Extended Reality (XR) News

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• April 2024: Microsoft announced plans to invest USD 2.9 billion over the next two years to enhance its hyperscale cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in Japan. The company will also expand its digital skilling programs to provide AI training to over 3 million people within the next three years. Also, Microsoft will establish its first Microsoft Research Asia lab in Japan and strengthen its cybersecurity collaboration with the Government of Japan.
• February 2024: Akamai Technologies, a cloud services provider, announced its plan to integrate cloud computing capabilities into its extensive edge network. This initiative, known as Akamai's Generalized Edge Compute (Gecko), aims to enhance the company's strategy to become the preferred cloud computing platform. By running workloads closer to users, devices, and data sources, Akamai seeks to improve user experiences significantly.

• September 2024 - Platform Science will acquire Trimble's global transportation telematics business units, with Trimble becoming a 32.5% shareholder in Platform Science's expanded business. Trimble's divested telematics business generated $300 million revenue and $30 million operating profit on a trailing twelve-month basis, with the transaction expected to close in the first half of 2025.
•  June 2024 - Geotab introduced a "Video Telematics Plan with no upfront cost" for Latin American fleets through its authorized distributors. Geotab partnered with Lytx to offer this video telematics solution, which integrates Lytx hardware and Geotab software into the MyGeotab platform.
•  February 2024 - Bestpass and Geotab partnered to integrate toll management solutions with telematics data for commercial fleets. The collaboration brings Bestpass' Toll Genius feature to Geotab's marketplace, allowing customers to identify discrepancies between vehicle locations and reported tolls, and access a heat map highlighting areas with high toll costs. 

• May 2024 - frontline.io, a leader in AR/VR solutions for training and operational support, has teamed up with Hololight, the foremost expert in XR streaming solutions for industrial enterprises. This strategic partnership is set to revolutionize the enterprise XR market, focusing on training and operational support.
• May 2024 - Apparel Group, one of the leading players in the global fashion and lifestyle retail arena, has entered into a significant franchise partnership with Sandbox VR. Apparel Group's vast presence underscores the strength of this collaboration, boasting over 85 brands and a network of over 2,200 stores spanning 14 countries. 

• April 2024: xydrobe, an exclusive VR destination, announced Harrods, a British luxury department store, as the first retail partner to open its advanced multi-sensory virtual reality cinema, providing visitors access to a diverse program of immersive experiences from the world’s most coveted luxury brands. The xydrobe VR Cinema was planned to be opened in June 2024 on the fifth floor of the Knightsbridge landmark, providing customers with an immersive 4D experience that aims to redefine the essence of storytelling and entertainment, which shows the future growth potential of the location-based VR market.
• August 2023: Sandbox VR, a provider of location-based virtual reality (LBVR) experiences, announced significant growth and sales milestones and reported that its Deadwood Valley, LBVR studio, has registered USD 23 million in ticket sales since the beginning and is projected to make USD 100 million in lifetime sales, which shows the increasing demand for LBVR market in the gaming and entertainment sector.

• January 2024: The Iranian government launched an innovative glass smart greenhouse in Zanjan province, which is one of the largest in the country. The glass greenhouse spans over 30 ha and includes 7 ha of tunnels. The glass greenhouse primarily grows bell peppers, but there are plans to expand into cherry tomatoes and strawberries soon.
• October 2023: Netafim (Orbia’s Precision Agriculture business) partnered with Vermillion Growers to construct Manitoba, Canada’s extensive vegetable greenhouse. Netafim, the corporation’s division specializing in commercial greenhouse projects, provides Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).

• July 2024 - H2O.ai launched its suite of small language models, the H2O-Danube3 series. The series is now accessible on Hugging Face and features two models: the H2O-Danube3-4B and the more compact H2O-Danube3-500M. These models are specifically engineered to advance natural language processing (NLP) boundaries and democratize advanced NLP capabilities.
• January 2024 - Atos Group's digital, cloud, big data, and security arm, Eviden, and Microsoft have unveiled a five-year strategic partnership. The partnership will introduce novel Microsoft Cloud and AI solutions tailored for various industries. The alliance marks a significant milestone in Microsoft and Eviden's shared vision to drive digital transformation and empower businesses with advanced technologies. The two companies will co-develop and deploy transformative Data & AI, Copilot, and cloud transformation solutions as part of this partnership.

• February 2024: Airgain announced a new program that will allow customers who purchase the Lenovo ThinkEdge SE360 V2 Servers to purchase Airgain’s cellular-based AT6 Asset Tracker. These devices will fit inside a dedicated compartment built into the server with minimal installation. The asset trackers complement Lenovo’s existing, robust security solutions built into the server. Adding the AT6 Asset Tracker empowers customers to track and recover servers that go missing and helps businesses address additional security requirements.
• December 2023: Energous Corporation and Identiv Inc. joined forces to introduce real-time asset tracking for supply chain and logistics applications. This partnership aims to use Energous PowerBridge technology to wirelessly power Identiv’s ID-Pixels tags, allowing for accurate and reliable sensor measurements throughout the supply chain, including in cold chain logistics. The collaborative solution is expected to provide more dependable and consistent power than disposable batteries and charging cables for many IoT sensors in the logistics industry. This will result in reduced maintenance, lower costs, shorter setup times, and improved precision, safety, and user-friendliness.

• October 2023 - NetraDyne Inc. announced the launch of its Driver•i One solution, making the company a full telematics solution and ELD provider. Netradyne’s Driver•i One fleet safety solution is a robust, professional-grade video telematics device that can deliver data to power many of the solutions that fleets need.
• September 2023 - Geotab Inc. announced the beta launch of Project G, which sets a new standard for the industry, empowering participating customers in Australia to effortlessly access on-demand insights on vehicle performance, efficiency, and sustainability. Project G is built on privacy-by-design principles and keeps all customer telematics data within Geotab’s environment, never shared with any Large Language Model (LLM).

• March 2023: KORE Group Holdings, a global player in pure-play IoT solutions and connectivity-as-a-service ("IoT CaaS"), has agreed to purchase Twilio's IoT business division as part of a growth strategy to offer customers a unified, smooth approach to launching IoT solutions.
• November 2022: A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Disrupt-X, an IoT platform provider based in the UAE, and LORIOT, a global IoT company based in Switzerland, to assist in deploying the next generation of IoT solutions leveraging the adequate LoRaWAN infrastructure. The alliance plans to market IoT products primarily in the European market.
• February 2022: Astrocast, a global nanosatellite IoT network, announced a partnership agreement with IoT service provider, UnaBiz, to develop an end-to-end IoT solution for asset tracking and monitoring. Through the partnership, Astrocast will provide its direct-to-satellite data service offering and consulting services to UnaBiz. Furthermore, UnaBiz is expected to facilitate the onboarding of Astrocast-enabled devices on UnaConnect, and an ISO27001-certified IoT device management data platform that manages close to a million IoT devices.
• February 2022: Boingo Wireless, a total connectivity provider of distributed antenna systems (DAS), Wi-Fi, and private network, announced its partnership with Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program ecosystem to streamline the deployment of IoT devices for venue and enterprise customers leveraging the Qualcomm IoT Services Suite.

• February 2024: Payments giant Mastercard built its own proprietary generative artificial intelligence model to help thousands of banks in its network detect and root out fraudulent transactions. According to the company, its new advanced AI model, Decision Intelligence Pro, would allow banks to better assess suspicious transactions on its network in real time and determine whether they are legitimate or not.
• April 2024: Cognizant unveiled a strategic partnership with FICO, a prominent analytics software firm, to introduce a cloud-based, real-time payment fraud prevention solution. This innovative solution, driven by FICO Falcon Fraud Manager, harnesses both companies’ advanced AI and ML technologies. It has been tailored to assist banks and payment service providers in North America, safeguarding their clientele amid the rapid expansion of digital payment platforms.