Augmented Reality is an important concept to introduce to managers of IT departments anywhere in the world. In this post on the IT News Africa web site, the author explains Augmented Reality in a clear and concise manner, without even using any graphics, and goes on to suggest that it is part of the digital future of all companies.

It’s good to see that in only a short post the author doesn’t narrow the possibilities to smart glasses or tablets. He suggests that there could be projection AR or even new displays we have yet to invent or see. The business cases cited for Augmented Reality in this post are also broad, including logistics and service. And he goes on to caution that there remain big challenges before AR technology meets all the expectations of users.

The AREA needs to support those who share our vision with local audiences anywhere in the world.

Epson has announced that it plans to release a professional model of smart glasses to the family of Moverio products. In a press release issued by Epson the company described new features of the Moverio Pro BT-2000. The most significant of the new features is the 3D depth sensing. The new model will be able to detect the dimensions and spatial positioning of objects in relation to each other.

In addition, a more sensitive Epson inertial measurement unit means that the system will more accurately track head or indoor positioning. Finally, the display resolution has improved to 1350cd/m2.

The release states that the Moverio Pro BT-2000 will be available in selected markets in EMEA, Japan and the United States in the autumn of 2015.

Insights of management consulting firm McKinsey & Company are highly regarded in most board rooms so it’s an affirmation of the AREA’s vision to have a new report published on the topic of Industry 4.0 predict that Augmented Reality will be one of the human-machine interfaces of choice in the manufacturing environment.

Beyond the human-machine interface, this short article on the McKinsey blog provides a digital “compass” that matches technologies to value drivers. Isn’t it time that Augmented Reality have such a compass?

Stay tuned to the AREA’s web site for useful tools to help guide your company to higher operational efficiencies with Augmented Reality

An increasing range of new technologies, including Augmented Reality-assisted displays and other wearables, promise to be useful to utility industry workers. In order to help its employees and current or future technology providers get more familiar with one another, leading competitive energy provider Exelon Corporation hosted a special event.

To stimulate exchange of ideas and improve planners’ understanding of the future of utilities participants watched demonstrations and listened to presentations by innovation thought leaders.

The AREA and member organization, EPRI, are co-organizing the AR in Leading-edge Utilities event in Charlotte, NC on July 27 and 28, 2015 to similarly foster mutual exploration and understanding of the industry-wide opportunities to improve processes with AR-assisted systems.

This week at the Paris Air Show aviation companies from around the world made hundreds of announcements and showcased the industry’s latest advancements in exhibition space and out of doors. Leading airplane manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, have been using Augmented Reality for years in pilot programs but the technology has rarely been integrated in production procedures.

Things are finally changing. According to Bruno Le Moal, Managing Director for Aerospace and Defense at Accenture and the spokesperson interviewed in the video featured on this short post on the EuroNews site, the use of Augmented Reality and wearables is increasing and even having an impact on the bottom lines by dramatically reducing the time to perform some activities without reducing quality.

Boosting industry-wide production of planes from 600 to over 1000 planes per year, says Le Moal, is the measurable goal of adopting Augmented Reality as well as other new technologies introduced at this year’s event, in the factory.

This announcement about a new market research report published by Frost and Sullivan suggests that by 2025 the automotive industry will have mastered the technology components and have gained the confidence of regulators and the mass market sufficiently to provide heads up displays (HUD) for drivers.

In addition, the report defines three segments of offers being introduced by manufacturers: windshield HUD, combiner HUD, and Augmented Reality HUD, and compares their features, parts and pricing.

A forecast of sales in North America and Europe suggests that by 2025 as many as 10% of the cars sold will include Augmented Reality HUD capabilities.

Here’s a challenge: list the ten features warehouse workers need in their smart glasses to do their job more efficiently. Who would know better than e-commerce giant, Amazon? According to this article on VentureBeat web site, preferentially sensing package markings (like mailing addresses, bar codes, or QR codes) makes the patent granted to Amazon different than that granted for other smart glasses.

The secret to providing the greatest reliability in a warehouse environment (VentureBeat calls “error-free identification”) is most likely in the implementation of the complete end-to-end system, not in the patent for the wearable display.

It was certainly discussed in their respective board rooms for many months, if not years, before Intel and smart glasses maker, Recon Instruments, formally announced the acquisition of the small Vancouver-based smart glasses maker by the semiconductor giant this week. The fact that Intel Capital invested in Recon Instruments in 2013 certainly could not have hurt.

Questions about how this change in status will impact the Recon’s products remain. Will the emphasis continue to be on smart glasses for sports?

Dan Eisenhardt, Recon’s co-founder and CEO, says he’s confident that the focus will not change and goes on to explain in his blog post on the Recon Instruments site that he feels the Recon product roadmap and potential for impact increase as a result of greater access to Intel’s developer ecosystem and other assets in Intel’s core technology portfolio.

The other question is who’s next?

On the opening day of Augmented World Expo, the AREA members and invited speakers presented seven sessions about Augmented Reality in enterprise and industrial environments, the “AWARE sessions.” IoT Journal writer, Mary Catherine O’Connor, covered the show and wrote a review of what she took away from attending AWE.

O’Connor was impressed by the potential for Augmented Reality to reduce workplace errors and improve operational efficiency, as described by Paul Davies of Boeing, but she also recognizes that the impact will not be achieved without addressing some difficult challenges such as wireless connectivity for AR-assisted devices and policies, such as those described by AREA member Bob Meads, that prevent the use of cameras in manufacturing shop floors.

Based on past experience of AR entertainment and marketing applications, the analyst for IT Business Edge portal who covered AWE, Rob Enderle, didn’t have high expectations for Augmented Reality. He shares in his review of AWE 2015 how he came away with a different and much higher opinion of the technology as a whole and of its utility, in particular.

Enderle reports that he found the applications for Augmented Reality in business described on the stage and in the exhibition hall are closer and more practical than he had imagined. In particular, Enderle recommends that his readers begin thinking of the benefits of having a remote expert assisting users with a variety of unfamiliar tasks. Remote assistance with the help of a local set of eyes and hands on tools could reduce costs and time by getting a task completed correctly more quickly by an inexperienced worker.