Verizon Innovation Center

Today we were invited to take part on a private tour of the Verizon Innovation Center in Waltham, MA.  There are two of these centers in the United States, one in downtown San Francisco, CA and this one which happens to be the largest of the two.  These centers have a very special purpose for Verizon.  To develop technologies, products and solutions for both businesses and customers.  Many of these featured at the innovation center are currently available, while others are 2-3 years away from being released.  We got a rare glimpse into what the future of communications looks like in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, augmented/virtual reality, smart cities, transportation, law enforcement, and more.

For photographers and content producers in the digital age, innovation will be mostly driven by advancements in technology and wireless communications.  In the next few years, Verizon plans to bring to market 5G and wireless gigabit internet into our homes.  These are major leaps in telecommunications technology that will enable our devices to broadcast content in 4K (or higher) as well as much faster uploads of high resolution content.  At the same time, camera manufacturers will be able to jump into the ‘always connected’ wagon and enable their devices to deliver content very fast onto a phone/tablet, computer or the cloud.

Virtual and Augmented Reality are also expected to see widespread adoption in the next few years.  Imagine the world around you becoming a digital interface where real and virtual objects are displayed in real-time.  A popular example of this augmented reality is the game Pokemon Go which places virtual characters in real life locations where people can go to ‘catch’ them.  Virtual Reality on the other hand is a 3 dimensional computer generated simulation or environment where users can interact with by using special equipment designed for this purpose.  

The Verizon Innovation Center is truly a theme park for technology geeks like me.  I must say, out of all of the technologies we previewed during the tour, 5G telecommunications is the most exciting because it will enable many other inventions, products and services.  It is expected to offer 1000 times the capacity of 4G and greatly reduce latency which could lead to the possibility of a fully, always on connected world with wireless communication and Internet of Things devices tapping into this fast speed networks.  It simply can’t come soon enough!  

Thank you Verizon for such a great experience.