Cisco plans to bring 3-D holographic experiences to online meetings, communications and training sessions with its new Webex Hologram.

The augmented reality (AR) capability, previewed at this week’s WebexOne, is available to a limited number of customer pilots. It will appeal to designers, engineers, scientists and medical professionals, and others who could provide simulations using holograms.

Support for holograms is among various updates and features in the pipeline revealed by Cisco during its WebexOne virtual event. Cisco also showcased its new Webex Events option, support for third-party apps, enhanced integration with Apple iPads and the new DeskPro Mini. As reported, Cisco also revealed that it is working to improve interoperability of Webex systems and Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

Cisco’s Jeetu Patel

Among various announcements at WebexOne, Jeetu Patel, EVP and GM of Cisco’s security and collaboration business units, described Webex Hologram as “one of the most breakthrough events you will see not just at this event but in general,” during a media and analyst briefing.

“This is no longer a research project,” Patel said. “We believe that this will actually make its way into practical use in faster time that you might have thought about.”

Use Cases

Patel said he envisions customers using Webex Hologram in health care for treating patients, manufacturing and training.

Cisco describes Webex Hologram as a real-time meeting offering that adds 3-D holographic images to headsets designed for AR. It will work with different vendors’ AR-capable headsets including Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap.

Webex Hologram will let presenters share physical objects and digitally enhanced images. Webex Hologram will allow presenters to create and share multidimensional images. Cisco claims most offerings only provide single angle views.

The slideshow above provides some of the other capabilities Cisco said are coming to the Webex Suite.