5G Future Forum completes first transatlantic 5G holographic meeting

Vodafone said it teamed up with other 5G Future Forum (5GFF) members Verizon and Bell Canada as well as real-time video software provider Matsuko to successfully conduct what it described as the first live transatlantic collaborative meeting connecting multiple holographic people in Canada, the US and the UK using 5G and multi-access edge computing (MEC).

In the trial, holograms of employees located in three different countries were connected from Toronto, New York and London using the 5G networks of Bell, Verizon and Vodafone, respectively. They were created with Matsuko’s real-time software and a single camera and were then streamed via spatial computing, an immersive technology that combines virtual and augmented reality. 

According to the partners, interacting with holograms of humans rather than avatars will ultimately provide a more personal and realistic experience for many applications such as remote healthcare, collaborative working and education, above all thanks to the speed of 5G combined with the quick response times of MEC.

Vodafone, Bell and Verizon came together under the auspices of industry body 5GFF for the pioneering demo and will be showcasing the transatlantic conference meeting and the technology behind it at the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Las Vegas from 26 to 28 September.