ETSI and VRARA cooperate on virtual and augmented reality

Sophia Antipolis, 9 November 2017

The US based VR/AR Association signs Letter of Intent with ETSI

ETSI is pleased to announce that the Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Association (VRARA) has recently signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate on interactive VR and AR technologies delivered over emerging 5G networks and hosted on Multi-access Edge Computing sites.

VRARA will be primarily involved with ETSI’s Multi-access Edge Computing group.

“ Virtual and Augmented Reality technology holds the promise to fundamentally transform how people interact with and experience the physical world, how they are entertained, and how services are delivered to them. ” states Alex Reznik, ETSI MEC chairman. “ We are at the cusp of this transformation, and, yet, it cannot happen unless the networks that will have to support these applications can deliver the required performance, e.g. latency on the order of several milliseconds. Edge computing is necessary to deliver such performance; while mobile networks, which today already provide pervasive global connectivity, are likely to continue occupying this central role. ”

The partnership between ETSI, the home of the world’s leading Multi-access Edge Computing standardization activity and VRARA, the world leading industry association representing the Virtual and Augmented reality industry recognizes the need to bring the two communities together. This cooperation will encourage common member companies to pursue VR/AR focused use cases and requirements for ETSI MEC Phase 2 so as to ensure that the resulting specifications address the needs of this key industry sector. VRARA will support adoption of ETSI MEC work as appropriate and highlight benefits of Edge computing to VR/AR solution developers.

“ In a recent research report we’ve published, we learnt that enterprise AR & VR have more receptive buyers than consumer markets, due to a strong ROI case. ” says Kris Kolo, Executive Director of the VR/AR Association. “ Working closely with ETSI which expertise lays in all ITC related sectors makes sense. We’re really excited to start this collaboration with their MEC group. ”