2018 was a significant year for augmented reality (AR) with new entrants in the market, new smart glasses launched, new and improved platforms and portfolios, and generally more enthusiasm and curiosity from the public to explore the technology. Despite that technical challenges and budget limitations remain an issue for near-future mass adoption, the total AR market will be worth US$116 billion by 2023, finds ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies. Technological advancements, the growth of mobile AR, more proof-of-concept use cases, and audience acceptance are the main factors that will lead to this booming growth.

“New entrances across hardware and software, along with expanding incumbents, are reshaping the AR landscape, providing more opportunities for customers and developers,” said Eleftheria Kouri, research analyst at ABI Research. “For example, Magic Leap’s initial hardware offering, as well as updated devices from Vuzix and others, are met with market conversations spanning outside of just hardware. Magic Leap is working with AT&T to trial 5G AR, connectivity players such as Huawei are pushing for cloud AR/VR, and development tools such as AWS Sumerian and Unity continue to grow in capability.”

These factors combine to spur the expected significant growth across the AR market. AR providers highlight the importance and numerous advantages of AR solutions in business strategy and employee’s efficiency while more and more focus on strong collaborations with other related technologies such as IoT data, 5G, and artificial intelligence. With 29 million AR smart glasses shipments in 2023, the ballooning install base of head-worn AR combined with hundreds of millions of AR-enabled mobile devices in the same timeframe will make these partnerships a requirement to maintain AR quality of experience while still providing the efficiency and safety increases promised with the technology.

“Allowing time for maturation, combined with ongoing audience education, is key to ensuring a successful AR business story,” said Eric Abbruzzese, principal analyst at ABI Research. “Proving value to potential customers in the enterprise with specific, targeted, and realistic metrics will win business over the next few years as the addressable market grows. While the consumer market is vastly different to the enterprise market, the basic approach of proving realistic value remains the same. After a few years in the hype cycle, a more grounded market outlook has taken hold. The fact that the potential value and usefulness of AR hasn’t changed as a result points to the revolutionary potential of AR.”

These findings are from ABI Research's Augmented Reality Market Update 2018. This report is part of the company’s AR and Mixed Reality research service, which includes research, data, and executive foresights.

The What: Evolute, creator of scalable cloud migration and container technology, debuted its software platform for enterprises. Evolute is designed to enable large IT departments to quickly and reliably migrate and run software applications between computing environments up to 10 times faster than virtualization solutions, at a fraction of the cost, improving how companies do business. Evolute also announced it was chosen to join Chevron Technology Ventures’ Catalyst Program, which is designed to support early-stage technology companies innovating in smart oil fields, advanced materials and other core software and systems technology.

The What Else: Due to the rise in the complexity of applications, processing, and network interface issues, virtualization has proven to be costly and time intensive, limiting the portability of applications between various clouds within an IT organization. As a result, enterprises are turning to the container industry in record numbers, with analyst estimates reaching up to $2.7 billion in market size by 2020. Evolute’s container platform can rapidly scale, minimizing the complexity and cost of cloud and virtualization technology. By shortening implementation and leveraging its speed, Evolute reduces organizational downtime and enables enterprises to achieve new capabilities in their infrastructure. This allows enterprises to recover time spent performing maintenance to achieve continuous operations measured at up to $1 million per hour in savings.

“We are honored to work with Chevron as a part of CTV’s Catalyst program,” said Kristopher Francisco, CEO and founder of Evolute. “Large enterprises need a lightweight, less costly and scalable environment that can allow applications to move between clouds and closest to the places in which they compute. Evolute is uniquely positioned to impact the energy landscape with its ability to quickly and easily bring large scale business, engineering, and even petrotechnical workloads to the latest generation of cloud capabilities. As a result, this industry-first solution is poised to help large enterprises achieve their goals at a rate which improves their core capabilities at a much reduced cost.”

The Bottom Line: Evolute enables Fortune 500 companies in the high tech, banking and energy industries to innovate in their cloud and edge environments. With this focus, the Evolute team is partnering with leading technology providers and customers to optimize how enterprises use container technology and improve business efficiency.

The What: At InfoComm 2018, LG Electronics USA Business Solutions announced the addition of new Thin Client and Zero Client solutions to its portfolio of commercial monitors on display. LG’s new cloud solutions aim to bring added convenience, enhanced connectivity and security, as well as cost efficiency to the IT industry.

The What Else: LG’s new suite of cloud monitor solutions, including Zero Client and Thin Client displays are designed with the IT professional in mind. LG’s Zero Client reimagines computing by providing a centralized network management system that enables easy maintenance and streamlines operations. These units are designed to provide uncompromised display quality and up to five times faster performance than previous models. Unlike traditional monitors, LG Zero Client models provide built-in security with PC-over-IP (PCoIP), which internally manages software updates and greatly reduces the risk of virus, spyware, and hacking because all data and memory are stored in the central data center. The monitors are connected over the corporate LAN cable, which also acts as a power supply. These features allow for a simplistic setup. The only things required to get started on their LG Zero Client monitors are the keyboard and a mouse.

“As secure data transfer increasingly becomes a focal point in the IT industry, LG has expanded its highly acclaimed commercial desktop monitor portfolio to include state-of-the-art client monitor and cloud solutions,” said Stephen K. Hu, head of commercial monitors, LG Electronics USA Business Solutions. “With seamless connectivity, highly secure cloud computing solutions, and displays with incredible picture quality, LG’s broad portfolio of monitors is designed to meet the evolving needs of end users in a variety of industries.”

The Bottom Line: LG Cloud Monitor system utilizes a Teradici PCoIP processor and Amazon WorkSpaces to deliver a powerful and secure virtual solution that broadens integrated computing beyond design labs to offices and classrooms. The Zero Client virtualization software enables a single server to support more monitors than previously possible. With no central processing unit or operating system, PCoIP Zero Clients greatly reduce the risk of viruses, spyware, and hacking—making them well suited for security-critical organizations.