Video – What are Microsoft Azure and Mesh, and how can they change the world?
Microsoft Mesh is Microsoft’s new holographic technology, unveiled at the Microsoft Insight 2021 conference.
What is Microsoft Mesh? What does it do?
Microsoft Mesh is a new mixed reality technology developed by Microsoft on the Microsoft Azure platform, which can be used to bring people together in a single virtual space, and make them feel like they’re sitting in the same room.
Microsoft Mesh can be used to conduct a virtual meeting, as well as to help multiple people work together on the design of an artifact, recreated as a hologram in the shared virtual environment. Participants’ animated avatars are used in this first phase, but future plans include playing a virtual and photorealistic version of a person, complete with gestures and facial expressions.
It will be possible to participate in concerts and exhibitions virtually in the comfort of your own home, as well as having doctors who virtually assist in surgical operations from remote locations.
Mesh is currently available on Hololens 2 devices.
Who is developing similar technologies?
Although Microsoft has been working on Mesh in recent years introducing completely innovative new paradigms, the concept is not entirely new. Facebook’s Oculus Party, for example, allows people to chat together, in a shared virtual reality experience.
What is Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Mesh is possible thanks to the Microsoft Azure platform. Formerly known as Windows Azure, Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud computing platform: Microsoft first unveiled its plans to introduce a cloud computing service called Windows Azure way back in 2008. All’early 2014, Microsoft recognized that the implications of cloud computing went far beyond Windows, and the service was renamed Microsoft Azure. The main competitors are currently AWS (Amazon Web Services) and GCP (Google Cloud Platform).
Microsoft Azure provides a whole range of cloud services including compute, analytics, storage and network services. Users can choose from these services to develop and scale new applications, or run existing applications in the public cloud. Once customers sign up for Azure, they have access to all services included in the Azure portal. You can use these services to create cloud-based resources, such as virtual machines (VMs) and databases. Furthermore, the platform is often used for remote backup. Azure primarily uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model, billed-based on usage. Here are some resources to learn more, and understand how you can use the full power of cloud computing.
