Bell, Verizon and Vodafone have successfully conducted the first live transatlantic meeting featuring holograms of employees from Toronto, New York, and London, via each of the telcos’ 5G networks and using multi edge computing (MEC) technology.
“Multi-party holographic calling can make people feel more connected and productive, whether collaborating across classrooms, offices, hospitals or at home,” said Vodafone executive Giorgio Migliarina. “The smooth and natural movement of these holograms will become more prevalent with the growing availability of 5G and edge computing technology.”
By moving the necessary computing closer to the edge of the network, MEC technology enables quick response times, hence, ensuring a more reliable and consistent hologram, the companies said. It also removes delays that can happen due to multiple hops between different locations across the internet.
The holograms were created using a single camera and patented technology from MATSUKO, which uses its presence app on a smartphone coupled with an XR (Extended Reality) headset to stream holograms instantly, creating the feeling that people are in the same room as you.
The holograms were then streamed using spatial computing, an immersive technology which combines virtual and augmented reality.
The transatlantic conference meeting and the technology behind it will be shown at the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Las Vegas in the coming days.
For this initiative, the companies came together under the auspices of 5G Future Forum (5GFF), a group of global 5G leaders accelerating the delivery of MEC-enabled solutions.
5GFF, in fact, lent its API to MATSUKO, enabling it to connect to the 5G networks of Bell, Verizon and Vodafone. The API, called 5GFF’s Edge Discovery API, allows developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) like MATSUKO to discover the nearest edge to their end users, so their applications perform optimally, with consistent service across mobile networks.
The 5GFF is inviting ISVs globally who either use or plan to use 5G MEC to join the organization’s acceleration program and work with leading telecommunication companies. The program seeks to shape the API development process and expand and interconnect the global MEC ecosystem.