“By rendering each application remotely as a whole, ISAR enables visualization and interaction with highly polygonal, data-intensive content such as 3D objects, 3D CAD models or BIM data. The CPU and GPU of the end device are only required to a small extent, which in the long term will help to reduce the size of the end devices and optimize the form factor,” said Philipp Landgraf, Head of Technology at Holo-Light. “Remote rendering enables AR and VR content to be experienced in unprecedented detail and complexity, from the industrial sector to entertainment and gaming”.

A device-agnostic approach through deployed client applications also reduces the development effort for XR applications. New apps can be developed simpler and without limits and restrictions of individual end devices by just building a server application. Time-consuming prepping and reducing of data for performance reasons is no longer necessary. Streaming complete applications also increases data security. As soon as the remote rendering technology ISAR comes into play, the data remains on the server chosen by the customer. Data is merely streamed and not stored on the mobile device.

How Does ISAR Work?

Usually AR or VR apps are developed in a game engine, for example Unity or Unreal. The visual representation of menu structures as well as the interaction possibilities are individually designed by the developer according to the respective device (e.g. HoloLens 2, Magic Leap, Smartphone etc.). The app is subject to technical requirements and limitations (CPU, GPU, RAM) of the end device.

Now, the ISAR SDK is a new component that enables users to outsource demanding work processes such as application logic or content rendering. This means that the computing power does not have to come from, for example, the AR-Glasses themselves, but can be provided unlimitedly by a powerful local server or from the cloud.

Once the ISAR SDK is built into an application, the app no longer needs to be installed directly on an end device. Instead, the app is installed and run on the more powerful server or in the cloud. The user simply connects from a provided gateway (client app) on the mobile device to the XR application on the external server. Now, the rendering process shifts from the low-performance XR device to the high-performance server. The client app sends data – sensor data for room tracking, position data and hand gestures – to the server with the actual application. There, the data is processed and the to be displayed 3D content is sent back to the client app. The result is real-time streaming of XR content.

Read more in Holo-Light press release.

See Holo-Light AREA member profile page.

Both hires as Senior Sales Directors – at Nextech AR, will establish the Company as a market-leading partner for all things augmented reality across the globe region. This will include introducing Nextech’s platform and tools to high-value markets such as higher education, eCommerce, virtual events, financial services, and healthcare through large client acquisitions across these verticals.

Mcleod was Senior Sales Director (EMEA) at Fastly, a market-leading edge cloud computing solution, where he rebuilt the company’s media, broadcast, and entertainment vertical from the ground up, across the UK and other European markets.

Highlights included key wins with Sky News Arabia, Tomorrowland festival, and a large-scale image redesign with The Guardian. Mcleod also acted as a consultant for Ericsson Innovation Labs, where he advised on their Edge Computing strategy, and acted as Major Account Executive at Cedexis, a significant disruptor to the CDN & Cloud performance optimization industry acquired by Citrix.

“I’m excited to start with Nextech and begin working alongside and learning from the vast array of talent found at this company. I believe there is incredible potential to create truly immersive virtual experiences that inspire and change the world for our customers,” said Zak Mcleod, Senior Director of Sales – EMEA at Nextech AR. “I’m passionate about delivering business value and enabling meaningful ways to connect with audiences using new technologies – in today’s world, solution providers must look for ways to introduce tools which have a positive impact on social life and the way we communicate together. I believe the combination of market-leading technology, Evan’s hunger and vision, as well as the experience and know-how of the leadership team across the business means we are uniquely placed to lead the way in the AR market across the UK and European markets.”

“I’m delighted to welcome Zak and Rory who both have their finger on the pulse of new wave technologies reshaping the way we live, work and learn, making them ideal hires as demand is accelerating and Nextech is rapidly expanding to meet this demand throughout the EMEA, and North American markets,” said Evan Gappelberg, CEO of Nextech AR. “Having talented salespeople with a history of success is key to driving revenue as we build towards our goal of $50-60 million in 2021.”

Over the past six months, Nextech has actively sought out leading technology industry experts who can elevate the company’s mission, provide value, and drive revenue across all verticals. Due it it’s unique value proposition, Nextech has been successful in attracting top tier talent from SAP, Apple, Microsoft Corporation, Disney, IBM, Oracle, NortonLifeLock  and now Fastly and Salesforce.com.

• Lockheed Martin is using HoloLens 2 to build the Orion spacecraft and reduce touch labor—what used to require an eight-hour shift can now be completed in just 45 minutes.
• Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is using HoloLens 2 to limit healthcare employee’s exposure to patients with COVID-19, reducing the time staff are exposed to the disease by as much as 83 percent.
• Mercedes-Benz USA is using HoloLens 2 to improve service technician efficiency and reduce time to problem resolution, realizing a 35 to 40 percent decrease in service technician travel.

As part of listening, and always learning, we heard strong demand for HoloLens 2 to operate in environments that have rigorous requirements or are regulated by industry certifications. In the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries, partners require a device that meets particle emissions standards to enter and operate in their highly controlled clean room environments. In the energy sector, partners need a device that can function safely in potentially hazardous environments.

Enhance worker productivity and accelerate innovation

We are announcing the HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition, an untethered mixed reality device designed, built, and tested to support regulated industrial environments.

HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition meets the following industrial standards and certifications:

In addition to the industrial standards ratings, HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition is supported with a two year warranty and a Rapid Replacement Program. The Rapid Replacement program minimizes downtime, with advance exchange and expedited shipping.

With HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition, customers can now use HoloLens 2 in restricted environments without modifying your space, protocols, or workflows. Supported with a robust ecosystem of first and third party mixed reality applications that are backed by the reliability, security, and scale of Azure, HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition will empower enterprises operating in regulated environments to:

• Provide workers with access to remote experts any time they need it.
• Complete tasks faster and more accurately than ever before with interactive 3D guides.
• Train and onboard new employees faster with a “learning by doing” approach.

As the Head of XR at PwC UK, Jeremy Dalton saw a fundamental problem in the marketplace: too many enterprises had misconceptions about – or simply didn’t understand – the tremendous potential of AR and VR to transform their businesses. So, Dalton took it upon himself to get the message out. 

The result is his new book, Reality Check. Reality Check dispels common myths about AR and VR and details how business leaders can integrate immersive technologies into their organizations to deliver more efficient, impactful and cost-effective solutions. Dalton backs up his argument with compelling case studies from organizations such as Cisco, Ford, GlaxoSmithKline, LaLiga, and Vodafone. 

AREA Executive Director Mark Sage hosted a podcast with Jeremy Dalton recently to discuss the book and its findings. Go here to hear their conversation. To order a copy of Reality Check and receive an AREA 20% discount, go here and enter the discount code AREA20 before March 5, 2021. 

The in-store experience can be enhanced by addressing challenges retailers typically face, such as out-of-stock items, plan-o-gram compliance, and frictionless/cashierless checkout, the companies state.

Verizon’s 5G network and MEC, combined with advanced technologies such as video camera and sensor-based analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented reality (AR), are the foundational elements of the retail platform.

Furthermore, Verizon Business and Deloitte are collaborating with SAP to integrate SAP’s software suite, including SAP Customer Activity Repository and SAP S/4HANA into the platform.

Enablement of these technologies can offer retailers sustainable business performance and profitability acceleration across key levers, such as revenue, cost of goods sold, and operating margin, according to the companies.

Together with Deloitte’s retail industry and solution engineering experience, the two organisations have developed a set of enterprise-wide use cases that can be enabled by the platform, a reference architecture that amplifies back-office application integration value, and a customisable approach to accelerate outcomes and ROI.

Of the use cases under co-development through this collaboration, one example is near real-time actionable intelligence to address out-of-stock shelf inventory management, where the platform generates automated replenishment notifications to in-store associates to refill shelves from the back of the house and alerts distribution centres to allocate additional inventory.

This co-innovation aims to help retailers increase sales, improve margins, offer greater product availability, and give associates more time to engage with customers when they don’t have to spend as much time on activities like cycle counting, the companies state.

Verizon Business CEO Tami Erwin says, “It’s an exciting moment to unveil this innovative retail collaboration with Deloitte and SAP.

“We are entering a new era of technology-led disruption at the exact same moment every retailer is looking to accelerate digital transformation, increase productivity and improve customer experiences.

“We’re ready to open the doors to Verizon’s transformative 5G and mobile edge compute platform and look forward to helping our customers reimagine everything from their employee experience and supply chain to end-customer use cases.”

Deloitte Consulting LLP principal and US Consulting consumer industry lead Anthony Stephan says, “The opportunity for 5G and MEC to enable frictionless retail experiences and improve asset productivity should have a seismic impact on the retail industry.

“Our collaboration with Verizon Business and SAP enables us to efficiently and effectively address the concerns of retailers today, providing a best-in-class digital transformation experience that can respond and deliver at the speed of 5G.”

The adoption of AR in the oil and gas industry is in the introductory phase. AR can be integrated into various tasks being undertaken in the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas companies are increasingly collaborating with AR vendors, to develop customized tools. AR has the potential to become indispensable in oil and gas field activities due to its ability to deliver real-time information for taking prompt actions.

Scope

• It highlights various case studies of AR in oil and gas industry and its potential impact on oil and gas operations.
• It also discusses some of the prevailing trends relating to AR usage in the oil and gas industry.
• The report evaluates various of oil and gas companies which are adopting AR in their operations.

Reasons to Buy

• Impact of augmented reality in oil and gas industry
• Understand the key AR trends in the oil and gas industry
• Review of some of the case studies highlighting use of AR in oil and gas industry
• Identify and benchmark key oil and gas companies adopting AR

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

• Impact on the oil and gas industry
• Case studies

Players

• Technology briefing

Trends

• Oil and gas trends
• Technology trends
• Media trends
• Macroeconomic trends
• Regulatory trends
• Industry analysis
• Market size and growth forecasts

The project was to perform a “repair versus replace” analysis at an Indian Refinery for coke drums that were failing. Due to the pandemic and travel limitations, the team was unable to be on site for inspections and field walk-downs.

To solve this issue, Becht used Ingenero, an in-country subcontractor, to perform the walk-down virtually with RealWear smart glasses. This enabled the experts to be present for important field visits in real time.

Using RealWear’s AR glasses facilitated a better perspective. Photos and drawings are only two-dimensional, but the technology provided a helpful 3D view. Most challenges faced by Becht’s clients can be overcome using the latest technology.

To read the full article, visit here. For RealWear’s AREA member profile, click here.

AREA member Microsoft’s HoloLens has been significant in emphasising enterprise AR value. Key uses of AR applications include repair, maintenance, and equipment installation. Before the initial launch of HoloLens in 2016, Microsoft’s HoloLens Agency Readiness Program began. This involved AREA member Taqtile, an AR software developer.

CEO and Co-founder of Taqtile, Dirck Schou, has stated that 2.5 billion frontline workers use their hands on the job, and that this requires the help of AR technology. Taqtile’s goal was to “make everyone an expert” by implementing and scaling the HoloLens amongst frontline workers. Their use of the technology changes work and learning while maintaining safety. Taqtile’s enterprise platform, Manifest, captures and reuses knowledge for industrial workers in real time. Field-based experts can initially capture the knowledge, then engineers can refine, add to, or update it for field-based operators to access from Manifest, online and offline.

In addition to customers in the defense industry, Taqtile has many private sector customers, such as PBC Linear. The machine-bearing manufacturer has one of Northern Illinois’ largest machine shops, consisting of approximately 120 machinists. Due to a recent lack of vocational high school programs, a talent gap has formed. Therefore Beau Wileman, Manager of the “Factory of the Future” program at PBC, explored AR-based training with Taqtile’s technology.

Tim LeCrone, a long-standing manufacturing manager at PBC, has expressed enthusiasm about Taqtile. The process allows him to record himself teaching a typical task with 30 to 40 steps in about six hours, capable for training new employees. In six or seven months, PBC has created approximately 70 training templates with 30-40 steps each. This removes a great deal of stress from the user, as there are many tasks and order of operations to remember.

A recent engineering graduate at PBC, Sam Aluko, has used the Taqtile system to understand new machines. The technology enables him to go back through the steps if he doesn’t understand it properly, allowing him to learn at his own pace.

LeCrone claims that Taqtile and Manifest have improved quality of work, and enabled faster learning. Their talent issue has also largely been solved, as they now have a competitive advantage with using AR tech. New engineers enjoy working with AR, and are likely to stay in the job for longer. Supporting customers is another benefit of AR, as PBC are now occasionally supplying AR headsets along with products. This allows customers to create AR training modules themselves.

Using AR to maintain and diagnose machinery is now a much easier method of knowledge management. Industrial organisations can get up and running much faster than before with AR’s packaging of information.

Read the full article here. See Microsoft’s AREA member profile here, and Taqtile’s profile here.

Diarmuid O’Sullivan, PM Group Construction Director, has said that using HoloSite has enabled a proactive rather than reactive way of working. The technology is described as “ground-breaking”, as it has caused a significant increase in productivity on site. PM Group BIM Manager, Coral Butler, also stated that HoloSite provides a high level of build accuracy to reduce surveying. Issues can be tracked by the technology so that adjustments can be made and the project can remain on schedule.

Due to the pandemic, health and safety is now even more of a focus. HoloSite has allowed PM Group to live stream their site, reducing the number of workers needed on site. This decreases further risk.

CEO and Founder of XYZ Reality, David Mitchell, has said that AR is enabling the construction industry to adopt new practises. A more proactive and forward-thinking approach is being taken, facilitated by the technology. HoloSite causes construction teams to build correctly on a first attempt.

As the build progresses into more complex construction work, PM Group plans to distribute more HoloSite units. The company is also looking into utilising other technology for future construction projects.

Read the full article here.

When AREA member Augumenta participated in an AREA webinar about implementing AR on factory shop floors recently, we thought it would be worth catching up on the company and its activities. So we spoke the Eve Lindroth, the company’s head of Marketing Communications. Here’s our conversation.

AREA: Augumenta has distinguished itself as a leader in industrial shop floor uses of AR. To what do you attribute your success so far?

Lindroth: We have a large number of big and well-known industrial companies as our clients, and within these projects, our solutions have been adopted with very few changes. That tells us that we are taking the right approach to developing solutions for the industry. Our clients also praise the ease-of-use of our applications, and appreciate that there is no steep learning curve to start using them. Quite the opposite, they are considered easy to learn.

AREA: What’s a typical Augumenta client?

Lindroth: Most of our business is outside Finland. We have many manufacturing customers in France and Germany, for example, such as Siemens. We also have a presence in Japan and Taiwan which is important considering our focus on the Asian markets and the key customer projects we have ongoing there.

A typical client is a larger industrial company that is active in developing their operations – or during the pandemic, companies that are simply looking for the most efficient and practical ways to keep operating.

AREA: Speaking of that, in October, you announced a partnership with IISI of Taiwan. Tell us about the partnership, its goals, and its progress to date.

Lindroth: IISI is a system integrator and they have a very strong customer base in the fields of manufacturing and government. In our partnership, Augumenta acts as a technology/applications provider and the IISI experts do the final customization and integration with the end customer’s backend systems. Both companies can focus on their key strengths: we on the cutting-edge AR technology, and IISI on developing and managing the overall systems.

We started working together in the springtime and we have finalized all the customization needed for the end customer, a major semiconductor factory in Taiwan. We continue working in close cooperation with IISI and believe we are in a good position to advance enterprise AR in Taiwan together with them.

AREA: What do you see as the most significant barriers to AR adoption, and what is Augumenta doing to overcome them?

Lindroth: We have seen in many pilot projects that the organization has identified the problem they are looking to solve with a pilot, but for example, there are difficulties in defining the current status with an accurate number. For example, there’s downtime – how much there is and which factors exactly are causing it? That can be hard to come by. Another issue is user acceptance, but that can often be tackled by involving the people in planning the solutions from an early stage.

At Augumenta, we’re working to address those issues. For industrial pilots, for example, we created a simple checklist, just to remind the project managers and team leaders responsible for the pilot to consider the factors we have learned to be essential for an AR pilot’s success. These are related to things like target setting, planning together with your people and getting them involved throughout the process, or measuring the results. The checklist is available on our website.

AREA: What can we expect from Augumenta in 2021?

Lindroth: In the future, we believe that discrete industrial AR applications will become more integrated solutions. That means, for example, that there aren’t separate apps for alerting a user and guiding a user in tasks. There will be one solution that can do all of this – without the end user even noticing that there are many use cases included in the app. At some point, things like AI will make the end user’s job even easier by guiding him to the right data or expert automatically, for example.

A key success factor in such a solution is usability. Apps have to integrate seamlessly and be simple and intuitive to use independent of the use case at hand.

The pandemic has meant growth in demand for our services along with our clients’ need to find new ways to do things. In 2021, you’ll see closer integration of our apps. We’re working with new app features that are enabling efficient and sustainable working methods in the new normal. We’ll keep you posted with the latest developments during 2021.

AREA: Finally, how has Augumenta benefitted from its membership in the AREA?

Lindroth: The AREA has provided us with access to research, and there have been some great and very interesting research projects completed. We have also made many new contacts within the ecosystem via the AREA, and it’s always great to see and hear what’s going on with other ecosystem members. The AREA updates its social media channels very actively, and we appreciate the visibility they provide us.