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Is your next boss going to be a hologram? Bloomberg seems to think so. They ran an article recently about a CEO using holograms. The article explains how CEO’s are using life-size holograms to cut-down on travel. One CEO described the experience,  “It was a real ‘beam me up’ moment … I was really there.”

Holograms are not new. Holography was discovered by physicist Dennis Gabor in 1951. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for for his discovery in 1971. In simple terms, a hologram is basically a recording of a 3D image that can be reproduced with the same amount of depth and detail as the original. Viewers can see the image from different angles, the same way they’d be able to see a real object.

What is a hologram

Holograms don’t require special equipment, like glasses or headsets to view. The image can be viewed from any angle, so as the user walks around the display the object will appear to move and shift realistically. Holographic images can be static, such as a picture of a product, or they may be animated sequences which can be watched by multiple people from any viewpoint.

Google and Microsoft Corp., as well as startups like HyerVSN, MDH Hologram, Musion, and VIVIDIQ are working on holographic communications services. Businesses diverse as Ford, Johnnie Walker, the NBA, Salesforce, French bank BNP Paribas and the World Wildlife Foundation are using holograms. Emergen Research predicts that the global 3D Holographic Display and Services market size will reach $3.45 billion in 2028. Larry O’Reilly, CEO of Toronto-based ARHT Media Inc., told Bloomberg:

People can’t look away … We create the illusion of 3D in a life-size person or object with no noticeable latency, which creates a sense of presence.

Result of the COVID-19 pandemic

The article says the COVID-19 pandemic caused firms to rethink the rules of work. Apparently, corporations see holograms as a way to communicate with employees and customers while cutting down on travel. Before COVID, holograms were used for concerts with mixed results. Portl founder, David Nussbaum told Bloomberg,

Holograms were never in demand for anything but entertainment until recently … Instead of digitally resurrecting dead artists, I saw holograms as a new way of communication … 

Hologram tech

The system featured in the article was provided by LA-based Proto (formerly Portl Inc.). The rig, called Epic, is a human-sized “portal” that produces a lifelike person in hologram. Epic lets people “beam” themselves to a location thousands of miles away and interact with people there. The author says the entire set-up cost $160,000. Portl also sells individual boxes for $65,000.

Portl also offers a 14-inch-tall home device, called Proto M which costs $5,000. The tabletop version projects a shrunken version of the subject. The company plans to release an app that will allow users to substitute a cellphone for the studio gear. Portl says it expects to sell 500 booths and 5,000 tabletop units this year.

Sherrif Karamat, CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association, has appeared as a hologram onstage with a live moderator and several others. He told the author, the conversation flowed easily, and he even elbow-bumped a fellow speaker at one point. “Holograms are here to stay, and they’ll be used more and more …”

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As with all emerging techs, there are two sides to the coin. The green factor of eliminating travel is good. Portl’s Nussbaum said “Without having to jump in cars and airplanes, a lot of our customers have seen their carbon footprint shrink considerably, sometimes down to around 10% of what it used to be.”

Are holograms ready for prime-time

Holograms are not ready for prime-time for a number of reasons.

• Vendors must bring down prices sharply before it will be widely adopted. $160,000 for one systems?
• The IEEE estimates that the bandwidth requirements for holograms will increase to be in the range of 1 Tbps. The best average 5G download speed in the U.S. is 150 Mbps. Not enough.
• The current systems don’t offer true holograms. Rather, they provide rather two-dimensional holographic projections. Strictly speaking, holograms are meant to be 3D images projected into thin air by lasers, so you can walk around and view them from all angles. Current systems, by contrast, require the box, which creates the illusion of depth, but when viewed from the side or behind it’s … just a box.

Then there is the bad boss factor. IMO being fired by a hologram is no better than when Better.com CEO Vishal Garg terminated 900 employees on a Zoom call just before the holidays. Or the recent chaos at Twitter as Elon Musk fired about 3,700 people via email.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.