The Economist - USA (2021-11-13)

70 Business The Economist November 13th 2021

Thecorporatemetaverse

Virtual world, Inc

C

allitthemultiplicationofthemeta­

verses.EversinceMarkZuckerberg,the

boss ofFacebook—sorry, Meta—laid out

hisvisioninlateOctoberforimmersive

virtualworldshethinkspeoplewillwant

tospendlotsoftimein,newonesarepop­

pingupallover.Anentertainmentmeta­

versewilldelightmusicfans,influencers

willflocktoa fashionmetaversetoflaunt

digitalclothes,andthereisevena shark

metaverse(it hassomething to dowith

cryptocurrencies). Mostly these are the

brainchildren of marketeers slapping a

newlabelontech’slatestcraze.

Onenewvirtualworlddeservesrealat­

tention:the“enterprisemetaverse”.Forget

rockstarsandfancyfrocks,thisisessen­

tiallya digitalcarboncopyofthephysical

economy.Buildingliving,interactiveblue­

prints that replicate thephysical world

might,intime,cometoshapeit.Thevision

ofwhatthismightmeanhasbecomeclear­

erinrecentdays.Microsoft, theworld’s

largestsoftwarefirm,earlierthismonth

putitatthecentreofitsannualcustomer

shindig, as did Nvidia, a big maker of

graphicsprocessors,onNovember9th.

Corporate virtual worlds are already

moreofa realitythanMeta’sconsumerver­

sion,wherepeoplewillgetto hangout

with their friends at imaginary coastal

mansions.Unlikethatmetaverse,whichis

populatedmostlyby humanavatars,the

corporateversionislargelya collectionof

objects.Theseare“digitaltwins”,virtual3d

replicasofallsortsofphysicalassets,from

singlescrewstoentirefactories.

Crucially,theyareconnectedtotheir

realselves—achangeontheshopfloor,for

instance, will trigger the equivalent

changeinitsdigitaltwin—andcollectdata

aboutthem.Thisset­upenablesproduc­

tivity­enhancingoperationsthatarehard

today,forexampleoptimisinghowgroups

of machines work together. Simulating

changesvirtuallycanthenbereplicatedin

therealworld.And,itsboostershope, a

pathwouldbelaidtoautomateevenmore

ofa firm’sinnerworkings.

Whethertheenterprisemetaversebe­

comesa realityisnotsimplyofinterestto

aficionadosofcorporateinformationtech­

nology(it). Innovationsunlockedthrough

insights gleaned from digital mirror­

worldscanhelpfirmsbecomemoreadapt­

able andefficient—helpingthem reduce

carbonemissions,forexample.Promoters

oftheconceptevenarguethatit willputto

resttheoldadage,coinedbyRobertSolow,

a Nobel­prizewinningeconomist,thatyou

can“seethecomputerageeverywherebut

intheproductivitystatistics”.

Theconceptofthis“twinworld”,asthe

enterprise metaverse might be called(a

spiffymonikerwillsurelybefound),isnot

new.Someofthenecessarytechnologies

havebeenaroundforyears,includingde­

viceswithsensorstocapturedata,known

asthe“internetofthings”(IoT)—another

fieldstillwaitingfora monikerupgrade.

Softwaretodesigndetailedvirtualreplicas

originatedincomputergames,thecurrent

benchmarkforimmersiveworlds.

Butotherbitshave onlyrecentlybe­

come good enough, including superfast

wirelesslinksto connectsensors,cloud

computing, and artificial intelligence,

whichcanpredicthowa systemislikelyto

behave.“Digitaltwinsaggregateallofthese

things,”explainsSamGeorge,whorunsthe

enterprise­metaverseeffortatMicrosoft.

Asisitswontasa makerofcorporate

software,Microsofthasdevelopedanen­

tireplatformontopofwhichotherfirms

can develop applications. This includes

toolstobuilddigitaltwinsandanalysethe

datatheycollect.Butthis“stack”,assuch

collectionsofcodeareknown,alsopro­

videstechnologywhichallowspeopleto

collaborate,includingMesh,a servicethat

hostssharedvirtualspaces,andHoloLens,

a mixed­reality headset, with which users

can jointly inspect a digital twin.

Nvidia’s  roots  in  computer  graphics

mean it focuses more on collaboration and

creating  demand  for  its  chips.  Its  Omni­

verse  is  also  a  platform  for  shared  virtual

spaces, but one that allows groups of users

to  bring  along  elements  they  have  built

elsewhere and combine these into a digital

twin they can then work on as a team. The

common technical format needed for such

collaboration  will  come  to  underpin  digi­

tal twins in the same way html, a standard

formatting  language,  already  underpins

web pages, predicts Richard Kerris, who is

in charge of Omniverse.

Both platforms have already attracted a

slew of startups and other firms that base

some of their business on this technology.

Cosmo  Tech,  for  instance,  takes  Micro­

soft’s  tools  to  do  complex  simulations  of

digital  twins  to  predict  how  they  might

evolve.  And  Bentley  Systems,  which  sells

engineering  software,  uses  Omniverse  to

optimise  energy  infrastructure.  Both  Mi­

crosoft  and  Nvidia  have  also  teamed  up

with  big  firms  to  show  off  their  wares.  ab

InBev,  a  beer  giant,  collaborates  with  Mi­

crosoft to create digital twins of some of its

more than 200 breweries to better control

the  fermentation  process.  In  the  case  of

Nvidia, the top partner is bmw, which uses

Omniverse to make it easier to reconfigure

its 30 factories for new cars.

Despite all this activity, it is not a given

that the enterprise metaverse will take off

as  fast  as  its  champions  expect,  if  ever.

Similar efforts have failed or disappointed,

including  many  IoT  projects.  “Smart  cit­

ies”,  essentially  attempts  to  build  urban

metaverses,  turned  out  to  use  technology

that was just not up to snuff and relied too

much on proprietary standards.

If the enterprise metaverse does indeed

take shape, though, it will be an intriguing

process.  Will  it  be  based  on  proprietary

technology or on open standards (there is

already  a  Digital  Twin  Consortium)?  And,

asks  George  Gilbert,  a  veteran  observer  of

the itindustry, how will software­makers

such as Microsoft be paid for their wares?

Since  their  code  will  be  more  embedded

than  ever  in  firms’  products  and  services,

some may ask for a slice of revenue instead

of licensing or subscription fees.

And  then  there  is  the  question  of  how

the  overall  metaverse  economy  will  func­

tion.  Since  most  business  activity  will  be

digitally  replicated,  economists  may  have

unprecedented  insight  into  what  is  going

on.  Digital  twins  could  exchange  services

between  themselves  and  perhaps  replace

firms as the main unit of analysis. If digital

twins live on a blockchain, the sort of plat­

form  that  underpins  most  cryptocurren­

cies, they could even become independent

and own themselves. Expect at least asma­

ny possibilities as metaverses to unfold.n

S AN FRANCISCO

Companies want to build a virtual realm to copy the real world—and reshape it

Getting lost in the twinworld