Amazon is Planning the Next Big Leap in VR with 5G Internet

Amazon wants to make VR WAY faster.

According to roadtovr.com, Amazon has been promising the fastest streaming speeds with its new online platform, coming to Amazon Web Services. They call it "wavelength", and it's slated to be the best possible streaming platform.

Wavelength, according it an Amazon blog, uses what they are calling "edge computing" to cut down on the latency problems most over-the-web streaming services have.

Edge computing refers to a unique way two computers communicate over a network. Rather than data going over the internet, and having to pass through several data centers and checkpoints to send data over the web, Edge computing simply passes the data over from one single computer to another through a 5G network. This drastically cuts down on syncing and latency issues, since data on Wavelength doesn't have to pass through 4 or 5 checkpoints to get to the user.

Today, application traffic has to travel from a device to a cell tower to metro aggregation sites to regional aggregation sites and to the Internet before it can access resources running in AWS. These network hops can result in latencies of more than 100 milliseconds. This prevents developers from realizing the full potential of 5G to address low-latency use-cases [...] Wavelength addresses these problems by bringing AWS services to the edge of the 5G network, minimizing the latency to connect to an application from a mobile device. […] [Wavelength] allows developers to build the next generation of ultra-low latency applications using the familiar AWS services, APIs, and tools they already use today—eliminating the need for developers to negotiate for space and equipment with multiple telecommunications providers, and stitch together application deployment and operations through different management interfaces, before they can begin to deploy their applications.

One of the "low-latency use cases" Amazon is referring to is VR, and Amazon has had some very out-there ideas when it comes to ways of implementing it. Back in 2017, Amazon Prime video started including VR movies and TV shows into its subscription-based service. Not only that, but Amazon has also been talking about a VR shopping experience for its online store.