The most apt description of Metaverse is that it is a parallel life, and that too with Virtual Reality (VR) goggles. The concept of Metaverse technology is still in its initial phases, yet it is one of the fastest-growing and most talked-about emerging technologies over the past months.
2021 Bloomberg Intelligence Analysis even reported that the metaverse has the potential to grow up to US $800 billion in market value. Although it may seem a bit overambitious at this stage, the technology is certainly promising.
Recently, there has been a lot of buzz and activity around the notion of combining the metaverse with Cloud Computing solutions. The question here is, what does the metaverse mean for the Cloud?
Since metaverse technology requires a huge amount of storage and processing capacity, experts predict that Cloud Computing can be perfectly suited for it. Cloud-based servers and data centers seem to be the only viable, practical and cost-effective solution for metaverse’s compute-intensive workloads.
It has been predicted that there will be numerous technological innovations and growth around metaverse technology. A lot of these compute and graphics-intensive systems will either be developed within private data centers, or Cloud Computing solutions.
Cloud-based, on-demand storage and computational services, along with its pay-as-you-go pricing model will be prefect for entities that want to build out a virtual world. In addition, omni-presence of the Cloud will reduce any latency issues that might hamper the creation of a superb, and near reality virtual experience.
There are a few things that Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) can do to prepare themselves for the endless possibilities associated with the metaverse; a network of 3D virtual worlds. These suggestions include:-
- The most important step is to start out with the understanding of what this technology means. CSPs should get their facts right about the technology behind VR processing, as well as Augmented Reality (AR) workloads.
- They should also figure out a way to develop a strong business case around the metaverse. There has been news regarding the purchase of digital real estate or digital artworks. From where we are standing right now, a more practical use case would be regarding collaborations among remote-based workers. Virtual meetings can also be turned into a “real-life experience”.
- Cloud Computing firms can also develop various business ecosystems, within the metaverse. It could be the management of logistics, or business analytics to tap into the various emerging segments of the market.
- Investments in VR technology and employee training can also be a successful proposition. It can be a great area to explore, especially with the increase of remote-based work and online collaboration trends.
Technologies proclaiming to be revolutionary, do tend to come forward every few years. Some of them succeed, while others can’t make a mark, and fade away in time. Having said that, we are cautiously optimistic that the metaverse does become a success. In case that happens, Cloud computing will be its key benefactor as well as enabler.
