While many technologies and platforms hope to become “the backbone of the metaverse” it’s the 5G cellular carriers, and the routing switches and hardware that they use to share all of that low-latency, high-speed data, that is at the heart of every connected immersive experience in AR and VR. Data networks are the “sine qua non” of spatial computing — without them the rest is impossible.
Enter Leslie Shannon, Head of Ecosystem and Trend Scouting at Nokia (yes that Nokia), whose job is to survey the current and future technology landscapes and report back to the engineers, technicians, and IT people planning network standards. This full-spectrum view of next-gen computing ensures that the future data needs of emerging technologies are included when standards like 6G roll-out.
Good news, Leslie reports that 6G seems like it will be built to support tech like the metaverse, drones, industrial IOT, blockchain, and more.
We love the way this episode winds up on a human note, with a vision of heads-up augmented reality glasses that will reconnect us with the world and people around us. “By 2030 the AR headset will replace our phones” Leslie predicts. And all the things we do individually, staring down at smartphones will be brought into digital layers on the world around us—hopefully enabling us to interact and engage with common tasks.
Gamified house cleaning, anyone? Thanks to Voxelguy, that's a thing! (https://youtu.be/ipC-rHJn9W8)
Keep an eye out for Leslie's upcoming book on immersive technologies!