TIP launches Metaverse-Ready Networks Project Group
The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) has formed a new project group that, it says “addresses one of the central topics in today’s telecommunications industry, metaverse-ready networks… The TIP Metaverse-Ready Networks Project Group’s primary objective is to accelerate the development of solutions and architectures that improve network readiness to support metaverse experiences.”
Meta Platforms, Microsoft, T-Mobile US, Telefónica and Sparkle will be the initial co-chairs of the project group.
Alex Harmand, head of network platforms at Telefónica and co-chair of the new group, stated: “This new group will enable operators to address the exciting opportunities that the metaverse is creating in both the consumer and enterprise segments. Telefónica is looking forward to collaborating to define the network capabilities and associated APIs needed to enhance metaverse services. The TIP community is the perfect environment for this initiative as it will allow us to leverage multiple current project groups, such as OpenWIFI, OpenRAN, Open Optical and Packet Transport, to deliver end-to-end architectures and solutions that we will then test in Telefónica’s and other TIP Community Labs.”
Ron Marquardt, Vice President of Advanced Technologies & Innovation at T-Mobile said: “As one of the major upcoming revolutions in the telco industry, the metaverse has to be built through industry collaboration. We want to encourage other CSPs, technology makers and content creators to join us in this journey.”
Rashan Jibowu, Product Manager at Meta Platforms and Co-Chair of the MRN Project Group said: “The metaverse is the next chapter of the internet. In the early stages of its development, it’s critical that we work together as an industry to determine what it means for networks to be “metaverse-ready,” and what we need to do collectively to get there. We look forward to collaborating with the TIP community to lay this important groundwork and build toward our common goal of bringing the metaverse to life.”
Fabio Panunzi Capuano, Executive Vice President Business Development at Sparkle and Co-Chair of the MRN Project Group said: “The telecom industry will act as a key enabler for the metaverse by providing the performing network architectures and services that will support growing bandwidth requests and quality of experience generated by new business models. The Metaverse-Ready Networks Project Group, as one voice of the industry, has the challenging task to define new connectivity requirements supporting the end-to-end metaverse experience and Sparkle, with its assets and experience, is at the forefront in cooperating to shape the future.”
Ricardo Villarreal, Director of Product Management at Microsoft, Azure for Operators and Co-Chair of the MRN Project Group said: “The metaverse might be in a nascent state, but it is imperative to start building today the networks needed to realize the promise of a complete convergence of our physical and digital lives. Cross-industry collaboration is the only way to achieve this.”
The Project Group will be hosting its first open doors session at Fyuz in Madrid Oct 25-27th.
TIP Launches Metaverse-Ready Networks Project Group – Telecom Infra Project
The Metaverse Is Quickly Turning Into the Meh-taverse- Disney and Microsoft both closed projects tied to the digital realm this month
The metaverse was a hot thing in tech less than two years ago, but is now facing a harsher reality. Slow user adoption, driven in part by expensive hardware requirements and glitchy tech, and deteriorating economic conditions have put a damper on expectations the metaverse will drive meaningful revenue soon. Recently:
-Walt Disney Co. has shut down the division that was developing its metaverse strategies,
-Microsoft Corp. recently shut down a social virtual-reality platform it acquired in 2017.
-Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook) is focused more on artificial intelligence, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call last month.
Meanwhile, the price for virtual real estate in some online worlds, where users can hang out as avatars, has cratered. The median sale price for land in Decentraland has declined almost 90% from a year ago, according to WeMeta, a site that tracks land sales in the metaverse.
“What many people are coming to realize is that this transformation is farther away,” said Matthew Ball, a venture capitalist and author of a book about the metaverse.
Tech companies have been slashing jobs and abandoning projects deemed nonessential. Mr. Zuckerberg, who championed the metaverse as the next iteration of the mobile internet a mere 18 months ago, dubbed 2023 “the year of efficiency.” His company laid off 11,000 employees in the fall and said this month that it would cut a further 10,000 positions and various projects, including some that are based in its metaverse division, the Journal previously reported.
“A lot of companies and businesses understandably feel like if they need to reduce head count or spending overall, this kind of category would seem to be a pretty easy target,” said Scott Kessler, a tech-sector analyst at research firm Third Bridge Group. Investments in artificial intelligence promise returns in the nearer term, he added.
“All these things that are going on, related to AI, seem to be able to be used and leveraged now,” he said. With the metaverse, “no one knows when you’re going to reach critical mass.”
Even at the height of the metaverse craze, some tech executives were less enamored with online realms. “I want to try and work on technologies that bring people’s heads up—get them to enjoy the real world,” David Limp, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon.com Inc., said at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival last year.
Meta has spent billions of dollars trying to build out the metaverse since changing its name. But its flagship app, Horizon Worlds, struggled to gain and retain users within the first year after the renaming, according to internal documents viewed by the Journal. Sales of its Quest 2 virtual-reality headsets, which are used to access Horizon Worlds and other virtual-reality apps, were also down in the most recent quarter, the company said.
Mr. Zuckerberg isn’t walking away from the metaverse, signaling that it remains a long-term focus for the company after AI. “The two major technological waves driving our road map are AI today and, over the longer term, the metaverse,” he said last month.
On that call, “AI” was mentioned 28 times. The word “metaverse” was mentioned on seven occasions. Meta didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The pivot at Disney comes amid its recent leadership change and restructuring. Chief Executive Robert Iger returned to the company in November and has started slashing costs. The company last month said it plans to cut 7,000 jobs and reduce costs by $5.5 billion.
Microsoft also bet big on the idea of online digital realms, though struggled with implementing that vision. In addition to shutting down AltSpaceVR, the company’s work on augmented-reality headsets was plagued by problems, the Journal reported last year. The company has since restructured the HoloLens team and trimmed its budget, the Journal has reported. Microsoft said it “remains committed to the metaverse” with both hardware and software tools.
Smaller companies such as Decentraland and the Sandbox where users have been able to buy virtual land and build their own worlds have seen some of the most success so far. But even so, land sales are down. The median price per square meter in Decentraland has dropped from about $45 a year ago to $5, according to data from WeMeta, the firm that tracks the sales.
A spokesperson for the Decentraland Foundation, which oversees the platform, said land sales aren’t indicative of user growth. A spokesperson for the Sandbox said all of the new land they have put up for sale over the past six months has sold out.
Despite a broad reduction in metaverse engagement, the online realms can still draw eyeballs. Decentraland, which saw a 25% decline in active users from November to January, is seeing an uptick this week from Metaverse Fashion Week, an event where brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Tommy Hilfiger are participating, according to DCL Metrics, a site that tracks users in the digital realm.
“It is obvious that hype around the metaverse has receded. But we should not mistake this for a lack of progress,” said Mr. Ball, the venture capitalist who is bullish on the metaverse. “Change isn’t that fast.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-metaverse-is-quickly-turning-into-the-meh-taverse-1a8dc3d0