The Role of Edge Computing in a Successful Enterprise Metaverse

Edge technology could be the key to maximizing the positive impact of the metaverse for businesses by improving accessibility, performance and security. The enterprise metaverse has incredible potential in numerous industries. However, new technologies are needed to make that potential a reality. The edge computing metaverse uses the strengths of cloud computing to resolve a few key barriers to metaverse and XR adoption for businesses. 

The metaverse is often advertised as the next big technology in gaming, but many of its most promising applications are actually for businesses. The enterprise metaverse could transform the office experience, job training, remote work, and more. 

For example, the metaverse is highly effective for creating digital twins and simulated environments. Replicating real-world spaces and systems in the metaverse lets businesses experiment with new logistics and optimization strategies in a low-risk, cost-effective way. Studies show digital twins accounted for over $10 billion in enterprise metaverse revenue in 2022. By 2030, digital twin investments could total over $36 billion. 

Today, digital twins are confined to computer screens. However, the metaverse, VR and mixed reality could make them become immersive digital spaces. Edge computing would allow fast processing of real-time data that's updated immediately.

The impact of the metaverse also extends to the employee experience. Businesses can use it to create virtual offices that blend in-person and remote work. They can unite employees worldwide in a shared, immersive virtual space. Employees can even get hands-on, personalized job training through simulations in the metaverse. 

Digital job training is currently confined to apps on a phone or laptop, leaving a gap between digital exercises and the real world. VR, AR and MR can dissolve that gap to provide a more realistic training experience. This technology is already in development today, particularly for dangerous jobs like construction and emergency response. The metaverse will expand digital immersion to the entire workplace and virtually any industry.

These applications aren’t just limited to office work, either. Numerous businesses are developing revolutionary uses for the metaverse in many different industries. One startup uses the metaverse to expand access to health care by allowing clinicians to “scrub in” virtually from any location. 

Developers and businesses need solutions to the metaverse’s technical barriers for it to reach its full potential. Edge computing may be the key to resolving latency and bandwidth issues that hamper performance and bloat metaverse costs. Edge technology can also improve the user experience without magnifying computing power requirements. 

Latency and Processor Struggles

Latency is one of the biggest barriers facing metaverse adoption. Expensive devices and complicated technology are among the main factors limiting consumer adoption of VR, one of the main modes of connecting to the metaverse. VR, AR and MR headsets remain relatively rare and expensive today because the minimum technical requirements for XR are so high. 

Headsets must render realistic graphics in 360 degrees while a user moves through a virtual space. The sheer amount of graphics to render in a VR metaverse space is more than most consumer PCs can handle. Edge technology reduces those technical capability requirements and makes it easier to deliver a good metaverse experience. 

Users are already seeing a precursor of edge-based XR with the emergence of cloud computing and cloud gaming. These technologies use computing resources from the cloud to compensate for the lower computing power of individual devices. As a result, people can access programs and experiences that weren’t possible just a few years ago, such as playing a processor-intensive video game on a typical smartphone. 

Evolving Computing to Power the Metaverse

A new edge computing metaverse would bring cloud computing capabilities to XR technology. Moving computing closer to metaverse devices would allow rendering to occur faster without needing to happen entirely on the devices themselves. Metaverse platforms can use cloud computing to deliver the necessary computing power while using edge technology to bring rendering up to a speed that can provide a crisp, lifelike experience. 

This is important since the widespread adoption of the metaverse relies on lowering barriers to entry. Despite the massive potential for enterprise applications, the impact of the metaverse remains limited because the technology is expensive and complicated. Reducing the computing power requirements for metaverse devices would make them cheaper and easier to produce, a much more appealing investment for employers. 

Additionally, edge computing can provide businesses with the cybersecurity capabilities needed for mainstream metaverse adoption. Cybersecurity is a major concern for businesses today, with 48% of CEOs reporting increasing investment in security and data privacy. 

Security concerns will only grow more important when companies use enterprise metaverse tools and platforms for much of their daily operations. For example, a business using a metaverse office space should know its employees’ connections are secure and no one can enter the virtual workplace unauthorized. 

Edge technology allows businesses to keep sensitive data close to the devices where it is collected and used. Minimizing the amount of information being transmitted back and forth to a data center reduces the risk of bad actors intercepting it. The metaverse requires a massive amount of information to run effectively, particularly for applications that rely on real-world input, such as digital twins. The edge computing metaverse will make these applications more secure and streamlined, unlocking the full potential of enterprise use cases. 

The edge computing metaverse could make many exciting enterprise applications a reality. Cloud computing can solve the computing power challenges associated with XR devices but needs low latency to deliver a realistic experience. Edge computing can bridge that gap, providing the performance and security capabilities businesses need to supercharge enterprise metaverse applications.