In Part 1 of this post, the author looked at the role of users and avatars in the emerging world of the Metaverse.

The Metaverse, I believe, equals varying combinations of deep tech: Near real-time AI/ML (foundational), Web3, blockchain/crypto/NFT, AR/VR/XR (extended reality) media.

A meta- or multiverse is 3D spatial, immersive, interactive, experiential (think about your avatar) and emergent.

And everything in my metaverse – “my Yottaverse”as I described in an earlier post – requires HPC, high-velocity/wide pipe/low latency internet and, of course, hyperscale cloud. This will embrace and engulf edge telemetry and analytics computing, articularly so in the industrial metaverse.

The edge will increasingly blur with internet end-points such as mobile devices, maybe a $35 Raspberry Pi tiny microserver taped to a stick in the Amazon Rainforest, collecting telemetry data from $15 sensors scattered around a multi acre plot of forestland for real-time analytics of soil, water, air and general plant and animal health conditions.

In fact, the scenario I just described already exists: to experience a quick take on a rainforest metaverse application, check out MetAmazonia from RedPill Group’s Amatech and MetAmazonia, the work of Dr. Robin Daniels and his team.

Or how about drones collecting GIS mapping data, combining it with satellite optical imagery, for highly accurate 3D AR of any environment, any plant, animal or human condition? Realtime map reporting on how many people are gathering at each watering point in a drought.. Or realtime epidemiological mapping location of infectious disease outbreaks, local natural and built environment (roads, bridges, buildings, villages, number of people for fast healthcare resource planning and mobilization. This scenario, too, already exists, through the amazing work being done in Zambia and elsewhere in Africa by Akros.

So, today’s digital infrastructure technologies and engineering will seem antiquated faster than ever before. Consider this: It’s taken just over four decades to traverse from the starting line of 1G mobile device cellphone introduced by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph in Tokyo in 1979 to 5G’s start point in 2018 to now, nearing maturity in five years. And 6G availability is projected by the end of this decade.

The digital infrastructure for the cloud that has gotten us this far will need to be leveled up in existing facilities and new builds for this digital transformation wave of metaverse, starting yesterday.

Some people have clearly gotten this message. Leading-edge cloud-services colocation host providers, such as Equinix, with a clear metaverse baremetal infrastructure strategy, powered by AI superstar Nvidia, is already in place now. And in the industrial metaverse, Siemens and Nvidia are providing a great example in a BMW factory.

Part 3 (the grand finale) to come real soon now.