Tech Companies Want to Make Holograms Part of Routine Office Life
June 09 2021 - 6:18AM
Dow Jones News
By Ann-Marie Alcántara
Companies from Google to WeWork want to help employers cut down
on Zoom fatigue with a new approach to communications: holograms
for the workplace.
Alphabet Inc.'s Google in May revealed Project Starline, an
effort to create a video-chat system with screens that give
participants three-dimensional depth.
WeWork last month announced a partnership with ARHT Media Inc.,
a hologram technology company, to bring holograms to 100 WeWork
buildings in 16 locations around the world. The effort begins this
month with New York, Los Angeles and Miami.
And Microsoft Corp. in March introduced what it calls a
mixed-reality service, Microsoft Mesh, which integrates
three-dimensional images of people and content into the compatible
displays of smart glasses or other devices.
The companies say holograms and related technology will soon
become common in conference rooms all over the world. Still, the
costs involved mean holograms have yet to prove useful for everyday
interactions.
Three-dimensional representations improve on traditional phone
and video calls because they make it easier to read body language
and feel more personal, backers say.
"There's Zoom fatigue, there's a lot of friction to being on
video all day -- it is exhausting," said Brianne Kimmel, founder
and managing partner of WorkLife Ventures, a venture-capital firm
that specializes in the future of work technologies. Holograms and
avatars enable "a new style of communication, where you'll have
better, more frequent interactions," Ms. Kimmel said.
Although the companies were experimenting with holograms before
the pandemic, they say the past year created a more urgent need for
them. The technology could aid employers' visions for hybrid
offices where some workers are present on a given day while others
report in from home.
But holograms and similar technologies are likely to have limits
in the workplace, analysts said.
Workplace holograms might be best suited for situations such as
recorded events, trainings or seminars, said Kanishka Chauhan,
principal research analyst at Gartner Inc., a research firm. Live
hologram meetings are likely to be bogged down by complex and
time-consuming logistics, he said.
WeWork, however, envisions holograms for a variety of uses.
Customers will be able to record or live stream three-dimensional
videos for a virtual audience via videoconferencing, a physical
audience at a WeWork, or a combination of both. The holograms are
viewable on a ARHT Media "HoloPod," an 8-foot-tall screen structure
with a camera, microphone and projector, a a "HoloPresence," a
screen meant to be used on a stage or a computer or tablet.
Pricing will vary. WeWork will charge $2,500 for holograms to be
displayed on a standard HoloPod at a single location, for example,
and $25,000 for multiple holograms that appear simultaneously on a
shared virtual stage.
Holograms give remote interaction a more natural feel than
standard team video calls, where people talk at the same time by
accident and participants can't see body language cues, according
to Hamid Hashemi, chief product and experience officer at
WeWork.
"This is something that technically you can do with Zoom, but it
is not as effective," Mr. Hashemi said.
Project Starline so far exists only in Google's offices, where
it remains under development, but the company plans on testing the
technology this year with "select enterprise partners," it said in
a blog post.
The newer players join companies that have been experimenting
with holographic technology for a number of years. Portl Inc.
expanded the chief application of its system from trade show
displays to include helping celebrities make holographic
appearances at events such as the iHeartRadio Music Festival last
year as well as bringing executives "onstage" at conferences around
the world.
The Portl holograms appear on a 7-foot tall booth called the
Epic or a 24-inch box called the Mini. The company has raised $3
million in funding from investors including venture capitalist Tim
Draper.
"I really do believe this is a communication and broadcast tool
and that these will be used in conference rooms all over the
world," said David Nussbaum, chief executive of Portl.
Write to Ann-Marie Alcántara at ann-marie.alcantara@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 09, 2021 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)
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