The Omniverse is a collection of verses, with each verse comprising immersive communication platforms, digital assistants, workplace collaboration tools, entertainment, and retail to support the digital communities where people meet friends, work, play games, shop, and much more! The Omniverse brings new channels and platforms for producers, distributors, and consumers of goods and services, across the:
- Physical World – the tangible and real world where we physically exist
- Virtual World – the world where everything you observe and experience is fully online and digital
- Augmented World – convergence of the digital experience and physical reality
AVASANT'S RUBRIC FOR THE OMNIVERSE
Beyond Metaverse—Why You Need an Omniverse Strategy
The digital age has triggered a rapid convergence of the human experience across physical, virtual, and augmented realities. These realities now exist in what is referred to as the metaverse. This report defines the aspects of a “verse” and provides a list of essential digital prerequisites necessary for businesses to prepare for their organizations to service their clients and conduct business in the omniverse.
Learn More
EXPLORING THE OMNIVERSE
Digital Assistants & Proprietary Devices
Digital assistants are commonplace in the consumer world, with Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google’s Google Assistant being famous examples. Presently, these devices leave a lot to be desired, but as natural language processing and AI gets stronger, they will form the backbone of the way most humans interact with their computing environment. Proprietary devices – iPhone, Android, smart home equipment, or even the Oculus Rift VR headset are a significant factor in the stickiness of a particular verse.
Digital Real Estate
Digital real estate is unambiguous. It is the ownership of virtual space inside a virtual world. It is the place where your customers will interact with each other and with you. While digital real estate is technically infinite, most virtual worlds still have more attractive or less attractive “neighborhoods” just like real life. Avatars can technically jump from domain to domain inside of a virtual world, enabling limitless movement. The look and feel, as well as the ease of access to digital real estate, will matter significantly to retail success in the verse.
Entertainment
Many verses have exclusive access to different forms of entertainment whether it be streaming of video content or gaming. It only makes sense, as they are the primary ways that millions of humans pass their time outside of work. The main competitors of the omniverse have been battling in this arena at least since streaming content began with Disney, Apple, Amazon, and Meta all at least dabbling in content creation. And all six are streaming content on one or more platforms.
Immersive Communications
Immersive Communications are the framework of both workplace collaboration and community building. Without the ability to interact, a verse is a lonely place full of avatars bumping into one another. Immersive communications can take multiple forms, ranging from audio and video, to chat, and VR/AR rooms that allow for the simulation of real-world socializing.
Retail Ecosystems
To monetize the verse, robust ecosystems need to be maintained across the physical, virtual, and augmented worlds. V-commerce (verse-commerce) goes beyond the mere selling of goods electronically. Commerce that exists in the real world, virtual world, can even be altered in the virtual world – v-commerce takes the special properties of the verse into account.
Social Platforms & Digital Communities
Along with entertainment, social platforms are what make verses sticky. Verses are communities where we have virtual houses and possessions and more importantly, friends. Most people are reluctant to pick up and move across the country where everyone is unfamiliar, and they have no job – consumers are unlikely to leave a strong community. Gaming companies have often proven to possess the best skills at community building, which explains Microsoft’s heavy investment in gaming.
Data Lakes
With its use of virtual and augmented reality, a verse will have to store large amounts of structured and unstructured data gathered from myriad sensors and social interactions—in other words, a data lake. However, it is not just about the storage itself, but the customer insights that can be drawn from the data. Hyper-personalized experiences are fuelled by data. This is where the omnichannel experience merges into the omniverse.
Workplace Collaboration
A shared virtual workspace in which participants can collaborate for common objectives. Currently many of these mirror extensions of collaboration platforms such as Teams and Zoom. As the laws of physics do not apply to the virtual world, we may be able to go beyond replicating the office to an immersive experience. For instance, a doctor could go “inside” a digital twin of a human body, or an engineer could float around an engine design.
Advanced Networks
5G, 6G, and Wifi 6 networks that will allow for better and faster networking. The omniverse is a data-rich world, and without a strong backbone, the world would be impossible to maintain.
Biometric Identification
The use of biometrics, such as facial recognition, retinal scan, or fingerprints, to identify or authenticate a person. As we leave digital footprints across the omniverse, processing payments, identifying who is present, what they are doing, whether they are a safe actor, security becomes even more important.
Connected Humans
Whether it is IT outsourcing or business process outsourcing, the decision is increasingly complex with the introduction of automation and cloud-driven solutions.
Digital Currencies
Digital currencies, often called cryptocurrencies, are currencies that are only available in digital form. Most digital currencies are built on blockchain. Bitcoin is the most famous, but other examples include Ethereum and Dogecoin. The cross border, multinational aspect of the omniverse makes handling currency more complicated. Digital currencies get rid of issues like exchange rates. Do not be surprised if individual verses begin releasing their own “coin of the realm.”
Holograms and Digital Twins
Digital twins create a digital simulation of some entity, such as a machine tool, a data center, a production line, or other physical environment, using real-time sensors and other data to virtually replicate the physical object. The digital twin allows for a maintenance staff member, a plant manager, or an IT manager to get an understanding of an object without being present. Digital twins can take advantage of sensors to create duplicates of people or other living systems as well.
Non-Fungible Tokens
Digital assets that have a unique identity recorded on a blockchain, which securely tracks their ownership or other attributes and can be traded from person to person. The real value of NFT’s comes in the augmented and virtual worlds where ownership of products, real estate, and other virtual assets will need to be tracked and maintained.
Quantum Computing & Super Computers
Traditional computers must work on one operation or calculation at a time. Quantum computers can theoretically perform thousands (possibly millions) of operations at the same time. They essentially are a massive set of parallel processors or a supercomputer. If perfected, a single quantum computer could put a supercomputer’s worth of power on a desk and significantly shrink the size and cost of data centers. The omniverse requires significant computing power to render the digital world, stream entertainment, and track data. Quantum computers have the potential to not only do that quicker but at a savings both in terms of cost and environmental impact.
Verse of Things
As we transition from the Internet to the ‘verse’, The Internet of Things has paved the way for the ‘Verse of Things’. These include physical assets such as drones, autonomous vehicles, sensors and other devices that operate in the real world yet, can connect to the virtual or augmented worlds.
