The Sky is the limit

in a virtual reality roller coaster in one hour,
putting Dubai on the map as a global hub
for VR innovation and earning a place in
the history books. VR was a hot topic at
this year’s event. Powered by Samsung,
461 GITEX participants strapped on
Samsung’s Gear virtual reality headsets
powered by Oculus, while being thrilled
by a visual roller coaster presented in a
4DX theatre. Organizers had expected 250
people, and smashed through the record
overwhelmingly with nearly double the
number.
“Virtual reality has rapidly advanced to
enter the mainstream in transforming
experiences in entertainment, education
and healthcare. Attempting this virtual
reality world record underlines Dubai’s
commitment to innovation and GITEX
Technology Week as one of the world’s
leading events for immersive technologies,”
said C. Purushothaman, head of marketing
(Smartphones & Tablets), IT & Mobile
Division at Samsung Gulf Electronics.
Carrying on the virtual reality movement
at GITEX, Nokia and UAE-based
telecommunications service provider, du,
demonstrated the Middle East’s first 4K 3D
360 virtual reality video streaming using a
5G-ready network. Nokia and du used Nokia
AirScale Radio Access to showcase 360
degree virtual reality (VR) video streaming.
KSA recognized for its largest-ever participation at GITEX
Eng. Ahmed bin Jamil Al-Maiman, VP of the supervising committee of Saudi
Ministry of Interior’s participation at GITEX 2016 and the PR and Media Director of
the National Information Centre (left) receiving trophy from Ahmed Al Khaja, SVP,
Dubai World Trade Centre (right) in recognition of the Kingdom’s largest-ever Saudi
participation as the Official Country Partner for GITEX Technology Week 2016.
In the demonstration, 3D 360 VR content
created with the Nokia OZO VR camera was
streamed to head-mounted displays using
Nokia’s 5G-ready network, delivering a fully
immersive VR experience for attendees. The
demonstration was yet another milestone
for du on its path to 5G technology and
taking 5G beyond speed and connectivity by
demonstrating real 5G use cases.
“Smart cities of tomorrow would require
high speed and low latency connectivity
to connect internet of things applications.
The demonstration of 3D 360 VR video
streaming over a 5G-ready system
provides a glimpse into the future of one
such application,” said Saleem Al Blooshi,
executive vice president - Network
Development and Operations, du. “It
underscores our commitment to go beyond
connectivity and speed and providing end
to end real use cases for 5G. Nokia is our
partner for UAE 5G innovation Gate (U5GIG)
that will enable UAE to participate in the
development and standardization of 5G
system. Nokia will continue to be a strategic
partner for 5G network that we will offer in
Dubai Expo 2020.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) was another
hot topic showcased at this year’s GITEX
Technology Week. For instance, visitors to
Microsoft’s stand were surprised to learn
just how far cognitive reasoning, naturallanguage
processing and bot AI have
come, as they wandered through specially
constructed Experience Zones at Microsoft’s
stand.
November 2016
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