Microsoft is one of the front runners in the race of the metaverse. Staya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft in his keynote in Microsoft Build Conference 2022 talked about their innovation building hardware and a diverse set of applications that transcend the metaverse.
In this blog post, I will walk you through the different Metaverse innovations Microsoft is developing as mentioned by Satya Nadella. He talked about Microsoft Teams, Mesh for Teams and Azure. He also talked about the 1 million Trees initiative by Accenture in the World Economic Forum 2022. At the end, I will briefly describe the Industrial Metaverse Solution by Microsoft that is already taking place.
WHAT IS MICROSOFT BUILD CONFERENCE?
Microsoft Build conference is an annual conference of all the new products and services built by the microsoft community. In the 2022 edition of Build Conference, Statya Nadella will talk about 10 technologies in his keynote ranging from Microsoft Dev Box to Windows 365 to Metaverse.
Microsoft Build Conference 2022 is a virtual conference that allows developers and tech enthusiasts to participate from around the globe. It was kicked off from May 24, 2022 at 11:45 AM ET till May 26, 2022.
Everyone can attend the Build 2022 conference virtually buy you need to register for the event on this link. There are hundreds of sessions you can choose to attend and here is the full catalog of the sessions.
MICROSOFT BUILD CONFERENCE 2022 ON METAVERSE
Much has happened in the metaverse space across industries. 3D Immersive games are helping to build community and connection. HoloLens is being used across different scenarios and industries from telehealth to factories.
Behind this, Microsoft has been building software and platforms for you to build richer applications for the metaverse. All of these was highlighted in Microsoft Build Conference 2022 on Metaverse. In the section, I will briefly highlight some of the new applications/improvements Microsoft is bringing to facilitate the metaverse.
MICROSOFT TEAMS
The first improvement as highlighted by Satya Nadella in his keynote of Microsoft Build Conference 2022 is Microsoft Teams.
For all those who don’t know about Microsoft Teams, it is basically a workspace application for video conferencing, workspace chat, file storage, etc. It provides a virtual environment for working with your teams. It is similar to Slack.
Team acts like a metaverse environment. Microsoft has bought 3 new features in Team to facilitate metaverse. They are discussed below.
FRONT ROW
Front row technique is brough in Team Rooms. Teams Rooms is a virtual metaverse environment in Microsoft Teams that collaborates the digital workspace and the audio & video hardwares.
Front row in Microsoft Teams will allow you to talk to your teammates face to face. It will seem that you are sitting in the same room and talking with them at eye level.
INTELLIGENT CAMERAS
Diverse hardware is also being integrated to support Microsoft Teams. Intelligent cameras are added in meeting rooms. This will make your meeting with your roommates to be more natural, personal and inclusive.
AI & TEAM ROOMS
Latest AI techniques are being added with Team Rooms as said by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. These AI techniques in Team Rooms will remove the wall between digital and physical participation.
You will be able to present the same PowerPoint presentation together with your colleagues as you are present with him in the same location even you are sitting in remote location.
MESH FOR TEAMS
Presence is the ultimate killer application. By this line, he was referring to the concept of metaverse. Metaverse allows you to be present anywhere, anytime, etc. Any application that can make you want to be anywhere will dominate the world.
Microsoft Mesh is a mixed reality (MR) application that enables presence and shared experiences from anywhere – on any device.
AVATARS DIGITAL TWIN
With mesh for teams, you can create your own expressive avatars. Avatars are the digital twin of yourself. It will look and interact like you. The avatar will be there even when you are not physically present in front of the cameras.
Moreover, you can interact with all the objects and artifacts in the meeting with your avatars or digital twin.
MESH AS PLATFORM SERVICE IN AZURE
Mesh is being built as a platform service in Azure. Azure is a cloud computing service provided by Microsoft.
This will enable you to build your own immersive worlds in the metaverse. Moreover, this will be accessible from anywhere on any device like VR Headsets, HoloLens, mobile, PCs, etc. This will ensure that you as a developer or as a user are bound to any one device.
1 TRILLION TREES INITIATIVE IN WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM 2022
A good example of mesh as a platform drive in Azure is the 1 Trillion trees initiative of Accenture in World Economic forum 2022.
1 trillion trees initiative is a virtual forest or a forest metaverse built using Microsoft Mesh. This was built to educate, unite and promote reforestation efforts worldwide.
INDUSTRIAL METAVERSE SOLUTION
Microsoft is a leading solution partner and frontrunner in providing industrial metaverse solutions. Satya Nadella talked much about this in Microsoft Build Conference 2022 on Metaverse. They are helping companies to optimize their operation and automate, simulate, etc using Microsoft products like
- Microsoft Mesh
- HoloLens platform
- Microsoft Teams
- Digital twins
Satya Nadella highlighted some of the companies and industries that are using industrial metaverse solutions form Microsoft. The companies included
- Abinbev
- Novo Nordisk
- Marks And Spencer
- Kawasaki Heavy Industries
I will briefly explain them in the next sections.
AB INBEV
Ab InBev is one of the world’s largest brewing companies based in Belgium. This company is using Microsoft’s metaverse stack to track every beer bottle made by them from the wheat field to distribution.
NOVO NORDISK
Novo Nordisk is a leading global healthcare company having headquarters in Denmark. This company is using Microsoft Mixed Reality using HoloLens. It helps them to optimize their pharmaceutical production while meeting regulatory requirements of the country they are operating.
MARKS AND SPENCER
Mark and Spencer (M&S) is a British multinational company which specializes in selling clothing, beauty, home products and food products. They are using data generated by every surface, screen and scanner in their stores to track store performance and customer experience in real time using AI.
KAWASAKI HEAVY INDUSTRIES
Kawasaki Heavy Industries is a Japanese public multinational corporation which manufactures motorcycles, engines, heavy equipment, aerospace and defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, etc.
They are using Microsoft’s technologies and platform to create an industrial metaverse solution. This brings their distributed workforce together within their network of connected equipment.
END NOTE
Metaverse is one of the 10 technologies Satya Nadella talked about in his keynote in Microsoft Build Conference 2022 on metaverse. In this blogpost, I have briefly explained about all the Microsoft applications and technology being built by them for the metaverse.
You came to know about front row, intelligent cameras and AI & Team rooms for Microsoft Teams. Expressive Avatars, Mesh as platform service in Azure and 1 trillion trees initiative was also described.
At last, I highlighted Microsoft’s Industrial metaverse solution that are being used across big companies for different purposes. More news and information will be updated on Microsoft Build Conference 2022 on Metaverse.
