The integration began in 2016 and has been expanding ever since. Support agents and IT departments can have optimal communications with both external and internal users as a result, increasing customer satisfaction as well as efficiency. Previous features gave ServiceNow users access to remote communication and support sessions within forms such as ServiceRequest, Change Request, ServiceNow Inicident, or Problem.

Now, TeamViewer Pilot uses AR to guide frontline workers and technicians anywhere. 3D object tracking places markers for real-world objects and adds annotations in a live stream for customers or employees to share.

Key enhancements of the integration listed in the article are:

• Improved administration capabilities – new permissions increase control over which people have access, and allows for an easier setup for device access
• Frontline workers, experts, and support agents can directly initiate AR connections from ServiceNow Incidents
• Pilot session invites can be sent to anyone via SMS – phone number and language of the individual are retrieved from within ServiceNow

Alfredo Patron, Executive Vice President of Business Development at TeamViewer, has said that the newly updated app allows for connectivity and technical support through physical tasks. TeamViewer Pilot is beneficial for remote guidance in solving real-world problems, as frontline workers and experts can share a screen and discuss the issue in real-time.

Companies require a ServiceNow license and compatible TeamViewer Tensor plan for the integration. Once they are authorised, the integration can be easily deployed with minimal steps. For more information about the integration, visit here.

The Series A+ investment brings the total funding raised by CREAL to $15.5 million. The round was led by Swisscom Ventures, and included the following investors:

• DAA Capital Partners
• Ariel Luedi
• Investiere

CREAL has made a lot of progress with shrinking its light-field display to fit into AR glasses throughout the last few years. Light-field displays generate images that authentically represent our perception of the physical world. Accommodation and vergence, the two focus mechanisms of the human optic system, are supported by light-field displays. According to CREAL and other sources, the displays provide more comfortable and accurate visuals for ARVR headsets.

After demonstrating the basics of light-field technology, CREAL has been working on miniaturising it to fit inside AR glasses, while still providing a wide, useful field of view. Progress had already been showcased early in 2020 before the pandemic impeded this.

Tomas Sluka, Co-founder of CREAL, has stated that the organisation succeeded in merging its prototype technology with a “head-mounted form-factor”. In addition to this, the funding round was intended to bring in new hires within the job market.

The article concludes by mentioning that CREAL is planning to form partnerships with ARVR headset developers through which it can utilise its technology. CREAL’s goal is to provide a “complete technology package” for AR glasses.

XMReality’s software is used on smartphones, and allows remote technicians to share a view with customers. It also provides overlays and drawings over the real-time view, giving visual instructions on identifying and repairing problems. As well as preventing the need for on-site visits, the Zebra headset also allows for a hands-free experience.

The partnership between Zebra and XMReality demonstrates the increasing connectivity between data hubs and frontline workers via wearable AR technology. Remote employees can access both warehoused data and human expertise with the technology. XMReality’s camera system adapts any Windows computer into a guidance station for remote workers. Its software also supports industrial AR glasses from other AREA members Vuzix and RealWear.

The HD4000 Enterprise HMD (head-mounted display) is also supported by XMReality’s remote guidance software. Weighing only 1.06oz, the HMD is equipped with a 9-axis head tracking sensor for user tracking, uses a 5-megapixel camera to capture field imagery, and has a colour screen to display graphics, video content, and text. The HMD is designed for applications in the following sectors:

• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Warehouse management
• Field mobility

Read the full article here.

Scandit is focusing its marketing, partnership activities, and sales on the following industries of Japanese companies:

• Transport
• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Logistics

The machine learning and computer vision platform combines AR, text recognition, object recognition, and barcode scanning for any smart device equipped with a camera, such as mobile phones or wearables. Advantages of the software mentioned in the article include:

• Speed
• Accuracy
• Ability to scan in bad light
• Ability to scan at any angle
• Ability to scan with damaged labels
• Reduces time and cost of operations
• Empowers employees
• Improves customer engagement / satisfaction

Masahiro Sekine, Senior Sales Director at Scandit GK, has said that early results in Japan showcase “tremendous opportunities”. Digital transformation accelerates once companies witness the benefits of AR smart devices to replace dedicated scanners.

Enterprises in the aforementioned industries are using Scandit for the following:

• Powering mobile apps
• Mobile shopping
• Self-checkout
• Inventory management
• Proof of delivery
• Asset tracking

AEON Retail Co. Ltd. is a leading user of Scandit in the Japanese market. Operating Officer and Chief Officer of System Solution Division, Minoru Yamamoto, has stated expectations for the company with their application “RegiGo”. It integrates Scandit and enables customers to scan products while shopping before they pay, allowing for faster and more convenient shopping. AEON anticipates usage and productivity to improve as a result of Scandit’s Japanese office.

Each year, Scandit performs tens of billions of scans on 100+ million active devices, involving over 20 Japanese companies (mainly in distribution and retail), starting from AEON. Some of Scandit’s other 1,000 international customers include:

• FedEx
• Toyota Motors USA
• Levi Strauss & Co
• 7-Eleven, Inc
• Macy’s
• Alaska Airlines

CEO of Scandit, Samuel Mueller, has said that COVID-19 has made contactless transfer essential. The company’s presence in Japan increases accessibility to contactless scanning solutions in the present and future.

Read the full article here.

Using Kyra (Guardhat’s Industrial IoT platform), Vuzix’s smart glasses connect to Guardhat’s Theia app, allowing the following features:

• Tracking real-time location with in-built GPS
• Wireless connectivity with offline operation when disconnected
• VOIP audio-visual communications
• Local media capture with sync to Kyra
• Voice- and button-activated panic alarm

Anupam Sengupta, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Guardhat, is grateful for the partnership with Vuzix, as it enables them to provide support to workers during the pandemic. Guardhat are always seeking ways to use their technology as a way of maintaining front-line worker safety.

Vuzix’s smart glasses consist of two variants: the HG1 (Vuzix M400) and the HG2 (Vuzix M4000). The differences are that the HG2 has a see-through waveguide display and comes with a larger WVGA colour display (28 degrees, equivalent to a 9” mobile screen seen at 18”). However, both devices use the Qualcomm XR platform, ensuring better performance.

Paul Travers, CEO of Vuzix, has also said that the Guardhat app provides “real-time situational awareness”, bringing important, hands-free information to workers to increase their safety as well as productivity.

Further advantages of the companies’ integration include:

• Audio/video calls to remote experts
• Capturing pictures and recording audio/video
• Scanning barcodes and QR codes for asset identification
• Voice command operation
• Display of guided instructions and work procedures
• Checklists for MEO, EAM, and EWP use cases
• Interoperation with other Guardhat wearables and devices via Bluetooth
• Digital forms
• Field service solutions

The article concludes with a quote from Chief Operating Officer at Guardhat, Indranil Choudhury, who states that the smart glasses display the industry growth and innovation that has occurred as a result of the pandemic.

See Vuzix’s AREA member profile here, and read the full article here.

The strategic alliance between Magic Leap and PTC was announced in 2019, but now PTC is planning to implement its Vuforia Augmented Reality Enterprise Suite with Magic Leap’s Spatial Computing platform. The Vuforia AR Enterprise Suite offers easy, fast, advanced AR solutions, which reduces costs, increases workforce safety and efficiency, and improves customer experiences. With the Magic Leap combination, the technology provides some of the highest industrial quality solutions to improve performance and boost productivity.

The Vuforia AR Enterprise Suite includes the following capabilities:

• Vuforia Chalk™
• Vuforia Expert Capture™
• Vuforia Studio™
• Vuforia Engine™
• Vuforia Spatial Toolbox™

AR adoption has been accelerated due to COVID-19 across a range of industries, as organisations had to quickly adapt to remote operations. Magic Leap’s Spatial Computing is able to optimise factories by giving front line workers more control over their physical environment, according to leading IoT specialists. Industry experts can remotely access the shop floor, interfacing more with the production line. Engineers, designers, programmers, and managers all benefit from the technology via increased productivity, closer collaboration, and improved workflow.

Global leading industrial enterprises integrating AR and Spatial Computing such as Magic Leap 1 can achieve:

• Up to 40% improvement in new hire productivity
• Up to 50% reduction in training costs
• Up to 30% acceleration in sales cycles
• Up to 30% improvement in first time fix rate
• Up to 25% reduction in rework and scrap costs

One example of a company that has benefited from the Magic Leap and PTC partnership is Jabil Inc., a global manufacturing organisation that provides design capabilities, manufacturing knowledge, market experience, product management expertise, and supply chain insights to leading brands. Due to the fusion of Vuforia and Spatial Computing, Jabil can support front line workers remotely with AR training and equipment information. Soon, they will be able to develop digital work instructions for maintenance.

See Magic Leap’s AREA member profile here, and PTC’s profile here.

Read the full article here.

Before COVID-19, specialists from the Pinhais facility would have to make 1500 mile trips to the Camaçari plant for product development monitoring. The Smart Glasses have enabled specialists to remotely provide support to factory operators during production. The operators receive expert video and audio support while remaining hands-free. A reduction in travel time allows for greater productivity while also reducing carbon footprint.

Paulo Roseiro, Research and Development Director at Boticário Group, has said that the company is utilising many ways of meeting needs, producing quality, and maintaining safety, one being their deployment of Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses. President and CEO of Vuzix, Paul Travers, has also said that their Smart Glasses continue to reduce costs, increase safety, and improve product quality across the globe.

Read the full article here, and see Vuzix’s AREA member profile here.

Aspects of industrial work that AR digital twins improve include:

• Planning
• Inspections
• Maintenance
• Product development
• Customer visualisation
• Remote work

The Arvizio XR Platform allows digital twins to be visualised at either table-top or life-size level. It further supports remote 3D collaboration via an expansive variety of XR devices such as:

• Magic Leap
• HoloLens 2
• iPad
• iPhone
• Android tablets and phones

Users can import a range of 3D CAD, LiDAR, BIM, and photogrammetry assets. Autodesk cloud services such as Fusion 360 and BIM 360 can also be integrated seamlessly with the technology. These reality captures or 3D models are essentially a digital canvas for utilising the digital twin with AR data. The user can visualise documents, images, IoT data, and workflow items with objects via a graphical interface tool. The AR data can then overlay models and scans onto real-world objects on site. Arvizio’s Platform interfaces to IoT data hubs as well as popular cloud, enabling integration and association of live IoT data with 3D object models, creating an operational digital twin.

Jonathan Reeves, CEO of Arvizio, is quoted to have said that COVID-19 has functioned as a catalyst for Industry 4.0 enterprise adoption, as businesses are looking for innovative technologies to improve ROI and productivity. AR and digital twins can be seamlessly incorporated for Arvizio’s customers to ensure better processes and increased efficiency.

See Arivizio’s member profile here, and read the full article here.

Newcastle University has the Newcastle Flow Cytometry Core Facility, an advanced research lab and technology platform. Cytometry involves a team of experts operating and maintaining the systems used to perform blood cell analysis (cytometers), and also to train other scientists. These systems are in different physical locations, and each team member has a different skill set, causing difficulties in aligning personnel with the appropriate platform. COVID-19 exacerbates this issue, as the team is split between home and on-site work in “bio-bubble” groups, and face-to-face training and support for the program has been suspended.

The Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses were chosen to provide remote support and training to the team at Newcastle University, as the majority of the lab research is hands-on and requires freedom of both hands for safe, effective experiment conduct and system operation. The Smart Glasses enable hands-free work, and can also be configured with safety glasses.

Dr. Andrew Filby, Director of the Newcastle Flow Cytometry Core and Lead of the Innovation, Methodology, and Innovations Research Theme, gives the following advantages of the Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses:

• Noise cancellation – useful for high-ambient noise level environments
• Image stabilisation
• Zoom functions – useful for close detail work
• Compatible with renowned streaming and remote support platforms such as Zoom and TeamViewer
• Easy and intuitive operation and control
• Rugged – can withstand lab environment
• Ensures expert support and training is available remotely

President and CEO of Vuzix, Paul Travers, concludes by stating that Vuzix Smart Glasses are being more widely recognised by international organisations, and that they are proud to have their technology embraced most recently by Newcastle University.

Read more about Vuzix on their AREA member profile here.

NexTech has hired technology industry veteran Yau Boon Lim to support its expansion as President and Managing Director Asia-Pacific. Lim has over 25 years of experience in many aspects of various industries in the Asia-Pacific market, holding leadership positions in global tech companies such as IBM, Motorola, and SAP. He is quoted to have said that he believes NexTech’s technology and team is suited to the fast demands of the Asia-Pacific market and is looking forward to seeing traction gained for the company in this region. As President and Managing Director, Lim will be responsible for driving NexTech’s marketing efforts across Asia, establishing presence via strategic channel partnerships, and building out the team to support service requests by the end of this year.

Already, NexTech has started to develop channel partnerships for expansion within Asia-Pacific high-growth industries, such as education, e-commerce, and conferences. Southeast Asia is the initial focus, with NexTech creating special language and application packs with its InfernoAR technology for countries including China, Japan, and South Korea.

The Asia-Pacific market makes up 60% of the world’s market and consists of over 4 billion people. The CEO of NexTech, Evan Gappelberg, is quoted to have said that the company is ready for their InfernoAR technology, and confident in driving revenue with Lim’s leadership. Their presence, team, and overall capabilities will be expanded in coming months. Gappelberg further stated that this expansion is “a major milestone” for NexTech that represents their continued commitment to international growth, setting them for the future.

Read more about NexTech here.