MONTRÉAL—In a development that could have important implications for tech collaboration and even TV news, Bell Canada, Verizon, Vodafone and Matsuko announced that they successfully conducted the first live transatlantic holographic collaborative meeting. The meeting connected multiple holographic people in Canada, the US and the UK using 5G and multi-access edge computing (MEC) technology.
The participants said that interacting with holograms of humans rather than avatars can provide a more personal experience for many applications such as remote healthcare, collaborative working, and education but the technology could also be applied to television news, tech collaborations or even live events streamed to users of virtual technologies.
The call was enabled by the speed of 5G combined with the quick response times of MEC, which moves the necessary computing closer to the edge of the network. This ensures a more reliable and consistent hologram by removing delays resulting from multiple hops between different locations and across the internet.
Holograms of employees located in three different countries were connected from Toronto, Canada, using Bell's 5G network; New York in the US using Verizon's 5G network; and from London, UK, using Vodafone's 5G network. They were created using Matsuko's real-time software and just a single camera and were then streamed thanks to spatial computing, an immersive technology which combines virtual and augmented reality. Matsuko's patented technology uses its presence app on a smartphone coupled with a XR (Extended Reality) headset to stream holograms instantly, creating the feeling that people are in the same room as you.
"Through its active participation in the 5GFF, Bell continues to support the developer community to access 5G MEC technologies and to ensure their solutions take full advantage of Bell's 5G network in Canada, and to interoperate globally," said Bell's Costa Pantazopoulos, vice president of product. "This holographic video meeting demo illustrates how Bell - with partners Verizon and Vodafone - is making it easier for developers to leverage 5G capabilities to innovate and achieve their application goals."
"This demonstration shows how Verizon via the 5GFF continues to drive Open API industry momentum with real-life use cases while also accelerating ease of use for developers," added John Nitti, senior vice president of strategy, new business and partner development for Verizon.
The smooth and natural movement of these holograms will become more prevalent with the growing availability of 5G and edge computing technology,” predicted Giorgio Migliarina, Vodafone group director of business products and services.
Bell Canada, Verizon and Vodafone came together under the auspices of industry body, the 5G Future Forum (5GFF) for this first-of-its-kind demonstration. They are showing the transatlantic conference meeting and the technology behind it at the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Las Vegas (Booth #1533, located in GSMAs Open Gateway Zone).
Matsuko was able to connect to the fast 5G networks of Bell Canada, Verizon, and Vodafone by using 5GFF's Application Programmable Interface (API) – called 5GFF's Edge Discovery API – which allows developers and ISVs like Matsuko to discover the nearest edge to their end users, so their applications perform optimally with a consistent service across mobile networks. Network APIs are a set of interfaces based on industry-wide open standards that allow developers to plug into and use the low-latency benefits, speed, and scale of 5G and MEC.
5GFF also said that it is inviting independent software vendors (ISVs) globally, who either currently use 5G MEC or have it on their development roadmap, to apply to join the organization's acceleration program and work closely with some of the world's leading telecommunications companies to shape the API development process. The program is designed to expand and interconnect the global MEC ecosystem by partnering and engaging with developers.
In addition, the 5GFF works closely with GSMA's Open Gateway initiative, which launched earlier this year and now has over 30 signatories. Open Gateway is a framework of common network APIs designed to provide universal access to operator networks for developers and works closely with Linux Foundation's CAMARA which develops API specifications.
For more information, visit https://www.5gff.org/5g-mec-acceleration-program/.
