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Microsoft’s Battlefield AR Headset in Jeopardy After Deep Budget Cuts

From roadtovr

Microsoft’s big defense contract that looks to supply the US Army with modified HoloLens AR headsets isn’t going so well. As first reported by Bloomberg, the Senate panel that oversees defense spending announced significant cuts to the Army’s fiscal 2023 procurement request for the device.

Microsoft announced last year it had won a US Army defense contact worth up to $22 billion to develop an Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a tactical AR headset for soldiers based on HoloLens 2 technology.

Now the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee announced it’s cut $350 million from the Army’s procurement plans for IVAS, leaving around $50 million for the device. The subcommittee cites concerns based around the program’s overall effectiveness.

Concept testing in 2019, Image courtesy CNBC

“The Committee remains concerned that IVAS continues to face software, hardware, and user-acceptance challenges that the Army has not sufficiently addressed,” an official statement reads, which was obtained by Breaking Defense. “While the Committee was encouraged by the Department of the Army’s 2021 decision to extend testing and evaluation for an additional 10 months, it notes that significant development challenges with IVAS 1.1 remain.”

Earlier this year the US Congress froze $394 million from the Army’s IVAS budget, which Business Insider noted at the time would only leave around $400 million. Even then, that was allegedly $200 million short of what Microsoft needed to recuperate development costs.

Instead the US government appears to be reallocating the 2023 funds to support procurement of the Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular, increasing that program’s budget by $300 million.

The subcommittee also increased spending on a number of other Army programs, including ground vehicle procurement, Abrams tank upgrades, Stryker upgrades, new Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles, and approved budgets for both AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

Business Insider reported earlier this year that Microsoft had internally expressed low expectations for its latest version of IVAS, which was set to begin real-world operational tests in May.

This follows reports that cast doubt on a prospective HoloLens 3 amid an internal division that may have hobbled the company’s efforts to release its next AR headset as planned.

HoloLens Chief Alex Kipman to Leave Microsoft Amid Misconduct Allegations

From roadtovr

Alex Kipman is leaving Microsoft amid what an Insider report alleges to have stemmed from misconduct allegations leveled at the HoloLens co-creator.

The report maintains that Microsoft Cloud head Scott Guthrie is planning a reorganization of the departments, as Kipman is set to leave the company in the next two months as a part of transition process.

According to an email obtained by Insider, the company’s mixed reality hardware teams will join the Windows and Devices organization, which will be led by Panos Panay, whilst MR software teams will join the Experiences and Devices division under Jeff Teper.

The report details alleged actions by Kipman, including inappropriate behavior such as  “unwanted touching” of women employees and an instance wherein Kipman viewed an adult VR video in front of other employees.

“Managers warned employees not to leave women alone around Kipman,” the report maintains, according to three affected sources.

Insider says “[m]ore than 25 employees shared their experiences as part of a report that was compiled about Kipman.”

Military version of HoloLens (IVAS) | Image courtesy Microsoft

A former colleague told Insider that the pandemic was “[t]he best thing that happened, sadly,” as no one on the team had to interact with him personally.

Kipman hasn’t responded to any of these allegations. Microsoft also declined to confirm or deny the specific allegations against Kipman, however the company says it’s investigating every report and “for every claim found substantiated there is clear action taken.”

This follows a Business Insider report from earlier this year that cast doubt on a prospective HoloLens 3 amid an internal division that may have hobbled the company’s efforts to release its next AR headset as planned.

That earlier report maintained that progress on fulfilling its $22 billion US defense contract, which aims to put HoloLens in battlefield roles over the next 10 years, has been stymied by internal production issues.

An alleged internal rift stemming from competing designs, one of which would completely reposition HoloLens as a consumer AR device, were citied as reasons for the lack of progress on release of the next-gen device.

Report: Microsoft Braces for Negative Field Tests of Military HoloLens

From roadtovr

Microsoft is supposedly gearing up to field test its HoloLens-based military AR headset, however a new report contends the company is bracing for impact, as it’s expecting negative feedback from soldiers.

Last year, Microsoft announced it had won a United States Army defense contract worth up to $22 billion which would see the development of a so-called Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a tactical AR headset for soldiers based on HoloLens 2 technology.

A Business Insider report, citing a leaked internal email, maintains that Microsoft has low expectations for its latest version of IVAS, which is set to begin real-world operational tests with the US Army in May.

Prototype testing (2019), Image courtesy CNBC

Microsoft’s IVAS contract has allegedly seen delays and quality problems. A separate Business Insider report from last month alleges its enterprise-focused HoloLens 3 may also be at risk due to internal issues within Microsoft’s mixed reality division surrounding whether HoloLens should serve consumers or continue courting enterprise companies.

A purported Microsoft Teams message from Mixed Reality division head and HoloLens co-inventor Alex Kipman paints a pretty depressing story:

“So depressed, so demoralized, so broken. I’m sure by now you’ve read or heard about one or two of the Business Insider articles that were published on us. On our private roadmap. On our customers’ confidential data … as a consequence of these articles and these individuals shameful actions, someone from finance already came to me to ask if we should lock down and not share so openly our numbers. Someone from marketing already came to me and asked if we should lock down and not share so openly our roadmap. Someone for from our National Intelligence and Security Team already came to me to ask if we should lock down our IVAS work.”

Kipman rebuffed the previously report of unrest, saying “don’t believe what you read on the internet.”

It’s said that soldiers may take issue with the device’s low light and thermal imaging performance, and that user impressions will “continue to be negative as reliability improvements have been minimal from previous events.”

That $22 billion is an upper target and not the full amount granted to Microsoft at present. And it seems confidence in the project isn’t very high at the moment, as US Congress has allegedly frozen $394 million from the Army’s IVAS budget, which Business Insider notes leaves only $405 million—around $200 million shy of what Microsoft supposedly needs to recover development costs.

Additionally, it’s also said some close to the project fear the Army will simply walk away from the contract.

Report Casts Doubt on HoloLens 3, Microsoft Says AR Headset is “doing great”

From roadtovr

Microsoft’s enterprise-focused HoloLens 3 may be dead in the water, as a recent report maintains that internal divisions have hobbled the company’s efforts to release its next AR headset as planned. In the days following the report’s release, HoloLens co-creator Alex Kipman responded, saying “don’t believe what you read on the internet.”

A Business Insider report from earlier this month maintains that plans to release HoloLens 3 are shifting behind the scenes. This comes alongside an alleged partnership with Samsung that would see the development of a wholly new consumer AR device that is rumored to tether to a Samsung smartphone.

This has allegedly caused divisions within the company surrounding whether HoloLens should serve consumers or continue courting enterprise companies. Rubén Caballero, Microsoft’s mixed reality and AI device engineering VP under Kipman, is reportedly pushing to focus on consumers, whereas the company has historically geared HoloLens for enterprise and the military.

Alex Kipman wearing HoloLens 2, Image courtesy Microsoft

Making an AR headset accessible enough for consumers is a vastly different challenge to producing higher cost enterprise headsets—just ask Magic Leap. If true, it would represent a significant change of course for the HoloLens product line.

There’s some ostensible background radiation related to employee attrition here too. The team has demonstrably thinned out over the last few months, with HoloLens veterans such as principal optical architect Bernard Kress leaving the company recently for Google Labs. A number of other high-profile members, including mixed reality technical fellow Don Box, engineer of computer vision Dave Reed, and former HoloLens engineering director Josh Miller have all left for Meta, along with a reported 70 others over the past year.

The report maintains progress on fulfilling its $22 billion US defense contract, which aims to put HoloLens in battlefield roles over the next 10 years, has also been stymied by internal production issues.

Microsoft Responds

Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw reaffirmed HoloLens’ importance to the company, telling Business Insider that HoloLens is “a critical part of our plans for emerging categories like mixed reality and the metaverse. We remain committed to HoloLens and future HoloLens development.”

HoloLens co-creator Alex Kipman also voiced his concern via Twitter, but declined to comment on the specifics.

In a follow-up tweet, Kipman says he hopes HoloLens 3 will be as “mind blowing” of an upgrade as the 2019-era HoloLens 2 was over the 2016 version, both of which were class-leading standalone AR headsets.

‘IVAS’ configured HoloLens 2 for US Defense, Image courtesy Microsoft

Kipman’s openness about the existence of the next HoloLens signals at least that Microsoft isn’t throwing in the towel, although the report may suggest Microsoft is moving forward with a more software-forward approach with AR instead of solely hocking its own hardware—pretty much par for the course for the company.

If those claims can be believed, it’s also possible HoloLens 3’s focus has changed so drastically that the device is no longer purely enterprise-focused, but instead split in two separate projects: one to service the US military contract and another to appeal to consumers.

In any case, Samsung’s reported partnership with Microsoft sounds like very familiar territory for the South Korean tech powerhouse. Samsung partnered with Oculus (now Meta) back in 2014 to build Gear VR, a snap-in VR smartphone holder that was a generational leap in terms of low-latency mobile VR.

And as Microsoft no doubt looks to compete with Meta and Apple, both of which are making strides to release AR headsets for consumers in the near future, we’re sure to see its strategy out in the open sooner rather than later.

Qualcomm and Microsoft Partner on Custom Chips for Next-Gen AR Glasses

From vrfocus

Qualcomm held its CES 2022 press conference earlier today and as part of the event revealed that it’s partnered with Microsoft to help push the future of augmented reality (AR). Qualcomm announced that the collaboration will see the pair develop custom AR chips for both consumer and enterprise devices.

Qualcomm XR1 Lifestyle

These custom AR chips will focus on ushering in an era of AR glasses that are lightweight and power-efficient as well as integrating into Microsoft’s ecosystem. That’ll mean support for software like Microsoft Mesh – Microsoft’s shared mixed-reality (MR) platform – and the Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform.

What this could mean is a more lightweight, consumer-friendly version of Microsoft’s HoloLens 2. A consumer edition was in fact confirmed last year by Microsoft’s Alex Kipman who said: “we are absolutely working on a consumer journey for HoloLens.” And then there was that Pokémon GO demo by Niantic Labs using the MR headset.

“This collaboration reflects the next step in both companies’ shared commitment to XR and the metaverse,” said Hugo Swart, vice president and general manager of XR, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. in a statement. “Qualcomm Technologies’ core XR strategy has always been delivering the most cutting-edge technology, purpose-built XR chipsets and enabling the ecosystem with our software platforms and hardware reference designs. We are thrilled to work with Microsoft to help expand and scale the adoption of AR hardware and software across the entire industry.”

Microsoft Mesh

“Our goal is to inspire and empower others to collectively work to develop the metaverse future – a future that is grounded in trust and innovation,” adds Rubén Caballero, corporate vice president Mixed Reality, Microsoft. “With services like Microsoft Mesh, we are committed to delivering the safest and most comprehensive set of capabilities to power metaverses that blend the physical and digital worlds, ultimately delivering a shared sense of presence across devices. We look forward to working with Qualcomm Technologies to help the entire ecosystem unlock the promise of the metaverse.”

Qualcomm is heavily invested in the XR space with chipsets like its Snapdragon XR2 platform being used in devices like Meta Quest 2. And then there’s the XR1 AR Smart Viewer Reference Design which OEM’s can utilise to enter the AR glasses market. This, of course, all leads towards a metaverse vision that most tech companies seem to be scrambling towards. As further details arise, keep reading VRFocus.

Qualcomm & Microsoft Partner on “custom AR chips” for Next-gen, Light-weight Glasses

From roadtovr

Today during Qualcomm’s CES 2022 press conference, the company announced a partnership with fellow tech-giant Microsoft which will involve “designing custom AR chips and integrating software platforms.”

Qualcomm and Microsoft today strengthened their growing relationship in the XR space with a new partnership announcement. While Microsoft has already relied on Qualcomm to supply the Snapdragon chips found in its latest HoloLens 2 headset, now the companies indicate plans to work more closely together on components for future AR devices.

“This collaboration reflects the next step in both companies’ shared commitment to XR and the metaverse,” said Hugo Swart, vice president of XR at Qualcomm. “Qualcomm Technologies’ core XR strategy has always been delivering the most cutting-edge
technology, purpose-built XR chipsets and enabling the ecosystem with our software platforms and hardware reference designs. We are thrilled to work with Microsoft to help expand and scale the adoption of AR hardware and software across the entire industry.”

Specifically Qualcomm says it will be working with Microsoft on “developing custom AR chips to enable a new wave of power efficient, lightweight AR glasses to deliver rich and immersive experiences.” Further, the announcement reveals plans to integrate Microsoft Mesh—the company’s multi-user XR foundation—with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Spaces XR development tools.

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Qualcomm has established itself as an early leader in the growing XR space by leveraging its expertise in smartphone chip design to create the Snapdragon XR1 and XR2 chips which now power most of the leading standalone XR devices.

Ostensibly the company already has an XR3 chip in the works, so it isn’t clear if the “custom chips” that will result from the partnership will basically mean that Microsoft has more say over what XR3 ultimately look like, or it if it will get its own custom chip that’s exclusive for its own uses in devices like HoloLens 3.

Microsoft’s Metaverse Ambitions Grow as Teams Platform to Include 3D Avatars & Immersive XR Meetings

From roadtovr

Microsoft is making a strong bid to bolster its version of the metaverse as it looks to roll out 3D avatars and immersive meetings for its Microsoft Teams communication platform.

You might define the metaverse as essentially an immersive internet where virtual experiences are interoperable, and also offer a continuity of the user’s digital identity. It’s not a new idea, as fully-functional immersive social platforms have been around since even the early days of consumer VR, although the concept seems to be picking up traction now that the established names in tech are making more concrete efforts.

First announced back at Microsoft Ignite in March, Mesh allows developers to create multi-user XR applications built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing arm.

Now Microsoft is gearing up to offer competition to the rest of the known tech world with the announcement of Mesh for Microsoft Teams, which effectively brings those previous efforts to build cross-platform immersive spaces and 3D avatars natively to the Teams communication platform, replete with support across mobile, PC, Microsoft VR headsets, and HoloLens 2.

“The feature combines the mixed-reality capabilities of Microsoft Mesh, which allows people in different physical locations to join collaborative and shared holographic experiences, with the productivity tools of Microsoft Teams, where people can join virtual meetings, send chats, collaborate on shared documents and more,” the company says.

Coming sometime in 2022, Mesh for Microsoft Teams will offer a new ‘Immersive experience’ option which will allow Teams users to build a 3D avatar and either use it in place of a standard webcam, or selecting it as their avatar for AR or VR interactions. While Mesh for Teams is admittedly an XR-focused offering meant for live face-to-face collaboration, when used in place of a webcam (read: without an XR headset) the 3D avatar is animated to interpret vocal cues.

Image courtesy Microsoft

Mesh for Microsoft Teams will roll out with “pre-built immersive spaces to support a variety of contexts, from meetings to social mixers,” the company says. At some point, organizations will also be able build bespoke immersive spaces so colleagues can interact.

Microsoft Teams’ large enterprise usership and interoperability with its cloud infrastructure, video conferencing, and family of Microsoft 365 products automatically positions it as a strong competitor for would-be metaverse users.

Undoubtedly the company’s biggest competition is Meta (formerly Facebook), which announced last week that it was bolstering efforts to shift its business toward building its version of the metaverse, something that saw a complete rebrand of the company.

Meta launched its own work-focused immersive space back in summer. Called Horizon Workrooms the virtual collaboration platform connects both VR and video chat users in the same place, the latter of which includes support for both Zoom and Facebook video chat.