2022, first in beta. What will this integration consist of? Teams users will have a third choice in addition to “video on” or “video off”. They can appear as an avatar, a simplified representation of themselves in 3D. Microsoft sees it as a way to make videoconferencing more “engaging” while sparing the existential fatigue of employees who type video meetings all day.
An immersive meeting space accessible in one click
It will also be possible for companies to build immersive spaces in which their employees can find themselves virtually. These will be accessible directly from Teams. As for Spatial or other applications of the same kind, we can among other things display documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint …) on a large virtual whiteboard and brainstorm remotely in a reproduction of a “classic” meeting. .
This is what set up Accenture with One Accenture Park, a space which it uses to welcome its new employees. Around a hundred sessions involving more than 10,000 employees have already taken place. The consulting giant had recently revealed that it had bought 60,000 Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headsets for these “onboarding”. This is one of the discreet information in the announcement: Microsoft’s solution is compatible with Quest 2. At the general launch of Mesh for Teams, only pre-created spaces will be available. Tools to customize them will arrive later.
Another definition of the word “metaverse”
Note that Microsoft applies to the word “metaverse” a very different definition from that of Meta. Instead of a large network interconnecting thousands of independently created experiences, Satya Nadella simply uses it to talk about immersive environments. Thus, “each company will be able to create its metaverse” with Mesh for Teams. These digital twins will be just one more way to collaborate in addition to traditional meetings, videoconferences, emails …
More generally, Microsoft seems to want to put its many cloud services at the service of this vision of a “business metaverse”. Evil tongues might say that this is just a new label for what it already offers … and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. But the democratization of digital twins and the multi-party “immersive presence” has real benefits in some cases.
Another announcement at the Ignite conference was Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces. Previously dedicated to retail and now extended to factories, this solution makes it possible to analyze video streams from cameras placed in a space to optimize spaces. Microsoft’s vision is to eventually be able to track the state of a connected factory or store through perfect digital reproduction, with information being fed back in real time using IoT solutions. For example, it will be possible to inspect the place and make decisions without going there.
