Technology Record - Issue 27: Winter 2022

131 Should we be looking at the metaverse as a single behemoth or is it likely to be fragmented? What does that mean for business and industry? Over time, the metaverse will feel and be perceived as one entity in the same way we regard the internet as one thing, despite being able to interact with it in many different ways. Metaverse representations will mature over time and common user design and interaction models will develop, in part influenced by the 3D environments already being used in industries such as gaming. There is a school of thought which discusses ‘the’ metaverse as a single place for us all to exist in an alternative reality. The truth at the enterprise level will be very different as heavy industries and all private enterprises will continue to protect their intellectual property and sources of commercial advantage from public access. Any organisation will be able to create its own industrial metaverse – which could be the collection of their operational assets or each one individually – but access to each metaverse will be strictly controlled with role-based privileges and security protection in the same way that businesses protect their financial systems. From the videos available online, the metaverse seems like it will only be accessible via artificial and virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets and applications. What technologies and devices will make the industrial metaverse a reality? AI, the industrial internet of things, cloud computing, and interactive technologies such as AR and VR will all be essential to building the many different industrial metaverses. “ Today’s industrial metaverse solves real challenges in the design-operate-optimise asset life cycle like never before” I NDU S T R I A L S & MANU FAC TUR I NG

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