VIVE announces new VIVE Flow Business Edition

VIVE has announced the availability of its new VIVE Flow Business Edition headsets, which bring the perks of VR to business training, remote meetings, and wider organisational collaboration.

Available now, the enterprise-flavoured version of the firm’s headsets serves up a new optional 3DoF controller for intuitive controls for navigation, while a special ‘kiosk mode’ enables content to be queued up and remotely triggered for users to experience.

VIVE Flow Business Edition also comes with a 30-day trial of VIVE Sync, an interactive meeting tool that the firm says helps boost a user’s presence as well as minimise potential distractions. Users can also bring in helpful content such as videos, 3D models and Microsoft Office items to help in a wide range of use cases.

“VIVE Flow Business Edition is a ground-breaking VR glasses device that will enable healthcare organisations across the US and worldwide to leverage VR capabilities to improve patients’ lives,” commented Eran Orr, CEO of XRHealth.

VIVE Flow Business Edition also boasts an easy form factor and flexibility, the company says. Weighing less than the average smartphone, the glasses manage to pack in features such as adjustable diopter lenses for each eye, while the magnetic face gasket is made of a light and breathable fabric.

Jonathan Newth, CEO of Focal Point VR, said these features make the VIVE Flow headset the “ideal companion” for his VR business.

''The lightweight and easy-to-use form factor and great colour depth displays make it the perfect headset for remote viewers to comfortably ''virtually' teleport to live events or to enjoy long-form on-demand 360 video content from live events and sports,” he said.

The move follows research by global consultancy company PwC, which found that VR significantly helped with training and learning when compared with classroom-based training.

“V-learners were 4 times more focused during training than their e-learning peers and 1.5 times more focused than their classroom colleagues,” the research firm concluded.

VIVE Flow Business Edition is available for £499 via the company’s website and comes with VIVE Business Warranty & Services, which includes a two-year commercial warranty and expedited return/replacement if needed.