Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, November 20, the XR Association hosted its fifth and final “Charting the Future of Immersive Technology” webinar episode, “Interoperability in XR.” The panel featured experts Neil Trevett (NVIDIA), Dan Jasnow (AFS Law), and Anya Kanevsky (Linden Labs), in a discussion moderated by Stephanie Montgomery, Senior Vice President of Research and Best Practices at the XR Association.
The development of immersive technologies brings new opportunities for people to share and interact across platforms such as the metaverse. However, this also comes with new challenges for entrepreneurs and developers exploring the next wave of computing. Interoperability can be crucial for economic and business development, while also creating challenges for policy, such as antitrust and individual property, panelists argued.
Montgomery gave an overview of interoperability in XR, which helps ensure fluidity across various hardware and software components to work together. While the industry increasingly adopts interoperability, developing open standards will be essential to ensure compatibility and integration, she explained.
Speakers agreed that industry collaboration is necessary for standards development as the metaverse brings together different technologies. Trevett shared his experience with the Metaverse Standards Forum, which has grown to more than 3,000 member organizations as one of the few collaborative spaces for companies to discuss their product and platform developments.
Jasnow also added his perspective, explaining that at the moment, most instances of interoperability at the enterprise level have occurred as a result of direct business agreements. Trevett agreed, adding that the way to look at interoperability’s progress in XR is as a “hierarchy of needs.”
Kavensky acknowledged that interoperability can be a “tough sell” for commercial enterprises hesitant to share all of their information, although there are meaningful ways to build on each other with respect to their specializations.
“I think interoperability does have broad appeal to business because it opens up opportunities for creators,” Kanevsky said. “A creator can easily come in and figure out how to contribute to the world and how to consume in the world as well, because ultimately, a healthy ecosystem with the creator, or those who are engaged on both the creation and the consumption ends, is going to be more engaged and be able to bring more to the table.”
That said, industry, consumers and platform developers have yet to be aligned on the core notions of interoperability, Jasnow explained. He pointed to California’s recent law preventing people from saying they’ve purchased a digital good if they were only granted a license.
“In many cases, there’s no agreement on what it means to buy a digital good,” Jasnow said. “And I think interoperability has the potential to at least help alleviate some of that confusion, because if a digital good is interoperable, then maybe you can give people more of a sense of ownership.”
Participants also discussed the potential for blockchain to enhance digital ownership and the importance of user-driven demand for interoperability. They highlighted the differences between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, emphasizing the need for clear definitions and standards. The conversation concluded with a consensus on the evolving nature of the metaverse and the dynamic process of standardization.
Watch the full webinar recording to hear valuable insights from experts working directly in the industry to create cohesive approaches to interoperability.
