SAN JOSE, Calif.–Credit union leaders wrestling with what the future holds for hybrid workplaces and even CU meetings and events will want to pay attention to a new technology unveiled by Cisco.
During its WebexOne Customer Conference, Cisco introduced “Webex Hologram,” which enables virtual meetings in augmented reality—with the participants represented as photorealistic holograms instead of cartoon-like avatars, according to one review.
Webex Hologram runs on headsets such as Microsoft’s HoloLens and Magic Leap’s Magic Leap 1, which allows the standard 2D Webex meeting to go 3D.
According to Fast Company, which was given a demonstration of the new technology, participants are represented by holograms that look “impressively lifelike.”
‘Exactly the Point’
“And that’s exactly the point of Webex Hologram–to evolve remote collaboration from old-school video conferences where 2D participants are stacked up on a screen to meetings where it feels like you’re gathered around a table talking to real people,” Fast Co. reported.
Jeetu Patel, who is leading the project at Cisco, told Fast Co. that since the beginning of time people sat around in a circle and had a real conversation, and his goal is to get back to that experience.
Cisco’s experience also includes the ability to walk around a 3D object, point to it, discuss it, and, perhaps, practice repairing it,” Fast. Co. reported.
The Fast Co. review said that as part of the demo, Cisco “conjured up a torso-up model of a human skeleton. It appeared to hover over the table between us. I was able to grab it and rotate it, then grab two sides of it to adjust its size. The movements of my hands were being tracked by the cameras on the front of the HoloLens headset I wore.”
Cisco said it is in “very early development” with its holograms and that a half-dozen of Cisco’s Webex customers are now trying out the Hologram meetings. The company will soon expand its beta program to 50 partners, and later expand it to 250 customers before bringing Webex Hologram to general availability.