Major Players in Enterprise Wearables: Interview with Rochester Optical

Today, we will hear from Rochester Optical, a company whose Smart Solutions initiatives have taken the wearable world by storm and enabled smart glasses to infiltrate a wide range of industries. We sent over some questions to Rochester. Check out their answers below!

BrainXchange (Q): Can you provide us with some background on Rochester Optical? What kind of company is Rochester and what products, services, or expertise does Rochester offer?

Rochester (A): Rochester Optical is not your standard optical company. We have a long history of traditional frame and lens manufacturing for the military, wholesale and retail markets; but we are also forging a new frontier by engineering optical products designed specifically for smart glasses. We’re applying our optical expertise to the user-experience problems smart glasses pose, and we’re coming up with innovative products and solutions.

BrainXchange: What is Rochester doing with wearable technology? How is Rochester contributing to bringing wearables into the enterprise?

Rochester: We entered the wearable space when Google Glass launched their Explorer program. By looking at the device from an optical standpoint, we identified design deficiencies in terms of style, comfort, and visual acuity. Almost instantly, our smart product strategy was born; and we started rapid development on our patented Smart GOLD™ prescription lenses and fashion frames.

As smart glasses began gaining more traction in enterprise settings, we saw another optical opportunity in wearables: Safety. The devices are not safety rated on their own and conventional safety glasses are not compatible with smart glasses.Through our relationships with both device manufacturers and software developers, we quickly learned that companies could not move from pilot to deployment without safety solutions; so we launched the first and only Z87+ -rated* safety shield for Google Glass in March, and continue to develop optical products that remove barriers to scaling smart glasses in the workplace.

[* For those of you who may be unfamiliar: ANSI Z87.1 is the governing standard in the U.S. for protective eyewear intended for industrial or occupational use. In its regulations OSHA specifically cites the ANSI standard as the minimum performance requirement for protective eyewear. Z87+ refers to high-impact standard glasses (as opposed to basic impact), which must pass a more stringent set of tests.]

BrainXchange: What specific products does Rochester develop in connection with the enterprise wearables market? Which enterprise needs does Rochester’s offerings meet or address?

Rochester: Most smart glasses adoption is happening in the enterprise sector, and the industries that benefit most from the technology include manufacturing, field service, and logistics. These industries value safety just as much as they value technology and its resultant productivity improvements, so we build products that allow for the best of both worlds.

2/3 people require some sort of visual correction, which is a reality across industries. Glancing up at a heads-up display or through the fixed PD of a smart device puts unusual strain on your eyes even with perfect vision or contacts.

Employees view the smart glasses display frequently and for a long duration; therefore, in addition to safety, visual acuity and comfort are critical. Smart GOLD prescription lenses enable employees who wear glasses to utilize the technology, and optimizing the user experience yields the best overall results.

BrainXchange: Can you go into Rochester’s Smart Solutions initiatives? What makes Smart GOLD lenses special? How did you achieve industrial safety-rated products? Etc.

Rochester: Smart GOLD is a patented, digital free-form lens design that optimizes zones specific to the particular smart glasses display. Recognizing the unique optical challenges posed by smart glasses with heads-up, heads-down, or in-the-line-of-sight displays, we were able to dissect the visual problems and produce a lens solution.

Using a standard prescription lens in place of Smart GOLD will allow a user to see through their lens to natural surroundings as normal, but will cause visual problems when the wearer looks at the display (weather HUD, HDD, or in-the-line of sight). By creating an additional, optimized optical center where the HUD is viewed and compensating to balance binocular vision, Smart GOLD eliminates prismatic effect and off-axis aberrations, providing continuous, comfortable visual acuity.

Designing shields and safety glasses that can be used with smart glasses to make them Z87 compliant is both a priority and a challenge. The key components to any of our safety designs are function, comfort, fashion, and user experience, so we strive for easy-mount designs that look cool, feel comfortable, and get the job done. Step 1 is always assessing what about the existing device does not meet the standards, and step 2 is figuring out what we can add to make it work.

BrainXchange: How does Rochester interact or partner with the other players in the enterprise wearables “solution stack” – hardware manufacturers, software and app developers, network providers, end users, etc. – to provide complete solutions to enterprises?

Rochester: We maintain close relationships with everyone in the space. Being device-agnostic and focusing on optical product, we see ourselves as one piece to a much larger puzzle where we all play our part. The more products and information out there that focuses on removing barriers to mass smart glasses adoption the better.

One challenge has been formalizing this process of supplying a complete solution to the end user. With so many players, moving parts and open questions, a complete solution filtered through one supplier is next to impossible. Events like EWTS are critical at this juncture where solutions exist in silos. As we continue to educate and develop and invest in this space with the common goal of taking workplace wearables to the next level, valuable solutions will reach the end users and lead to scalable adoption.

BrainXchange: What do you see as Rochester Optical’s role in the enterprise wearables space in the future?

Rochester: We’re the optical experts in wearable technology. We will continue producing prescription and safety products designed to enhance the smart glasses user experience and plan to grow as wearable adoption grows. We believe in smart glasses and we see massive potential already being explored; and we’re way ahead of the curve when it comes to the optical solutions required to scale.