Lenovo, the world’s largest computer firm by sales units, kicked off its Tech World 2022 event on Tuesday, offering attendees a sneak peek on the firm’s latest product innovations and green strategies.
The massive event features C-Suite speakers from AMD, VMware, Accenture, Intel, DreamWorks, Qualcomm, and many others to discuss the future of interoperable, sustainable extended reality (XR), computing, and infrastructure solutions.
Tune in today for #LenovoTechWorld as we unveil our latest innovations, hear from leaders across the industry, & showcase how our tech is empowering people to change their world for the better.
— Lenovo (@Lenovo) October 18, 2022
In a Q&A round table ahead of the event, executives spoke on the upcoming trends across the Chinese-American tech giant’s operations with a huge number of insights and product reveals for the company.
Executives from the Beijing, China and North Carolina, US-based firm included,
- Dr Yong Rui, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
- Luca Rossi, Executive Vice President of Lenovo’s Intelligent Device Group
- Kirk Skaugen, Executive Vice President of Infrastructure Solutions Group
- Arthur Hu, Chief Technology Officer of the Solutions and Services Group
- Mary Jacques, Director of Global Environmental Affairs and Sustainability
Here’s what XR Today learned about the company and its focus on the future of the enterprise.
Keynote for a Future-Proof Tomorrow?
In a keynote speech, Lenovo Chairman and Chief Executive, Yuanqing Yang, spoke about how Lenovo doubled its investment in research and development (R&D) to commit to more sustainable, productive solutions.
Speaking on the Metaverse, Yang explained how smarter technology would change how people “define the future workspace,” by combining the virtual and physical worlds.
Workforces across verticals such as design, education, and workspace collaboration, among many others, would benefit from immersive technologies, including virtual spaces and digital twins, he added.
Explaining, he stated,
“The future workspace liberates us. We gather the best of the two worlds — the touch and the feel of the real workspace and the access and reach of the virtual workspace — under the convenience and flexibility of switching between the two”
Lenovo’s devices focused on “adaptive intelligence, security, environmental friendliness, and innovative form factors,” he said, citing emerging technologies such as AI, the Metaverse, and cloud computing.
Yang added such innovations were the “building blocks we can leverage to construct the different types of buildings as other verticle industry solutions.”
Concluding, he said, citing Lenovo’s latest Neptune natural liquid cooling technology,
“We must not just innovate to drive productivity. We must not simply use technology to create economic value. We all have a responsibility to help make the world a better place, specifically in the face of so many challenges related to climate change and energy shortages.
He called on the tech industry to work to make the planet more sustainable, adding technology played a “role in that innovation” and that Lenovo was “ready for this challenge.”
Opportunities for the Metaverse
When asked by XR Today about whether the Metaverse would become a central driving force for computing solutions and infrastructure, Dr Rui said that it was “definitely the case.”
Speaking on computing solutions, he addressed both new computing opportunities and technologies. Dr Rui explained that several new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), edge computing, 5G, Web 3.0, and others were “converging into the Metaverse.”
The Metaverse also created further computing and business opportunities, namely with front-end devices such as AR, VR, and XR devices, and back-end computing servers, he said, citing Rossi’s work.
Explaining further, he said,
“We also have software layers where we can edit in the meta space, do 3d modelling and environment reconstruction, and on top of that, we also have our friend [Arthur Hu], who is building solutions by leveraging the front-end devices, the back-end computing technology, and software layer to build vertical solutions. All of this combined generates a lot of new computing technologies”
Resilience and Global Challenges
When asked by XR Today about the most pressing challenges linked to enterprise operations, and how Lenovo responds to them, Hu explained that Lenovo and its customers shared challenges on “navigating uncertainty,” leading to two questions.
Both firstly considered operational resilience to tackle “the unknown or the lower-probability” risks, he said, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which hit firms “around the world operating globally.”
Enterprises additional sought to remain agile in operations “so that, if and when the unexpected happens, we’re able to move quickly, so that disruption can turn into opportunity.”
Cool #LenovoTechWorld conversation between @KirkSkaugen & @KatieLinendoll about how the City of Barcelona is improving the lives of its citizens through @Lenovo‘s edge computing solutions. Katie’s #AR glasses 👓 are also cool!
Watch Lenovo Tech World: https://t.co/3UzjP86yP4 pic.twitter.com/qo1W5I1EXw
— Sumir Bhatia (@Sumir_bhatia) October 18, 2022
Due to the “fluid” nature of global challenges, Lenovo aimed to help its customers face challenges by building resiliency with technological capabilities such as digital twins. It also hoped to “place the long-term technology investments [that will] drive the future.”
He concluded,
“In the short term, we want to build resiliency, as well as make sure we’re sustaining our long-term investments around our viewpoint of what technology will matter in the future”
Lenovo Tech World 2022 Event
Lenovo’s Tech World 2022 event is taking place on 18th October. Executives and partner firms have joined to discuss the future of the Metaverse and its ThinkReality, Motorola, and other solutions.
The free one-day event will highlight future Lenovo products and solutions for hybrid work, mixed reality, and the Metaverse, offer keynote speeches from top-level executives across the tech world, and outline plans for green computing and operations, along with on-demand sessions for attendees.
The firm has pushed to build the industrial and enterprise metaverse with a trove of products, including its ThinkReality VRX, A3, and other headsets, along with updates to the ThinkReality platform.
The event comes just weeks after the enterprise addressed the Immerse Global Summit (IGS) 2022 Europe in Madeira Island, Portugal, to reveal the firm’s VRX headset for professional use.
Jason McGuigan, Head of Commercial Virtual Reality for Lenovo, unveiled the product along with numerous insights for the Metaverse in a major speech for the event.
Additional product rollouts included a rollable screen concept for PCs and smartphones, holographic immersive telepresence solution Cyber Spaces, and ThinkEdge server technologies.
