Decoding the Metaverse: Technological Insights and Industry Shifts

The Metaverse, a rapidly evolving digital realm, is driven by a myriad of technologies that shape its development. Immanuel Kingsley, the Metaverse Technology Officer and Head of Innovation Lab at Hexaware Technologies, shares his insights on key technological advancements, challenges, and the potential impact of recent developments in the Metaverse industry.

1. Unveiling the Technological Backbone

Technological advancements in spatial computing (Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Virtual Reality), intelligent cameras, Computer vision, Nano Technologies, IOT, Cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), GPU’s, 7 nanometer semiconductors powering the processors, MEMs, Materials, 5G, Edge computing, and finally the 3D graphics that’s getting real all the time will empower and accelerate the development of the next internet.

2. The Metaverse on the Horizon

Metaverse/Spatial computing is evolving rapidly in terms of technological advancements. We currently see a collection of technologies attaining critical mass with technological advancement. Especially in hardware, spatial computing software, AI, Haptic technologies, 3D rendering & Cloud compute capabilities.

As a society we also see the post pandemic era accelerating the core need to be touchless, contactless, remote, and immersive.

We now we have a focused effort in the development of new standards and a growing developer base with ease of building spatial computing solution using Unity 3D or unreal and the availability of number of Metaverse platforms.

The catalyst has been the entrance of Key players including Nvidia, Meta (formerly Facebook), Apple, Google, Qualcomm and Microsoft to build the next internet.

Rapidly growing user adoption (consumer and in enterprise space). In fact, every smart phone user has access to AR Core or AR Kit as part of their mobile OS today.

The future of spatial computing, AR, VR, and the metaverse is quite promising. As technological advancements and user adoption continue to grow, these technologies are expected to become more immersive, interactive, and finally transition users from rectangular 2D form factors and constrained HMIs to a 360 immersive internet with natural way of human communication.

3. Bridging Gaps for Full Potential

For spatial computing / Metaverse to reach its full potential, the tipping point would be in the reduction of gaps between the current software improvements in spatial computing and the existing hardware capabilities, The current HMDs & smart glasses form factor and getting it near to that of a consumer acceptable form factor such as sunglasses. Improved energy capabilities and more importantly, the price point for large consumer adoption.

Other challenges include transition from Lab readiness to consumer readiness, Networking to reduce latency for large number of multiplayer, Privacy and security, Accessibility and finally interoperability and standards. Standards is more an issue of negotiation and sacrifice by tech majors rather than a technological challenge.

The good news is that we have a confluence of outlier technologies such as cloud, AI & connectivity. It’s still a long way to go, but good to see large investments and start being made by several large players.

4. Breakthroughs in Metaverse Technologies

The recent releases of the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro headset have significantly boosted the adoption of immersive tech, 3D internet, and the metaverse. Despite their contrasting price points, both devices will have a profound impact on how consumers interact with immersive technology.

The affordable nature of the Meta Quest 3, priced around 500 USD, enables a larger customer base to onboard the immersive spectrum. This accessibility allows more people to experience immersive content and contributes to the growing popularity of metaverse / Spatial computing. On the other end of the spectrum, the high-tech and high-fidelity Vision Pro headset from Apple offers advanced features and hyper-personalized immersive experiences. While it comes at a higher price point, the Vision Pro headset opens new avenues for interaction and pushes the boundaries of immersive technology. Together, these devices are shaping the future of the metaverse, catering to a wide range of users and providing diverse immersive experiences.

Also, the current partnership of Apple & Meta with Microsoft, will reboot enterprise collaboration platforms into new immersive channels of communication and create new employee engagements and touchpoints for the future.

Similar to a smartphone & internet which merged consumer & enterprise tech, Metaverse, and 3D internet will have a similar effect in merging consumer and enterprise technologies.

5. Blockchain: Ensuring Security in the Virtual Economy

Very soon, AI generated content will precede Human-generated content on the internet. Now how would one associate content ownership & related monetization? Blockchain technology will have a restart from a mass adoption perspective primarily to trace ownership. From content consumption, and commerce to Legal. This is where blockchain will play a key role in the future.

While 3D internet, Metaverse, and spatial computing provide immense value to how humans connect with the digital world in the future. We also have the emerging Web 3. While each of these technological evolutions has its own usefulness, the intersection of these two worlds will provide an enhanced value with respect to security and transparency.

6. Metaverse Technologies and Data Privacy

The sheer advent of humans experiencing the internet from being within the internet is bound to affect data privacy and security. Immersive technologies will often require a whole gamut of data including location, facial, eye tracking, voice, and even behavioral data such as gaze tracking, etc.

Apple has been a key proponent of having privacy and security as its core features and would be interesting to see Apple lead the way in the emergence of the new internet.

In the future, 3D internet / Metaverse will be a target for hacking, malware, and other forms of cyber-attacks. Enforcing Robust data protection laws and regulations, enabling strong authentication and encryption methods to secure transactions, and user identities from theft and fraud.

Educating users about safe online practices, and physical safety and establishing clear policies and standards regarding data ownership. This is where Generative AI will play a key role in demystifying complex security policies to the users soon.

Also, enforcing regular security audits and using secure development practices to identify and address potential security vulnerabilities will be key to addressing the challenges.