NEW! Designed for the Factory Floor Gigabit Hardened PoE Industrial Ethernet Switches sales@brainboxes.com THE INDUSTRIAL METAVERSE IS JUST ANOTHER FAD, ISN’T IT? Over the past couple of years it has been hard to avoid references to the “industrial metaverse” – something to do with a fusion between the digital and physical worlds. It’s yet another fashionable term which will have its moment of glory before being forgotten, isn’t it? Well, maybe not. In what is claimed to be the first study of its kind (and certainly the largest to date), the Finnish communications giant Nokia and the “professional services partnership” EY have surveyed 860 company representatives in four industry sectors (industrial goods and manufacturing; automotive; transportation, supply chain and logistics; and utilities) in six countries (the UK, US, Brazil, Germany, Japan and South Korea) on their attitudes to the metaverse. And the results are a bit of an eye-opener. For a start, just 2% of those quizzed dismiss the metaverse as a buzzword or fad. And of those have already adopted the industrial metaverse, 80% expect the applications they have tested to have a significant, or even transformative, impact on their businesses. Some 15% report that it has helped them to cut their capital expenditure, 10% that it has improved sustainability, and 9% that it has enhanced safety. More than half (58%) of companies with metaverse plans have already deployed or piloted at least one metaverse-related use case, and nearly all (94%) of those who have yet to begin their metaverse journey plan to do so within the coming two years. Another, perhaps surprising, finding is the UK is a front-runner in implementing metaverse concepts, with 64% of those quizzed reporting that they have piloted or fully deployed at least one industrial or enterprise metaverse application already. This puts the UK just behind the US (on 65%), and ahead of Germany (53%), Japan (49%) and South Korea (49%). Perhaps this is, in part, because there has been more talk about the metaverse in English-speaking countries, and thus a higher level of awareness. Nearly all of the respondents (96%) believe that by mixing physical and virtual applications, the metaverse could deliver additional innovative capabilities that will allow them to accelerate the deployment, adoption and monetisation of Industry 4.0 in their businesses. When asked which use cases they expect to deliver the most transformative value, those surveyed saw the highest potential in using extended reality to upskill their workforces, while three quarters cited the use of virtual R&D to enhance product design and processes. When deploying metaverse applications, cloud computing was the most widely mentioned technological enabler (cited by 72%) followed by artificial intelligence and machine learning (70%) and network connectivity (68-70%). At this stage, many enterprises with limited internal expertise are still relying on external partners to help them close capability gaps and to deploy metaverse applications. Commenting on the survey findings, Nishant Batra, Nokia’s chief strategy and technology officer, says: “It is great to see that companies clearly believe in the power of the metaverse for business value creation in both enterprise and industrial use cases. This strongly aligns with our vision, informed by more than 10 years of research at Nokia Bell Labs, that the metaverse is an extension of Industry 4.0. “Consequently, those who have already implemented missioncritical communications networks for Industry 4.0 are now well placed to experience the benefits of the metaverse that clearly some companies are already seeing.” Judging by the survey findings – which have been published in a report called The metaverse at work – the industrial metaverse is here to stay. If you have previously dismissed the concept as yet another fashionable trend, it may be worth taking a second look. Tony Sacks, Editor n COMMENT
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=