The new metaverse products Mesh for Teams and Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces were announced by the tech major’s CEO Satya Nadella during the virtually held Ignite 2021 event

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Microsoft joins the metaverse bandwagon with Mesh for Teams and Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces. (Credit: Tawanda Razika from Pixabay)

Microsoft has joined the metaverse bandwagon by announcing plans to launch a new solution called Mesh for Teams in 2022 and Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces.

The announcements were made by the company’s CEO Satya Nadella during its Ignite 2021 event.

Nadella said: “When we talk about the metaverse, we’re describing both a new platform and a new application type, similar to how we talked about the web and websites in the early ’90s.

“Across the Microsoft Cloud, from Azure IoT to Azure Digital Twins to Connected Spaces and Microsoft Mesh, we’re building the metaverse platform for you to expand upon.

“In a sense, the metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and to embed the real world into computing, bringing real presence to any digital space.”

According to the company, the Mesh for Teams solution will let users enter into a meeting using personalised avatars and immersive spaces that can be accessed from any device, without the need for any special equipment.

The company said that the solution combines the mixed-reality capabilities of Microsoft Mesh, which enables people irrespective of where they are located to join collaborative and shared holographic experiences. The users will have the productivity tools of Microsoft Teams and can join virtual meetings, send chats, as well as collaborate on shared documents.

On the other hand, the company will launch a preview version of Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces in December 2021.

Microsoft is said to have designed the product to offer a new perspective on how people move and interact with almost any space, from the retail store to the factory floor, and how they handle health and safety in a hybrid work scenario.

The company said that Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces can be used by organisations for easily harnessing observational data, for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) powered models to unlock insights about their environment and respond in real-time to patterns and trends.

Microsoft further stated that Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces has been designed to be customisable, extensible, and work seamlessly with the existing hardware of organisations.