It’s hard to build a metaverse but there’s a way out!

Will Metaverse be able to support a Billion People?

Learn how the Metaverse's virtual world will be supported by the underlying networks and data center infrastructure

‘Metaverse’ - was coined by Neal Stephenson in his sci-fi novel Snow Crash in 1992. He tried to paint the picture of a highly futuristic virtual world where everyone has their own programmed avatars living in the metaverse with a virtual economy in place. With the recent buzz about the metaverse, technological experts are more concerned about the underlying physical infrastructure that will be supporting these virtual worlds.?

Virtual reality, massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), video meetings, and augmented reality are the closest things we have to a metaverse right now. The Metaverse has the potential to make this pervasively larger, to the point where we will work, play, and live in a virtual ecosystem. To build something like this at scale will require technological infrastructure that can support colossal data streaming from application to edge while maintaining low latency.

The success of metaverse highly depends on the networking and data center infrastructure. The current VR experience has not reached an optimum level despite the high CAGR growth. The sector is still underperforming due to performance issues, the response from the VR systems shows that slight latency in the video or time lag can disrupt the user experience. The infrastructure to support the virtual reality industry is still evolving to overcome the stall and lags. The same is the case with augmented reality, tech experts are working on streamlining the data retrieval and processing to give us the hassle-free augmented reality and hologram experience.?

Figuring out the solutions for metaverse will need technological solutions from AR and VR systems and increasing its complexity to monumental proportions. To make a seamless virtual world where billions of devices are connected at once a reality, local data processing at the edge for users and enormous data processing supporting the metaverse world at data centers will be required.?

Why is edge data centers gaining huge popularity and are anticipated to be the solution to achieve a seamless metaverse?

Edge brings data processing near to the user by providing computational data at a rapid rate ensuring low latency. Edge data centers consist of small facilities in the proximity of end-users. Faster data transit and processing is possible when the distance between the network center where data is processed and the user device is reduced. Massive data centers create a centralized environment that is effective for a wide range of applications that is fast enough for internet searches and social media demands.?

The speed of data, which travels at two-thirds the speed of light across fiber-optic lines, is their stumbling block. That seems real quick, but latency is becoming more significant as an emerging range of applications can't wait to make a decision while the data they require travels hundreds of kilometers to and from data centers. When it comes to developing metaverse, infrastructure with ultra-low latency will be required to deliver a glitch and slag-free virtual world.?

What gives edge data centers a competitive advantage over centralized data centers?

While we are currently enjoying bits of a virtual world and AR via social apps and online gaming (MMOs). Still there exists major restrictions and glitches in these applications. For example, while accessing an AR filter on Instagram or Snapchat the design lags or most recently Fortnite hosted a virtual concert where millions of users joined and attended it live, but due to bandwidth limitations these millions of users were divided into packs of 100s and one can only interact with 4 people. These limitations exist as the infrastructure required for such an event is not optimal, the same will be the case for creating the metaverse.?

According to Frost & Sullivan's latest analysis, the edge will be deployed by 90% of organizations, with the multi-access edge computing (MEC) sector estimated to reach $7.23 billion by 2024. The low latency of current colocation data centers will hamper user adoption due to lag. In latency-sensitive applications, the edge reduces data transmission times to single-digit milliseconds, which would be extremely valuable in delivering a seamless virtual experience.?

Edge architecture might be exorbitant, but with the evolving technological landscape and greater reliance on edge data centers, costs will plummet. Edge is the key to the metaverse's future success and is required for public acceptance and integration.