Mixed reality (MR) firm Naer announced on Thursday a strategic partnership with digital collaboration platform Miro and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE).
The groundbreaking partnership will allow the MR productivity app company to boost productivity among teams with fully immersive brainstorming and collaboration for the enterprise.
For the Oslo, Norway-based company, their solution allows teams of colleagues to join forces anywhere in the world as avatars in a virtual office environment or for in-person meetings.
Groups can then brainstorm, host workshops, or breakaway sessions for conducting, documenting, and completing assignments in real-time, as well as in an agile, streamlined, and efficient manner.
Attendees can later locate documents uploaded to the immersive space offline for easy accessibility. The first application of its kind, Naer integrates Miro’s technology stack, powering the platform with full-scale MR functionality to collaborate with remote workforces.
Naer Debuts Exclusively on Meta Quest 3
News of the solution’s debut comes after Meta Platforms selected Naer as one of the exclusive apps launching with the Meta Quest 3 after its release last month.
Merging Naer’s virtual presence capabilities at immersive workshops with Miro’s planning and documenting workflows, the platform can remove the need for note-taking, freeing up time and resources to collaborate in the virtual world.
Teams can also change the virtual environment to their preference, adjusting the time of day, mood, and settings with numerous digital assets.
Additionally, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise will support the rollout and integration of Naer and Miro’s combined enterprise effort, allowing the solution to facilitate its execution, enhance its security, and empower greater collaborative XR interconnectivity.
The solution also provides automatic updates with the Miro desktop, as well as Android, iOS, and browsers, synchronising all data and experiences across devices.
Devices offering the solution include the Meta Quest 2, Quest Pro, and Quest 3 via the Meta App Store, and Naer will host the app on its Miro app store.
Comments on Naer-Miro Partnership
Sondre Kvam, Chief Executive and Co-Founder, Naer, said in a statement that his company was “on a mission to nurture close-knit teams in remote work.”
He elaborated that teams could plan brainstorming sessions on their computer, add templates, reference images, and later, “bits of prior work on the subject.” Team members would join the person’s physical space as avatars, and digital whiteboards with planned activities would “materialise on the walls.”
Kvam illustrated the platform further,
Within minutes, the room fills with the hum of engaged discussions. As someone places a sticky note on a whiteboard, you notice it’s instantly mirrored in Miro on your computer— the hassle of documentation is gone”
He concluded: “The Naer + Miro integration ensures a fluid transition between digital planning and real-world collaboration. HPE’s deep understanding of enterprise needs makes it all fit together, as they enable streamlined rollout and ensure a great fit with any workflow and security setup.”
Additionally, Sean Winters, Senior Platform Architect, Miro, added that Naer was the first enterprise to “design an intuitive mixed reality integration with Miro.”
He continued: “This technology is reimagining how teamwork looks in the modern world, enabling groups, regardless of their location, to collaborate in VR/AR and have their ideas stored for posterity outside it.”
Finally, Rob Homburg, Lead Solution Architect, Extended Reality, HPE, explained that his company aimed to lead the future of work with “an exhaustive ecosystem of devices and solutions” meeting the needs of present-day hybrid workers.
Homburg explained in greater detail that,
“Our work with Naer and Miro redefines the possibilities for customers navigating digital workspaces to ensure they have the tools that enable them to reach their full potential with enhanced productivity, seamless connection and unlimited collaboration. This partnership embodies our continued focus on the enterprise requirements of reliability, availability and security while providing these innovative tools to our customers”
Company Background
For founders Kvam and Chief Operating Officer Andreas Ore Larssen, their backgrounds in design, workshopping, and software development aim to create a solution to tackle issues with remote work, including struggling to focus or use sufficient software.
Users can leverage the platform for:
- Product development and workflows
- Diagramming and process mapping,
- Workshops and asynchronous collaboration
- Mira artificial intelligence (AI)
- Content and data visualisation
- Visual project management
The company, whose name means “closeness” in Norwegian, received massive funding from venture capital firms such as Skyfall, ProVenture, and Startuplab. Since the pandemic, it has begun expanding its business relationships with DNB, Norway’s largest bank, and Jotun, one of the world’s top paint and coat manufacturers.
This has provided Miro with the capital needed for critical research and development (R&D), leading its platform to gain over 60 million users across 200,000 organisations. Companies like Deloitte, Nike, and Ikea have also trusted the solution for their immersive teambuilding needs.
Norway and Scandinavia: The Next XR Powerhouse?
Scandinavia is quickly rising as a strong market for virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) solutions, with companies like IMINT, Warpin Reality, Varjo, Nokia, Siemens, and Ericsson leading in the region’s technological innovation.
Regarding Norway, NVIDIA and Siemens recently integrated the former’s Omniverse industrial metaverse technologies into FREYR’s battery factory in Lysaker.
Using its cutting-edge factory and process monitoring, digital twinning, and real-time collaboration tools, the two tech giants developed a stellar automotive manufacturing use case for adopting the industrial metaverse.
At the site, the Omniverse platform will replicate FREYR’s gigafactories and showcase greater efficiency, time to market, and retrospective analysis of the technologies. Many of the objects monitored as digital twins in the process will include robotics, automated guided vehicles, safety data, facility infrastructure, and others.
Furthermore, the Norwegian government developed its own Web3 venture after designing and launching a metaverse tax office to connect with Gen Z and Millennials for their suite of services.
The nation’s Brønnøysund and Skatteetaten central registry and tax authorities partnered with Ernst and Young (EY) to open the office in Decentraland.
Finally, ARuVR, a world-leading immersive training company, debuted a training partnership with Norway’s energy, maritime, and safety-based company Mintra.
With the partnership, ARuVR will supply its VR/AR training solution to 4,000 companies around the world to train and upskill employees for their positions.
Leveraging Mintra’s TrainingPortal solution, ARuVR will provide XR training to monitor learner progress, boost learner retention rates, and provide scalable, on-demand training for global businesses.
This will prepare new hires for their positions from day one, significantly boosting their knowledge of safety and job protocols and saving money, time, and equipment downtime.
