News: Magic Leap's Latest Lumin OS & SDK Releases Focus on Features for Enterprise Customers

A year and change into its shift towards enterprise customers, Magic Leap has updated Lumin OS and the corresponding Lumin SDK with some key prerequisites for the business sector.

First and foremost, Magic Leap has added support for Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) in Lumin OS 0.98.20, including an update to the Helio browser to improve compatibility with audio and video communications platforms.

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WebRTC, which works as a Javascript API that enables connected devices on any network to serve as a communications node, was recently adopted as a standard by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), making the Lumin update fairly timely.

"This powerful standard is quickly becoming a critical component to many enterprise use cases today," said Yannick Pellet, senior vice president of software at Magic Leap. "Such as remote assistance scenarios, which is why we felt it was a priority to make this natively available on the Magic Leap platform."

In the same vein, Lumin SDK 0.25 carries new Unity APIs that enable developers to leverage WebRTC in their enterprise apps, as well as mixed reality camera APIs to allow for capturing of the physical environment along with virtual content.

"This enables developers to create any remote assist scenario where a seamless two-way audio-video channel is created between two users in different locations," said Pellet. "They are able to share real-time video from their point of view and stream any content - whether virtual or physical - to the other person. Collaboration can then be greatly enhanced by building annotation and recording functionality at the application level."

The Lumin OS updates also include additions to make the lives of IT admins easier, namely certificate-based Wi-Fi authentication and the option to skip certain setup options, such as fit and eye calibration. Meanwhile, Lumin SDK also gains APIs for QR code tracking, inertial measurement unit (IMU) data, device identification, and improved eye tracking, along with sample code for getting up to speed with the new APIs.

Both updates are compatible with Magic Leap One Creator Edition and Magic Leap 1. Users can download the OS update via the Developer Portal, while developers can access the SDK via The Lab.

Enterprise businesses have a very different set of usage needs, particularly in terms of interoperability and device management, that are simply nice extras when it comes to the consumer segment. Enterprise-centric updates like these are emblematic of the growing pains Magic Leap will encounter with their enterprise focus, and something the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Samsung are all too familiar with in positioning desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets (and HoloLens, in Microsoft's case) for the business world.