Microsoft, Chevron, Mixed Reality

Microsoft betting a lot on the space.

Thanks Ben


Forbes

Chevron is testing two to three dozen use cases for HoloLens. “It signals a change in how we work, which to me is a pretty big deal,” says Bill Braun, Chevron's chief innovation officer. While Chevron anticipates saving a lot of money from the switch—each HoloLens costs less than a round-trip flight for an expert, both executives note—the numbers aren’t significant enough for Chevron to update analysts about financial impact, Braun says. Moving away from having people in person at all times, however, represents a “pretty substantial change,” he argues, and one that will “build the base platform where the next features and enhancements we make will be incrementally less expensive.” It also puts edge computing devices in the hands of field workers in the form of HoloLens, a shift in how technology is used in the field, Nadella notes.

Chevron’s adoption of HoloLens in production wasn’t a direct consequence of its wider-ranging cloud partnership with Microsoft, the company says, but did help accelerate adoption through the sharing of engineering expertise and Chevron’s familiarity with Azure and Dynamics 365, both of which are used by HoloLens’ apps. Chevron was intrigued by HoloLens before the cloud partnership, says Moore. “There isn’t really any competition in what we consider true augmented reality,” he says.