What is Microsoft Mesh, and what can it do to transform the future of immersive collaboration? For some time now, Microsoft Mesh has promised companies an opportunity to build unique mixed and extended reality experiences for the future of work.
Built on the Azure platform, Mesh combines multi-device support for desktops, VR headsets, and head-mounted displays (HMDs) with spatial audio, avatar creation tools, and more. However, up until recently, organizations have had limited opportunities to unlock the full benefits of the Mesh experience.
At Microsoft Ignite 2023, the tech giant reinvigorated excitement around the Mesh platform with new feature updates and the promise of general availability in January 2024.
So, what is Microsoft Mesh exactly, and what can it do? Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Microsoft Mesh? The Basics
Microsoft Mesh is a powerful platform designed to enable immersive, shared experiences on any device from any environment.
The all-in-one solution combines Azure cloud technologies with solutions like the Microsoft Graph and comprehensive enterprise-level security into a tool for extended reality interactions in the modern workforce.
According to Microsoft, Mesh forms the foundation of an innovative toolkit intended to create fully flexible, agile, and connected workplaces.
It addresses one of the core challenges businesses face in the new age of work – keeping staff aligned and engaged. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index revealed around 43% of leaders believe “relationship building” is a significant challenge in the age of hybrid and remote work.
While the occasional in-person meeting and video collaboration can help, teams often need a more efficient solution for aligning their teams. Microsoft revealed more than 50% of organizations are open to using innovations and immersive experiences for team building and meetings.
Microsoft Mesh is just one example of a platform created to build those immersive experiences with 3D environments, avatars, and spatial audio. It enables mixed-reality interactions powered by Azure, which allows people in physical locations to join and share collaborative, holographic experiences.
What is Microsoft Mesh Capable Of?
During this year’s Ignite event, Microsoft invited early adopters to help answer “What is Microsoft Mesh?” for attendees.
Guy Laliberte, the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, appeared in a keynote session using “holoportation,” marking the company’s first keynote experience in mixed reality. People attending the conference from home could even participate in the session with their unique avatars.
Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow, Microsoft, also appeared on the virtual stage at Ignite as a holographic version of himself.
According to Microsoft, Mesh isn’t just another innovation among a wide range of immersive collaboration capabilities introduced by the brand. It’s a solution that enables distributed workforces to connect and share information like never before.
Microsoft Mesh enables geographically distributed teams to have more engaging, collaborative meetings, conduct virtual design sessions, and even host virtual meetups. Users can express themselves with personalized avatars and interact with materials through XR devices.
Designers and engineers can work together in a shared digital space on holographic models of products, regardless of their physical location. Architects can physically walk through holographic models of environments, seeing how design pieces work together in three dimensions.
Companies could even create and host immersive learning experiences, allowing students to interact with simulated landscapes and digital content.
In the coming months, the Microsoft Mesh platform will also offer developers a full suite of AI-enhanced tools for spatial rendering, session management, avatar creation, and holoportation.
Plus, developers can even build solutions that work across various devices, from the HoloLens 2 to VR headsets, tablets, PCs, and smartphones.
What Can Companies Do with Microsoft Mesh?
For many organizations, the only question more important than “What is Microsoft Mesh?” is “What can we do with this new ecosystem?” At Ignite, Microsoft showcased some of the capabilities of Mesh for holoportation, as well as introducing some new applications.
For instance, the Microsoft Mesh app for HoloLens allows team members to collaborate remotely via Teams and share content wherever they are. Customers can now access a new Mesh-enabled version, similar to the now-defunct AltSpaceVR, for immersive meeting sessions.
With the upgraded Mesh experience, users can now:
Use, Create, and Customize 3D Digital Environments
The new “Immersive Spaces” solution for Microsoft Teams, powered by Mesh, introduces an opportunity to align team members in intuitive, purpose-built digital environments. Microsoft has already introduced several pre-built immersive spaces, which work alongside Microsoft Teams and offer access to spatial audio.
Up to 16 team members can collaborate in an Immersive space simultaneously, representing themselves through customizable avatars for a shared sense of presence. Additionally, meeting organizers can separate teams into sub-groups, who can communicate simultaneously without worrying about disrupting other staff, thanks to spatial zoning tools.
With Mesh, users can personalize immersive events and environments using no-code solutions to implement videos, images, and other features. You can combine the Mesh ecosystem with Unity for more advanced customization options.
Bring Mesh Capabilities into Microsoft Teams
Like many of Microsoft’s innovative tools for collaboration and productivity, Microsoft Mesh integrates seamlessly with other solutions, like Microsoft Teams. Users can integrate 2D avatars they’ve built for Teams into meetings and Immersive Spaces or create new ones.
They can also transform 2D meeting experiences into 3D environments with a click of a button simply by choosing the “Immersive Space” option from the “View” menu in Teams.
Mesh also supports seat assignment options, allowing users to choose where they’re positioned in a virtual meeting room or move around freely to interact with different conversations.
The Teams solution even comes with live reactions (emojis), so users can express themselves without interrupting colleagues.
There are interactive activities, such as beanbag throwing, icebreaker sessions, and games. Users can get involved using the classic Teams app on their computer or a VR headset like the Meta Quest 3.
Create Immersive Experiences: What is Microsoft Mesh Customization?
As mentioned above, as well as accessing the pre-built immersive experiences offered by Microsoft Mesh, users can create their own solutions. The “Mesh Editor” in the menu bar of the solution gives users full access to a range of tools for building metaverse-style environments.
You don’t need any coding knowledge to use these technologies. Instead, creators can choose from various ready-to-use tools and adapt them by adding images, videos, and screen-sharing features.
People can also customize the size and position of digital assets, put videos on a loop, and even save their immersive templates for future use.
According to Microsoft, companies can create everything from custom onboarding and training experiences to unique virtual events. The Mesh toolkit also works with Unity, allowing access to solutions for the following:
- Creating 3D experiences: Users can create authentic and immersive landscapes, allowing team members to interact with objects and move around a space.
- Building live data connections: Developers can connect Mesh environments to enterprise and public data sources for rich dashboards and insights into real-time metrics.
Microsoft Mesh also features built-in security and privacy solutions throughout the Microsoft ecosystem to protect business compliance.
Host and Manage Unique Events
Thanks to the integrations between Microsoft Mesh and other tools like Microsoft Teams and Outlook, creating and hosting immersive events is simple. Organizers can create and schedule events with existing or customized templates and share them through Microsoft Teams and Outlook.
Business leaders can also use Mesh on the web to manage events, create new templates, track uploaded environments, and more. Microsoft says it will bring new capabilities to the Mesh experience, specifically for unique events.
Organizers will soon be able to allow attendees to raise their hands during meetings for Q&A sessions and interact directly with each individual and avatar.
Getting Started with Microsoft Mesh
Now that you know the answer to “What is Microsoft Mesh?” you’re probably wondering how to use it. The Mesh experience will enter general availability in early 2024 and is currently available in Public Preview mode. Admins will need to enable Mesh immersive spaces for Teams and create access policies for team members.
Admins can enable Microsoft Mesh in the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center once available. Developers can create custom experiences with the Mesh toolkit, and users can download the app for PC from the Microsoft Store. There’s also a Mesh app available for Quest devices via the Meta App Lab.
You will need a Microsoft Teams Essentials, Business Basic, Standard, or Premium subscription to access Mesh via Teams. Alternatively, the solution is available on the Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Office 365 E1/E3/E5 subscription plans.
