Microsoft announced a partnership with Meta Platforms on Tuesday to bring its Microsoft Office 365 products to Meta’s virtual reality (VR) platform to lure companies into working in virtual environments.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, revealed the new collaboration during Meta’s Connect 2022 keynote on October 11. Nadella said the Teams video calling app would integrate with Meta’s “Quest” and newly launched “Quest Pro” VR headset, enabling people to come together in a virtual space like a boardroom.
Microsoft Teams will be cross-compatible with Meta’s VR space for business meetings named Horizon Workrooms. The company’s enterprise-level identity management applications and mobile device will be compatible with Quest Pro and Meta’s Quest headsets, according to Nadella, which will allow companies to manage and secure VR headsets in their corporate networks similarly as they do with computers or phones.
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Other popular Microsoft productivity applications, including PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, Excel, and SharePoint, will also be available within Meta’s VR. The feature to stream a Windows Cloud computer to Meta’s headsets is being planned for the future.
Nadella highlighted the increase of remote working following the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said has created a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance to shift the landscape of formerly office-based work environments.
Last week, Microsoft internally revealed its new Industrial Metaverse Core team, which will focus on creating immersive software interfaces for use in industrial control systems that power electrical plants, industrial robotics, and transportation networks, among other applications.
