The metaverse: here to stay?

Many experts euphorically describe the metaverse as the “next big thing”. But critical voices can also be heard citing the failure of Second Life at the beginning of the century. Last autumn the metaverse hit the headlines again: Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg declared that the blend of reality and virtual reality was the hope for future growth and unceremoniously changed the name of the group to “Meta”. What actually is the metaverse? The distant future? An issue for the Musks and Zuckerbergs of this world?

The term “metaverse” has its origins in science fiction literature. It describes a virtual space in which people can interact with one another as avatars using virtual reality technologies. This concept is an extremely popular one in gaming today. A “digital twin” of reality is created when the physical and virtual worlds merge. This not only opens the possibility of new leisure activities, new ways of communicating, learning and social exchange, but also of innovative forms of consumption, work, trade, advertising and the economy as a whole.

The expectation is that new markets will emerge – with innovative opportunities. This means that it affects the future of the Internet as we know it today and have come to appreciate for its versatility as well as its economic potential.

From Web 2.0 to the metaverse
The metaverse is the next step in the world’s experience of technological evolution. After the fundamental transformation from print and analog to digital we now make the leap from Web 2.0 to the metaverse. This not only creates a new social platform, but also opens up economic cycles for businesses and consumers. It is a huge market with new target groups and ways of appealing to them.

A current McKinsey study predicts that this trend will consolidate: the metaverse has the potential to attain a monetary value of up to five billion US dollars by 2030 – as high as the gross domestic product of Japan, the third largest economy in the world, in 2021. The study, which surveyed both consumers and managers in the Asia-Pacific region, China, Europe and the USA, came to the conclusion that “the metaverse is here to stay.”

Setting the course for a digital future
In view of this potential who wants to regret having missed out on the trend! So the important thing today is to set the appropriate course for the digital future.

Most businesses have only just made a start. Here and there initial applications with VR glasses are already being used. The equipment is becoming ever lighter, cheaper and technically more sophisticated.

In industry today the “digital twins” used for the virtual representation of objects can also serve as a basis for the metaverse. No matter whether a machine or a production line is being developed, with twins the project can be simulated, planned and improved in real time before and during implementation. In future these benefits can be extended to the metaverse and enhanced by new services.

A high-performance, futureproof IT infrastructure is an important prerequisite for participating successfully in the new virtual business world. It enables businesses to cope with the growing volume of data involved in entering the metaverse. Datwyler IT Infra offers the best possible solutions for this, paving the way to the metaverse for every one of its customers.