Zoom Video Communications, Inc has partnered with Facebook’s Horizon Workrooms to integrate several key tools into the platform, it was announced at the Zoomtopia 2021 event on Monday.
Users will have access to their Zoom Whiteboards and Zoom Meetings on the Workrooms platform early next year, with the collaboration expanding the features across VR devices.
Virtual whiteboarding meet virtual reality. 🤝 Together with @Facebook, we are bringing meetings and whiteboard into the VR space using @oculus Quest 2 headsets for the ultimate collaborative experience. https://t.co/QJKfVacdII pic.twitter.com/zwMKyk9dak
— Zoom (@Zoom) September 13, 2021
The Zoomtopia 2021 event unveiled numerous innovations in a bid to reshape personal and business use cases for the widely popular communications platform.
Daniel Newman, Principal Analyst at Futurum Research, said innovation remained “at the forefront” of the conference, adding,
“I am particularly impressed with how Zoom’s plans for new solutions, like Zoom Video Contact Center and Zoom Whiteboard, could continue to broaden Zoom’s impact on different facets of our work and lives, while enabling customers to create and grow businesses entirely on its platform”
Speaking further, Eric S Yuan, Founder and Chief Executive at Zoom, added there had “never been a more dynamic period” in his company’s history than the last 18 months.
He explained the wave of updates released for the Zoom platform, which included “hundreds of new features, enhancements, and capabilities” in the last year, with further upgrades planned in due course.
Mr Yuan continued, stating:
“With the ability to visually brainstorm on a virtual whiteboard and collaborate with colleagues similar to an in-person experience, or the endless opportunities of live transcription and translation services powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) – previously considered ‘futuristic’ technologies are on the verge of becoming a reality and could reshape the way we work”
The comments come amid a recent study from the unified communications’ firm, which found most respondents believed many interactions such as celebrations and events would have a virtual element.
Additional tools revealed at the event included at Zoom Video Contact Centre (VCC), which provides a virtual environment for building experiences with customers. Zoom meetings wil also feature live transcription and translation services with real-time support for multiple languages.
The company also announced the launch of its Zoom Rooms Smart Gallery, which provides video feeds of people joining chat rooms, as well as tighter end-to-end encryption for security and privacy.
The announcements come nearly a month after Facebook launched its open beta version of Horizon Workrooms, which aims to provide users with remote virtual workspaces ahead of a stable release.
Users with Oculus Quest 2 headsets could attend meetings in the Metaverse, share files, stream computers, among other features in the beta trial, Facebook said at the time.