Please note: This article was published on 1st of April 2015. You face an April Fools' Day hoax here.
As we were pondering over the next steps we want to take with PRTG Network Monitor, we soon reached a barrier that seemed insurmountable: the gap between our human perception and the technical and often abstract IT world—from typical network hardware, virtual environments, down to the bits and bytes of data flows. So we've intensified our research into human-computer interaction and after months of development, we're proud to present a first glimpse into what we consider to be the future of unified monitoring: PRTG VR.
Have you ever been jealous of Kevin Flynn in the beloved Disney movie "Tron"? Well, brace yourself as you can now explore the inside of your IT infrastructure and watch the data flow in lifelike virtual reality, almost like Jeff Bridges did in the 1982 sci-fi classic. We're not quite ready yet for a beta test, but want to share with you some reactions the PRTG VR demo has provoked all around Paessler:
"Wow, it's like you're really in there! You feel like you can almost touch individual data streams, and alerts are floating right into your field-of-view. It's so exciting!"
(Sarolta, Marketing)
"At first I thought I was experiencing another video game. Talk about gamification of your work... with this, I would never stop working—I'm having so much fun with it!"
(Andreas, Technical Support)
"The crazy thing is: I was working on certain aspects of PRTG VR, but when I first experienced it—wow! That was like a surreal experience."
(Daniel, PRTG Development)
The next steps in this project contain augmented reality (AR) features, which will allow you to look at a piece of physical hardware while information on data flow and bandwidth is directly visualized in a layer on top of the real-life video feed. Also you’ll be able to meet with other admins in a virtual environment and collaborate on solving issues although you might be at different sites of your company. We’re sure this will take immersive monitoring to the next level!
Right now we're working on a release for Oculus Rift and also will expand our iOS and Android Apps with VR Features you'll be able to use with low-cost headsets like, for example, Google Cardboard. Although we know the wait for PRTG VR will be tough, meanwhile you can still have a great monitoring experience with PRTG Network Monitor and its classic clear and concise 2D user interface... :)