The Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA) Podcast

Turning Complexity into Clarity: Reimagining 3D Development

In this episode, AREA Executive Director Mark Sage chats with Alicia Caputo, CEO of Avrio Analytics and Founder of SpaXial, a startup that produces a 3D development environment.
Alicia shares how her team is redefining enterprise AR by leveraging AI to drive tangible business outcomes. With roots in public safety and defense, SpaXial’s technology integrates real-time data into 3D environments—enabling decision-makers to interact with critical information spatially and intuitively. From situational awareness in smart cities to mission-critical planning, Alicia emphasizes that AR isn’t just about augmentation—it’s about action. She also dives into the challenges of scaling AR solutions in traditionally risk-averse sectors and how SpaXial addresses them through modular, standards-based platforms.
A passionate advocate for cross-industry collaboration, Alicia explains why Avrio Analytics joined the AREA and what the ecosystem must do to move from prototypes to production. This is a must-listen for anyone building AR to solve high-stakes problems. Sign up for the beta at SpaXial.ai.Image from SpaXial.ai.Please visit the AREA.

Hands-Free, Future Ready: Empowering the Industrial Workforce

In this episode, AR for Enterprise Alliance Executive Director Mark Sage sits down with Kristen Naeini, RealWear's Head of Sales for the Americas. RealWear is a leading force in voice-enabled, wearable technology for frontline workers. Kristen shares her personal journey from engineering into enterprise XR, and how RealWear’s mission is rooted in enabling safer, more efficient work environments—especially in challenging industrial settings. Her insights underscore the power of AR/XR when delivered hands-free and heads-up, supporting use cases from oil rigs to factory floors.
Kristen also talks about the value of industry collaboration, common standards, and shared learning. She highlights the convergence of AI and AR to drive intelligent assistance in real time. She calls for the industry to double down on user-centric design, interoperability, and educating customers about practical, scalable deployments—not just flashy demos.Video still from the RealWear website.Please visit the AREA.

Beyond the Headset: Making XR Work for the Enterprise

In this episode, AREA Executive Director Mark Sage chats with Troy Wood, Executive Director of Marketing at HTC.
Troy shares what fuels his passion for XR and why he sees the AREA as a critical force in shaping the industry’s future. He reflects on HTC’s leadership role and emphasizes how collaboration through AREA helps address real barriers to enterprise XR adoption—like standardization, awareness, and ecosystem maturity.
As the new chair of the AREA Marketing Committee, Troy outlines a clear mission: spotlight enterprise success stories, foster deeper collaboration, and elevate XR’s profile across industries. He also shares what it will take to keep XR innovation alive—continued education, aligned messaging, and a community-wide push to move from pilot projects to real-world impact.
Image still from Vive.com video "HTC VIVE at MWC 2025"Please visit the AREA.

Bridging XR Research and Industry Impact

In this episode, AR for Enterprise Alliance Executive Director Mark Sage sits down with Edgar Rojas, Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University, and a passionate advocate for extended reality (XR) as the interface of the future. Edgar shares how his work at the intersection of the College of Performance Visualization and Fine Arts and the Laboratory for Ocean Innovation is redefining how augmented, virtual, and mixed reality can move from academic concepts into real-world industrial application.
Backed by industry partners like the American Bureau of Shipping, Rojas and his students are diving into user experience design, technical capability testing, and practical deployment scenarios that aim to take XR out of the lab and into the hands of everyday users. Whether it's helping a local business owner or equipping enterprise operations, the message is clear: immersive tech isn’t just for tech companies — it’s a tool for everyone.Image from the Texas A&M website for the Laboratory of Ocean Innovation.Please visit the AREA.

How XR Innovation Powers Enterprise Transformation

In this episode, AR for Enterprise Alliance executive director Mark Sage chats with with Shelley Peterson, Founder & CEO of Wizard Wells. Shelley shares hard-won insights from her time driving immersive technology adoption at Lockheed Martin and now advising startups and enterprises on XR strategy. She breaks down what it really takes to scale XR solutions—from overcoming skepticism and aligning with mission-critical outcomes to fostering cross-functional collaboration and technical readiness.  Shelley offers a roadmap for companies ready to move beyond pilots and into production-grade XR, while calling out key challenges, cultural shifts, and the power of storytelling in change management.Please visit the AREA.

Collaboration: A Catalyst for Enterprise AR Adoption

In this episode, AR for Enterprise Alliance executive director Mark Sage chats with Mark Knowles-Lee, CEO of Fracture Reality. Fracture Reality develops JoinXR, a collaboration platform for AR headsets used in manufacturing, engineering, and a variety of enterprise applications. Knowles-Lee discusses the evolution of spatial collaboration and how it is redefining enterprise productivity. He describes emerging ways to empower enterprises with intuitive AR solutions that improve productivity. He also walks through the challenges of implementing enterprise AR today, such as security, training, and interoperability across OSs and devices, and says that he believes the barriers are coming down.
He concludes by offering advice to organizations starting on their enterprise AR journey. This is a must-listen for anyone interested in the practical, scalable future of enterprise XR.
Image from Fracture Reality's web page for the JoinXR spatial computing platform.
Please visit the AREA.

The Future is Generative: Reimagining Innovation and Intelligence Towards 2040

In this episode, OMG Chairman & CEO Bill Hoffman chats with Gan Wang, VP Systems Engineering Ecosystem, at Dassault Systèmes. Gan walks through his organization's vision for the Generative Economy, a technology roadmap for a 3D universe to be realized by 2040. The universe will combine modeling and simulation techniques based on real world evidence and data with AI-generated content.
Gan explains that in this Industrial Metaverse, AI will digest large amounts of data and synthesize the highlights across vertical markets. The early capabilities are already emerging in test environments, in industries such as mobility, infrastructure, and healthcare.  Gan describes the two pillars of AI services in development at Dassault, including experiences generated by AI and virtual companions, AI based agents that assist professionals in their daily work. He also encourages technologists to get involved in consortium work, citing the influence of standards such as SysML v2 on industrial applications.Image from Dassault Systèmes website, 
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A Winning Playbook for Enterprise AR: Challenges, Use Cases & Outcomes

In this edition, AREA Executive Director Mark Sage chats with Ryan Orwoll, VP Product Management of the Vuforia Enterprise AR Group at PTC.
Ryan breaks down how enterprises are turning augmented reality (AR) into real business wins, despite ongoing challenges such as integration complexity and change management.
The conversation dives into high-impact use cases across manufacturing, field service, and training, showing where AR is driving efficiency, accuracy, and ROI. Please visit thearea.org.

Insights from the XR-5G Frontier

In this edition, AREA Executive Director Mark Sage chats with Alex Taylor, CEO of Net4. They discuss how Net4 is enabling XR use cases across industries by partnering with 5G providers to deliver secure, low-latency solutions over both public and private networks.
Despite the clear benefits of combining XR and 5G-like improved performance and immersive experiences, widespread deployment is lagging due to coverage gaps, device limitations, and integration challenges. Please visit thearea.org.

Insights for Finding the Value in AR/XR

In this episode, AREA Executive Director Mark Sage chats with AR/XR expert Dr. Brent Dingle, Applied Research Engineer and Consultant at Raytheon, an RTX Company.
Brent describes how the XR work of his team is helping to drive Raytheon's vision. He talks about lessons he's learned to overcome challenges in AR implementations, such as how to successfully incorporate change.
Brent discusses insights he has gained over time, such as the patience required to find the value in AR, and offers advice to organizations launching their initial AR efforts. Please visit thearea.org.