September 22, 2020 – Today at Microsoft Ignite, the company’s annual conference for developers and IT professionals, RealWear, Inc, a provider of rugged hands-free head-mounted devices for industry augmented reality (AR), has announced the general availability of Microsoft Teams on RealWear devices.
Microsoft added several features designed to fully optimize and integrate the Teams app to enable 100% hand-free remote collaboration for firstline workers, including dramatically improved video resolution and allowing users to easily join meetings with remote experts.
In April, Microsoft Teams on RealWear had released Public Preview, which RealWear states attracted “immediate demand from thousands of industrial companies worldwide” that were looking for a solution to keep production and operations going through the coronavirus pandemic, despite social distancing policies.
“Immediately after the Microsoft Teams Public Preview was announced, customers around the world indicated that they were ready to move toward full-scale deployment across priority sections of their firstline worker populations,” said Andrew Chrostowski, Chairman and CEO at RealWear. “With today’s historic announcement of the first 100% hands-free Teams-enabled device, RealWear and Microsoft are poised to meet the global demand for thousands of connected firstline workers.”
David Oswald, Global Mars Supply Excellence Manufacturing Leader, whose role is focused on autonomous maintenance of its associates, said, “In response to the pandemic, manufacturing and safety leaders at Mars created a playbook to facilitate business continuity while supporting social distancing measures. With travel being restricted, Microsoft Teams on RealWear devices became an important part of that playbook, and all 14 Mars Petcare factories in the US are now using Teams on RealWear devices to enable engineers to remotely conduct audits, troubleshoot issues, and advise on the installation of new equipment. It’s been a gamechanger.”
“Customers are already receiving tremendous value from Teams on RealWear for firstline workers globally,” said Emma Williams, Corporate Vice President, Modern Workplace Transformations. “Integrating the power of Teams with purpose-built devices by RealWear has become an essential tool for hands-free remote collaboration to help maintain uptime and safety standards of essential operations.”
RealWear added that to date, global companies including Honeywell (video from Microsoft Inspire Keynote), Total SA, and now Mars have all deployed the devices for hands-free remote collaboration with Microsoft Teams.
RealWear stated that general availability is expected in October 2020. To gain immediate access to the Teams on RealWear Public Preview, visit http://www.realwear.com/ignite. For more specific information on deploying and managing Teams-enabled devices for a firstline workforce with Microsoft and RealWear technical experts, click here.
Image credit: RealWear
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.