Microsoft should bring the Meta-verse to Teams

Microsoft has talked several times before about Mesh, a service platform that can open through “mixed reality” applications for co-existence and experiences no matter where the participants are. The company showed on Tuesday this week How the platform can be integrated with Microsoft Teams.

– It’s no longer just video conferencing with colleagues. You can be with them in the same room, says Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft In a video which was released in the context of the company’s Ignite conference taking place this week.

– With the merging of the physical and digital worlds, we create a completely new platform layer, which is grouped. It enables us to integrate real-world computing and integrate the real world into computing, Nadella says, by bringing real presence to any digital area.

advanced gods

In Mesh for Teams, users are represented by avatars, which quickly send ideas to older virtual worlds like Patagonia and Second Life.

Experiences in Mesh can potentially be very different, not least when users use Hololen or third-party virtual reality goggles. The network must also be usable with computers, smartphones, and tablets. Avatars in Mesh for Teams will, among other things, move the mouth and hands when users speak, as well as change facial expressions based on the user’s speech. Later, this will be further improved with the help of camera shots, sensors and artificial intelligence.

In Mesh for Teams, customers will be able to create their own metavers where users can bring in their avatars and meet, mingle or collaborate on projects. Part of the goal is to be able to facilitate such random meetings that stimulate innovation. This has been difficult during the pandemic, with many having to settle for relatively still video meetings.

Meta Pet doesn’t just change how each of us sees the world. Nadella claims this is changing the way we all actively participate.

“Ninth Floor”

Accenture participated as a beta client during the development of Mesh. Even before the Corona pandemic, the company created such a virtual area, where the company’s employees of more than 600,000 employees globally could gather for coffee, presentations, celebrations or other events.

“We started calling it the Nth Floor, this magical, mythical space that can only be found in virtual reality,” Jason Warnke, global leader in digital experiences at Accenture, said in a statement from Microsoft.

He adds that his favorite job on the Nth Floor is being able to meet colleagues from other parts of the world to have deep and meaningful conversations with them. He says that this contributes greatly to the development of new ideas.

First meeting with new employees

Accenture has also used Mesh technology to prepare during the pandemic, among other things to help new employees understand the company’s culture. The company employs more than 100,000 people each year.

To this end, Accenture has created a futuristic virtual “amusement park”, called One Accenture Park, which includes a central conference room, meeting room and single rail who drive to different places that each group of new employees passes together.

Accenture has also created a digital twin for the company’s newly opened One Manhattan West office in New York.

According to Microsoft, Mesh for Teams will be rolled out gradually as a preview in the first half of 2022. From the start, it will include a set of pre-built areas to support different types of context, including meetings and social events. Later, customers will be able to build their own areas, such as the Accentures Nth Floor.