Verizon and Dreamscape Immersive have announced a partnership aimed at innovating virtual reality (VR) applications using 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC). The partnership’s first priorities will focus on 5G immersive-learning and training innovations for use in enterprise, public sector, and education environments.
“Verizon’s partnership with Dreamscape shows how innovative tech built on our 5G network can revolutionize industries,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “Using 5G and Edge computing, we are creating immensely powerful and complex VR experiences using lower-cost, tetherless VR hardware, and advancing VR education and training simulations beyond what was previously thought possible. This opens the door to new experiences and makes VR training more accessible for students, trainees, and professionals.”
“Dreamscape is founded on the premise that we can think beyond physical limitations to create new ways for our world to learn, play, and work. With Verizon as our partner, we’re able to push the limits of VR. Together, we’ll set the standard for VR innovation and application in every field,” said Walter Parkes, CEO of Dreamscape.
As Dreamscape’s official 5G innovation partner, Verizon has taken an equity stake in Dreamscape through Verizon Ventures, joining a list of Dreamscape investors and partners across entertainment, education, and government.
Verizon and Dreamscape Learn, a partnership between Dreamscape and Arizona State University, will work together to innovate immersive VR learning experiences for various education levels and environments. To accelerate these advances, Dreamscape and Verizon will also form a dedicated innovation lab to incubate 5G- and MEC-enabled VR-learning applications.
“Dreamscape Learn’s goal is to marry the emotionality of Hollywood storytelling with cutting-edge technology and advanced pedagogical theories to provide vivid, active VR environments in which the student becomes a scientist explorer, discovering new worlds and solving complex issues and problems,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “This is a completely new and transformative approach to education, and through the power of Verizon’s 5G network, we can deliver these singular experiences to a whole generation of learners, inspiring them to think outside of the box and challenge traditional learning models and outcomes.”
Outside of the classroom, Verizon and Dreamscape will collaborate to develop and market avatar-driven synthetic training and simulation experiences for government and specialized professional learning uses. The experiences will combine Verizon's 5G capabilities and Dreamscape’s ADEPT (Avatar Driven Educational and Practical Training) Platform, which leverages Dreamscape’s proprietary tracking and rendering technologies, to deliver vivid and life-like VR scenarios.
Dreamscape’s revolutionary VR platform combines Hollywood storytelling with proprietary full-body tracking technology to allow a level of immersion, precision and interaction never before achieved in the industry. By merging motion capture with body mapping and advanced kinematics, Dreamscape experiences allow large groups to interact with each other with ultra-low latency. Paired with the fast speeds, ultra-low latency, and high bandwidth of Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband, which is available in parts of select cities, and 5G Edge platform, the partnership will aim to create low lag immersive applications that unlock the power of connectivity, remote networking, and virtual collaboration.