Microsoft Unveils Its AR/VR Vision for the Future of Work

HoloBeam in action. (Image courtesy of Valorem.)

If you imagine the workplace of the future with the mind of a futurist, you likely have some type of holographic, immersive and omni-haptic environment in mind. In this vision, you might even conjure an experience that puts all relevant data at your fingertips and makes it possible to communicate with your colleagues face to face, even if they’re stationed a world away.

For decades, these types of scenarios have been relegated to the realm of science fiction. Now, they’re becoming reality. Microsoft recently debuted its entry into the workplace of the future.

During a demonstration held at Microsoft’s annual Inspire conference,Microsoft Product and Program Managers Raanah Amjadi, Sonia Dara and Daniel Escapa used HoloBeam, a holographic telepresence technology created by Valorem, to collaboratively assess and dissect a 3D hologram of the Rigado Cascade IoT gateway.

“HoloBeam is a great example of using mixed reality and holograms to allow colleagues to work together in a fully interactive 3D experience,”said Escapa, Microsoft’s Azure IoT Smart Buildings Division.

During the demo, all members of the Microsoft team were able to interact in a mixed-reality space to make critical design decisions about a case-study product. While the engineering team was able to make decisions about supply and design strategies, the marketing and executive members of the meeting had the opportunity to weigh in on the product and assess how their teams could move the design process forward from their end of the business.

“Today we’ve shown you our vision for the future of work and how we can leverage the power of AI and mixed reality to connect our physical and digital spaces,” Amjadi said. “In this multi-sense, multi-device world, we can now create opportunities for anyone to collaborate in more immersive ways.”