Microsoft simply made it less complicated for uk corporations to make desirable use of HoloLens

Microsoft is pushing harder with mixed reality and HoloLens this side of the pond, with the announcement that the HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner program has been expanded with six new European partners – half of which are based in the UK.

Partners in the scheme have gone through what Microsoft describes as ‘extensive’ training in order to help with the deployment of HoloLens across organisations who want to make use of the technology.

Essentially, the HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner program is another route companies can use to explore the world of mixed reality, aside from building apps for HoloLens themselves (or indeed working with Microsoft directly in the Enterprise Acceleration Program).

As mentioned, three of the new partners are based in the UK, namely: Black Marble, Fundamental VR and Rewind (there are also two partners in France, and one in Germany). These join the existing 10 partners in the scheme who are based in the US and Canada.

Fresh opportunities

Microsoft noted : “Working with one of our hand-selected HoloLens Agency Readiness Partners is one of the quickest ways to get started with creating mixed reality applications that can transform working with 3D data, bringing new products and information to life, and creating new opportunities for business growth.”

HoloLens partners have already worked with UK police forces when it comes to delivering such benefits.

Microsoft only made the development edition of its headset available in the UK last autumn, and it’s far from cheap – in fact, if you want a HoloLens, it’ll set you back a cool £2,719 .

Nothing about the headset is likely to change much in the near future either, as we heard a rumour last month that version 2 of the HoloLens has been scrapped, leaving Microsoft free to concentrate on bringing out a more improved third version before the decade is up.