At the recent Connect Expo in Denver, Meta Dan Rampton, director of engineering, emphasized the need for collaboration to make Metavers a reality, explaining that the delays required for these virtual experiences would require more infrastructure and advanced technology.
“The truth is that we will have a lot of developers for Metavers. There won’t just be a metaverse; It will be a collaboration across companies and experiences […] This is what will happen, “he said, adding that if 5G and Wi-Fi 6 and 7 do not live up to their promise of single-digit latency, most Metaverse experiences would simply not be possible.
According to Rampton, users can experience an interval of 150 milliseconds in the audio experience, with video falling between 150 and 200 milliseconds. “People start interacting differently with those products at that point … the engagement goes down,” he continued.
Plus, for applications like cloud gaming and VR workrooms that require hand gestures and quick interaction, you’re looking at 50 milliseconds. And for those applications intended for metavers? Rampton said the target was 25 milliseconds.
While it is possible to get 25 milliseconds from a regular connection, it becomes a significant challenge in multi-person interactions, which will be most of the metaverse experience. For an experience like the Meter Fast Twitch Ping-Pong game, the involved delays are often doubled.
Rampton said Meta, although overwhelmed by the prospect of MEC, does not see it as a solution here. “The problem with this is that it’s connected to two users. You can get a really great connection at home with 10 milliseconds, but it actually takes 20 minutes to try playing these games. You still have to go through the whole network to get there, ”he said.
Drawing a map of North America, Rampton explained that there are approximately 15, if not less, interconnection points in the United States where each major network operator is accessible, an image he described as “dazzling.”
“Similarly, our network-to-network-to-network connection is not ubiquitous in the United States,” he continued. To address existing latency challenges and ensure that in the future, immersive applications are possible, it is essential to grow the network ecosystem by investing in neutral collocation facilities such as servers and GPUs. “Soon we’re talking about something in each state, if not more than one in each metro area,” Rampton said.
This future, he concluded, should be built jointly with all major network and fiber operators and collocation facilities working towards the same goal. “No one created the Internet,” he said. “No one is going to build or control this infrastructure. I think in order to actually make the catalyst happen, we probably have to lock the weapons as an industry and decide that this is a good idea and We have to work together to do something. ”