In Silicon Valley, there are various controversies surrounding telecommuting and telecommuting. It was Twitter CEO Jack City who opened the door. In an e-mail sent to all employees on the 13th of last month, he declared that he will actively support'permanent telecommuting' if the employee wishes after Corona 19 and the nature and conditions of the work are satisfied. It is not only bad for helping to save money, but also strengthening the eco-friendly corporate image.

On the other hand, the position of Microsoft CEO Satia Nadella was different. In an interview with The New York Times, he expressed concern about permanent telecommuting: "If you work in different spaces, you will not encounter anything, and that will make it difficult for you to form a community within your company." Interaction between colleagues, employee management, and mentoring are difficult to replace with remote work. The main reasons were the aspects of mental health such as loneliness and burnout of employees due to prolonged telecommuting, and the loss of social capital due to the absence or weakness of'community' within the company.

Silicon Valley is facing the position that a world without an office is possible and that if things get better, you have to meet and work. Nevertheless, interest in telecommuting technology in 3D virtual space has been increasing recently. As more and more people actually use two-dimensional video chat remote service such as Zoom or Google Meet, the focus is on whether they can overcome the limitations.

Facebook is focusing on developing 3D virtual space collaboration programs that utilize AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) technologies. Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook's AR and VR division, unveiled a 3D MR (mixed reality) remote work technology under development on Facebook on the 21st of last month. In a short video of about 8 seconds he posted on Twitter, a virtual monitor is pulled by hand and placed in front of him. This is a first-person screen from the operator's perspective. Facebook plans to spread this 3D virtual space collaboration technology through its subsidiary Oculus.

Among startups, there is a case that stands out with 3D collaboration technology. Founded by Korean CEO Jin-ha Lee, the startup called Spacial has already been recognized for its technical ability to collaborate with Microsoft since last year. Especially, during the global trend of Corona 19, the public announced that it would release a free 3D virtual collaboration program to the public. I heard about it and made contact.

At the end of last month, in an office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, I was able to meet Lee Jin-ha, CEO of'Special' in New York with my VR device on my head. Upon entering the ID photo, a 3D character resembling me was created in 1 minute. Lee also invited me by using VR devices and accessing the 3D virtual space he developed. "Good morning?" The representative, who appeared in front of 2m, greeted and greeted me, and I could move the hand controller to hold his hand and shake hands. The vision was quite'real', but it was a very mysterious feeling with no touch. I know it's not in the real world, but I was immersed in that world as if I were playing a 3D graphics game.

This time, the CEO turned on the voice recognition function, searched for'microphone', and called up a 3D microphone model and delivered it to me. When I hold the microphone with my hand and talk, the reality is even greater. The advantage of working in a 3D collaboration space is that it is easy for'design collaboration'. When you have a design conference for a specific product, you can place a 3D graphic subject right in front of your eyes and aim and hand at the hand controller to increase or decrease the size of the product. If you want to modify it on the product design, you can draw it right away. I thought it would be possible to collaborate to get the concept even if it wasn't precise.

Spatial is already in the commercialization stage. Famous for Barbie dolls, Mattel is already collaborating remotely through this three-dimensional space when designing product concepts. 30% of Fortune 1,000 companies have been inquiring, and 10% of them have already used facials. When asked about the reactions of the people who actually wrote it, Lee explained.

"For video meetings like zoom, it's useful for exchanging information, but for a long time, it doesn't solve the isolation of being alone at home. But 3D virtual space collaboration gives you the experience of working together in a real office. I often hear the reaction that the sense of isolation disappears and that it is easy to talk about.Another advantage is that only one screen is shared at a time when video chatting, but in 3D virtual space, multiple screens and multiple 3D subjects are stretched at the same time. It means you can work on it, just like when you're working in a real office."

Of course, there are also limitations. When I used the VR device for more than 30 minutes, I sweated and my eyes became tired, so I couldn't use it for a long time. So, Lee said, “I am more excited about AR than VR when it comes to 3D virtual space collaboration. Currently, Lee is developing an AR collaboration solution with a Chinese company that has released AR glasses in the form of general glasses that are not fatigued even after long hours of use. Another drawback was audio lag and stuttering. Sometimes I felt like my voice was changing or the audio was delayed for about 1 second, so I was confused with the other person. With this advent of the 5G era, it is expected that if the transmission speed improves gradually, it will improve significantly.

President Jin-Ha Lee said that since the global trend in corona19, the demand for remote collaboration in virtual spaces has increased, and in the United States, it is expected that collaboration in 3D virtual space will become a culture in about two years. It is also the time when Apple announced that it will release AR glasses in two years. Microsoft is also planning to add 3D virtual collaboration capabilities to Microsoft Office's collaboration program Teams.

I think that the era of working and interacting in the smartphone may change sooner than I thought as the smartphone changed to a smart glasses and the 2D SNS screen turned into a 3D virtual space.