What is Horizon Workrooms？
In response to hybrid collaboration under the pandemic, more and more companies are increasing their investments in VR immersive technologies, such as Microsoft Mesh from Microsoft and Horizon Workrooms from Facebook.
VR is becoming an important area of focus, and more and more companies are experimenting with VR immersive technology for high-touch scenarios that require one-on-one interaction. It replicates all the dynamics of face-to-face conversations and group discussions without the need for participants to be physically present. That's why companies like Facebook are bullish on the future of UC & C in VR, especially in the context of the Metaverse.
Facebook is already making strides with its vision of working in the Metaverse with its new VR offering, Horizon Workrooms.
What is Horizon Workrooms?
Horizon Workrooms is a collaboration platform where employees can use VR to gather in virtual spaces for efficient collaboration activities. In other words, you can think of Horizon Workrooms as an online virtual small and medium-sized conference room. You can type, post complex facial expressions, make meeting plans and more in this virtual meeting room. The purpose of Horizon Workrooms is to bring high-touch capabilities to remote work, eliminating the need for face-to-face interaction in reality and providing a one-stop destination for users to work and collaborate in the Metaverse.
Features of Horizon Workrooms
1.Customisable workspaces
You can customize Workroom's default spaces, with posters, logos, backgrounds, and more. However, you cannot change the core layout of the meeting space, such as furniture arrangement or wall placement.
2.A virtual whiteboard
Each workroom has an unlimited whiteboard that you can operate using a pen-like controller. The whiteboard is permanent, and you can project files and pictures from your PC onto the whiteboard. Currently, Workrooms support five trackable keyboard variants.
3.Productivity capabilities
Horizon Workrooms can be integrated with Outlook or Google Calendar. Each room will have a permanent address for capturing notes, sharing files, sending chat messages, and more during and after meetings.
Horizon Workrooms have even more potential in the context of the Metaverse. It will enable work-related interoperability with third-party applications available in the VR space. You can imagine a future where the entire UC environment will exist in the Metaverse.
The application of Horizon Workrooms in Unified Communication
In Horizon Workrooms, employees can use the avatar system to create their favorite 3D animated cartoon characters and communicate with colleagues in video conferences. Horizon Workrooms allow colleagues to get together and work in the same virtual room, no matter how far away they are from reality.
Horizon Workrooms can greatly improve the team's remote collaboration and communication efficiency. Employees can sit at a table in a virtual conference room and watch the physical movements of their colleagues' avatars. You can watch them type, watch them walk to the whiteboard to present a document, and watch everyone in the room look like their avatars. This greatly enriches the meeting experience in the workroom. Workroom sound quality is good, and employees can hear each other's voices and see each other's body posture as they speak. What's also great is that virtual meeting spaces filter out a lot of noise.
Horizon Workrooms allow employees to enter a VR environment without leaving their regular work environment. If they want to join a virtual meeting, employees can raise their hands and pinch in the air to join. In a virtual room, you can create a "mixed reality desk" that scans a physical desk into the room, then lets other people see you're sitting at your desk, and they can grab virtual files and put them on your virtual desk.
Horizon Workrooms allow employees to configure the layout of virtual rooms based on the number of participants. Employees can also pair personal laptops and bring them into the room to share content on their personal devices with others. A video conferencing system is integrated into the virtual room, making it easy to know who is speaking.
In the future, the workroom experience will change and evolve rapidly. We expect more core layout customization, more third-party interoperability, and an absolute increase in the maximum number of users.
VR is becoming an important area of focus, and more and more companies are experimenting with VR immersive technology for high-touch scenarios that require one-on-one interaction. It replicates all the dynamics of face-to-face conversations and group discussions without the need for participants to be physically present. That's why companies like Facebook are bullish on the future of UC & C in VR, especially in the context of the Metaverse.
Facebook is already making strides with its vision of working in the Metaverse with its new VR offering, Horizon Workrooms.
What is Horizon Workrooms?
Horizon Workrooms is a collaboration platform where employees can use VR to gather in virtual spaces for efficient collaboration activities. In other words, you can think of Horizon Workrooms as an online virtual small and medium-sized conference room. You can type, post complex facial expressions, make meeting plans and more in this virtual meeting room. The purpose of Horizon Workrooms is to bring high-touch capabilities to remote work, eliminating the need for face-to-face interaction in reality and providing a one-stop destination for users to work and collaborate in the Metaverse.
Features of Horizon Workrooms
1.Customisable workspaces
You can customize Workroom's default spaces, with posters, logos, backgrounds, and more. However, you cannot change the core layout of the meeting space, such as furniture arrangement or wall placement.
2.A virtual whiteboard
Each workroom has an unlimited whiteboard that you can operate using a pen-like controller. The whiteboard is permanent, and you can project files and pictures from your PC onto the whiteboard. Currently, Workrooms support five trackable keyboard variants.
3.Productivity capabilities
Horizon Workrooms can be integrated with Outlook or Google Calendar. Each room will have a permanent address for capturing notes, sharing files, sending chat messages, and more during and after meetings.
Horizon Workrooms have even more potential in the context of the Metaverse. It will enable work-related interoperability with third-party applications available in the VR space. You can imagine a future where the entire UC environment will exist in the Metaverse.
The application of Horizon Workrooms in Unified Communication
In Horizon Workrooms, employees can use the avatar system to create their favorite 3D animated cartoon characters and communicate with colleagues in video conferences. Horizon Workrooms allow colleagues to get together and work in the same virtual room, no matter how far away they are from reality.
Horizon Workrooms can greatly improve the team's remote collaboration and communication efficiency. Employees can sit at a table in a virtual conference room and watch the physical movements of their colleagues' avatars. You can watch them type, watch them walk to the whiteboard to present a document, and watch everyone in the room look like their avatars. This greatly enriches the meeting experience in the workroom. Workroom sound quality is good, and employees can hear each other's voices and see each other's body posture as they speak. What's also great is that virtual meeting spaces filter out a lot of noise.
Horizon Workrooms allow employees to enter a VR environment without leaving their regular work environment. If they want to join a virtual meeting, employees can raise their hands and pinch in the air to join. In a virtual room, you can create a "mixed reality desk" that scans a physical desk into the room, then lets other people see you're sitting at your desk, and they can grab virtual files and put them on your virtual desk.
Horizon Workrooms allow employees to configure the layout of virtual rooms based on the number of participants. Employees can also pair personal laptops and bring them into the room to share content on their personal devices with others. A video conferencing system is integrated into the virtual room, making it easy to know who is speaking.
In the future, the workroom experience will change and evolve rapidly. We expect more core layout customization, more third-party interoperability, and an absolute increase in the maximum number of users.