EXTENDED REALITY ENTERPRISE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES SUMMARY

The worlds of sensors, automation, machine learning, computing and communications are each changing rapidly, while at the same time converging into an entirely new competitive arenas such as the extending realities driven by virtual and augmented reality technologies.

The way we interact with computers is evolving toward spatial computing, a transition as impactful as the mobile revolution.

Extended Reality (XR) is the blanket term for this new realm of immersive simulations, which is typically divided into three categories:

1. Virtual Reality (VR) immerses the user in an imaginary or replicated world (or simulates the real world) in a way that completely blocks out the real physical environment.
2. Augmented Reality (AR) layers or superimposes virtual images, video and sounds on the real world, which remains perceivable. This is most commonly seen in smartphone apps that show the real world in the phone’s camera with digital assets placed upon it. The “heads-up” displays of digital eyeglasses and windshields are other early examples of AR in practice.
3. Mixed Reality (MR) is a hypothetical combination of the two, which could involve experiences like a “virtual wall” superimposed on reality that a user could actually “bump into” or bounce a virtual ball against.

That said, there are a number of technical issues that remain to be resolved. XR visualizations are computationally intensive and require high-end hardware to produce lifelike real-time visualizations. Improvements in size, weight, battery life, and cellular technology must all be addressed for HMDs to become a widely adopted mobile computing platform. But this has always been true of digital innovation, and these are not sufficient reasons for any firm to lag behind. As we’ve seen in previous computing incarnations, hardware will quickly catch up to software requirements.

Key findings explored in this enterprise growth opportunity brief:

1. Extended Reality (XR) applications for Enterprise are rapidly maturing but are still in an early stage
2. Enterprise use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies is expected to explode over the next 5 years
3. Iterative improvements across the XR ecosystem are making Enterprise XR solutions cheaper and more effective
4. Healthcare, Retail and Manufacturing will experience the highest AR/VR adoption rate over the next 5 years
5. For players looking to enter the Enterprise XR market, now is the time to start developing your solution