Partners hail HoloLens opportunity as it lands in the UK

Mixed-reality technology available to pre-order in the UK from today

Partners have hailed the arrival of Microsoft's mixed-reality technology HoloLens in the UK, claiming there is definitely a channel opportunity for the product.

HoloLens was first unveiled formally to partners at the firm's Worldwide Partner Conference in 2015, and featured heavily at this year's gathering too. The product allows users to see real life mixed with real-looking holograms through a special headset. The product is expected to do well in the gaming area, but business use cases have been touted by the vendor too.

WPC this year featured a demo from Japan Airlines, which use the tech for virtual staff training. Microsoft also claims that NASA and Audi use the technology.

HoloLens was first launched in the US and Canada and it is available to pre-order in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand from today. Products will be shipped later this year.

"We're definitely going to be investing in it - it has the sizzle factor to wow customers"

IDC figures from earlier this year claim that virtual reality hardware shipments will "skyrocket" globally, reaching 9.6 million units this year.

Margaret Totten (pictured), managing director of Microsoft partner IA Cubed, told CRN she is excited about the channel opportunity for the product.

"There definitely is [a partner opportunity] and funnily enough, we're going to be the only partner with HoloLens at our stand at Future Decoded," she said. "The main reason is we want to showcase how it fits into Skype for Business and the Internet of Things. There will be live demos - and not just about using it, but how it fits in and interacts.

"I think people originally thought it was a bit gimmicky and high tech, but there is a lot of interest around construction and architect clients who are getting a lot out of it. There is definitely a partner opportunity. It's a way from maturity, but it's coming."

New Signature founder Dan Scarfe agreed and said: "The most exciting thing is that we don't know what we can do with it. There is a whole series of brand new opportunities that we haven't even thought of. Some of the obvious ones are in health - imagine a surgeon operating and laying over an MRI in real time. Or an architect walking around the new building they're designing. There's an enormous opportunity.

"We're definitely going to be investing in it - it has the sizzle factor to wow customers."