Dubai: Microsoft Gulf is aiming to drive digital transformation among businesses across all industries to achieve more with its HoloLens headset.

Mohammad Arif, Windows Business Group Lead at Microsoft Gulf, said that the theme at Gitex and the company is on digital transformation in a bid to empower companies to drive growth, innovation and productivity.

He said that digital transformation requires a complete rethinking of how a business operates in the modern world.

“It is the idea of making personal computing more personal. It is the way to interact with machines and elevate it to a new level with gesture and voice,” he said.

He said the HoloLens fits into the more personal computing category. It is the first fully self-contained holographic computer running Windows 10. It is completely untethered — no wires, phones, or connection to a PC needed.

Microsoft HoloLens allows viewers to place holograms in their physical environment and provides a new way to see the world.

A hologram is an object like any other object in the real world, with only one difference — instead of being made of physical matter; a hologram is made entirely of light. Holographic objects can be viewed from different angles and distances, just like physical objects, but they do not offer any physical resistance when touched or pushed because they don’t have any mass.

“The holograms you’ll see with HoloLens can appear lifelike, and can move, be shaped, and change according to interaction with users or the physical environment in which they are visible,” he said.

Volvo, Lowes, Japan Airlines and ThyssenKrupp have teamed up with Microsoft to test its HoloLens headset while Nasa has collaborated to recreate the experience of walking on Mars.

Dewa also announced a Hololens partnership for its smart plant utility at Gitex.

“It uses mixed reality, blending 3D holographic content into the physical world allowing users to interact with both digital content and the world around them. Windows Holographic will eventually lead to new form factors and empower organisations to make real-time decisions, optimise operations, transform products and bring ideas to life,” he said.