Microsoft Hong Kong and partners develop industry-ready solutions to help businesses and organizations become more productive and innovative
December 17, 2020, Hong Kong – Microsoft Hong Kong and partners are bringing HoloLens 2 and a range of business-ready solutions that reimagine the workplace to Hong Kong, empowering the new era of ‘remote everything’. The next generation of wearable holographic computer HoloLens 2, supported by an integrated suite of mixed reality services on Azure, unleashes new possibilities for experiencing the world like never before and transforms the way we work and live. The launch will empower businesses work faster, safer, and be more efficient, accelerate time to value, as well as connecting them with customers and new partners across industries in the new normal.
“This is a new era of computing, one in which the digital world will go far beyond our two-dimensional screens and into a new reality. We are excited to bring HoloLens 2 to Hong Kong, and work with our local partners to create industry-specific solutions backed by the intelligent cloud Azure. This new collaborative computing era will empower us all to achieve more, break boundaries and work together with greater ease and immediacy,” said Bess Chung, Business Group Lead of Business Applications, Microsoft Hong Kong.
Cutting-edge hardware and design meet mixed reality-infused cloud services
HoloLens 2 is the latest generation of the HoloLens, a breakthrough enterprise technology. Taking advantage of new time-of-flight depth sensor, combined with built-in AI and semantic understanding, HoloLens 2 enables direct manipulation of holograms with the same instinctual interactions you’d use with physical objects in the real world. It is more than twice as immersive, three times more comfortable, and delivers value right out of the box. Its new features allow you to grab and rotate holograms as you would a real object, rather than having to learn specific gestures to perform operations. Eye tracking technology senses when your eyes land on a particular part of a machine and then call up useful digital information about it. This means text will automatically scroll as you read through. The experience is like upgrading from a cartoon flip book to real cinematic immersion.
“You can do really interesting things with HoloLens 2, and you can do really interesting things with the cloud. But when you bring these two technologies together it changes the game in terms of what people can do,” added Chung.
HoloLens 2 is coupled with Microsoft’s mixed reality services that leverage the scalability, reliability, and security of Azure. Microsoft mixed reality applications like Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, Dynamics 365 Layout and the new Dynamics 365 Guides applications help accelerate time-to-value. These serve as the backbone of a comprehensive mixed reality platform and provide developers with new possibilities for creating AI-powered experiences:
- Dynamics 365 Remote Assist is a mixed reality business application that offers preconfigured integration with Dynamics 365 Field Service, all using Microsoft Dataverse. With Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, we set out to create a HoloLens app that would help our customers solve problems faster by collaborating remotely with heads-up, hands-free video calling, image sharing, and mixed-reality annotations.
- Dynamics 365 Guides is a mixed reality tool that allows employees to learn according to interactive instructions, engaging them with hands-on learning, improving training efficiency, and generating data to improve processes. This provides companies with the flexibility to train employees at a lower cost and with high-quality results. This application will minimize downtime and increase efficiency for mission critical equipment and processes.
- Azure Spatial Anchors is a service that enables multi-user, cross-platform, spatially aware mixed reality experiences. Developers and business can unlock scenarios such as shared mixed reality experiences and wayfinding across connected places. This enhances how companies work and learn across multiple industries, such as manufacturing, architecture, education.
- Azure Remote Rendering helps companies work with high-quality 3D assets in mixed reality. Today, untethered devices are constrained by limitations of mobile graphic processing power. This service renders models in the cloud and streams frames to intelligent edge devices like HoloLens 2, as well as providing cross-platform support for other mixed reality devices.
As edge devices become more intelligent, they become more secure. Azure delivers secure computing power to and from the edge with solutions like Azure Sphere and Azure IoT, allowing developers to design products that run seamlessly across diverse computing environments.
Business-ready solutions for retail, education, construction and more
Microsoft Hong Kong has worked with local partners to help different industries leverage HoloLens 2 and Azure mixed reality service as part of their digital transformation:
- Visionaries 777: Visionaries 777’s Mixed Reality Remote Planning Tool empowers teams to collaborate virtually without having to physically visit retail stores and sites. The solution creates a digital representation of the retail sites with Azure Digital Twins for teams to visualize the store in Mixed Reality on HoloLens 2. Real time and historical data such as customer occupancy and product sale hotspots can also be visualized and analyzed to inform strategies leveraging the power of AI on Azure.
- RIB Software: RIB Software’s iTWOlens solution combines MTWO Cloud, the world’s first integrated 5D Building Information Modelling (BIM) construction management cloud ERP solution which is empowered by Azure, with HoloLens 2 to digitize the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The solution leverages the computing power of MTWO Cloud to process data collected from iTWOlens. Additionally, employees from AEC companies can also project BIM model into reality and interact with it via iTWOLens. This greatly enhances the collaboration for all job site activities, providing better support to field crew and improve project management process.
- GoVR Immersive: Mixed Reality STEM Education Content delivers immersive learning experience via Azure and HoloLens 2 to increase student engagement and improve learning outcomes. Bringing lessons to life in 3D, students can download a wide variety of content ranging from Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Astronomy to Language onto the device, and dive deeper into every subject with the immersive and engaging power of Mixed Reality. The short and informative experiences would help enhance students’ understanding of the subject, without the need of a physical laboratory.
“When intelligent cloud and intelligent edge experiences are infused with mixed reality, we have a framework for achieving amazing things. Microsoft is committed to working with our partners to continue developing innovative solutions that empower people to achieve more in the new normal,” concluded Chung.
David Castaneda, Co-founder, Visionaries 777, introduced Mixed Reality Remote Planning Tool that empowers teams to collaborate virtually without having to physically visit retail stores and sites.
Mat Law, Business Development Director, RIB Software presented iTWOlens solution which combines 5D BIM construction management cloud software with HoloLens 2 to digitalize AEC industry.
Howard Tian, Co-Founder, Go VR Immersive Limited developed Mixed Reality STEM Education Content to deliver immersive STEM education experience via Azure and HoloLens 2 for students.
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