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Why we rebuilt Holoconnects from the ground up as an AI-native company

AI changed the world. So we rebuilt Holoconnects around it: the same proven Holobox, a smaller team but a bigger output, now run on an AI operating layer, with AI built into the products themselves. We believe hologram hardware is still too expensive, and cutting overhead the AI-native way is how we bring the price down.

By Andre Smith, Co-founderPublished 15 September 2026

The Holoconnects product line: life-size hologram displays, rebuilt around an AI-native operating model.

AI changed the world in a few short years. It changed how people find suppliers, how a lobby greets a guest, and how a small team can operate like a much larger one. When Holoconnects continued under new ownership, we did not simply restart the old company. We rebuilt it from the ground up as an AI-native business, so that the technology reshaping our customers' world also runs our own.

We believe AI is here, and here to stay. Not to replace people, but to support them and make hard processes simple. That belief is the foundation of the company we are building: an AI-native-first organisation, where people stay in charge of the work that matters and technology carries the weight underneath.

This is what that means in practice, and why it makes us a stronger, faster, more reliable partner than before.

What we kept, and what we rebuilt

We kept what was proven: the product. The Holobox line works in the field, from the compact Mini to the life-size 86-inch display and the modular Hologrid wall. Under new ownership, with Filigree Labs B.V. carrying the continuity, the product roadmap stayed intact. The latest proof is The IRIS, launched in September 2026.

What we rebuilt is the operating layer: the connective tissue between a first enquiry and a live deployment. In the old company that layer was manual. Today it is run by AI.

An AI operating layer runs the business

Our operating model is simple to state: humans in, agents out. People do the work that people do best, the demos and the decisions and the relationships. AI agents do the rest, day and night.

Agents handle lead qualification, draft quotations, follow up on open offers, reconcile incoming payments against invoices, keep the books categorised, and report on the pipeline. Nothing customer-facing goes out without a person reviewing it first, so speed never comes at the cost of judgement. The result is a smaller team producing a bigger output: a company that responds in minutes rather than days, stays consistent across every enquiry, and never lets a follow-up slip.

For you, that is the point. An AI-native back office means the human time we have goes where it matters: understanding your use case and getting your deployment right.

Why we did it: holograms have to get cheaper

We will say plainly what most of our industry will not: hologram hardware is still too expensive. For holographic presence to reach the hotels, hospitals, campuses and stores that would benefit from it, the price has to come down, and not by a little.

The biggest lever on that price is overhead. A company that carries heavy manual operations has to price that weight into every unit it sells. By running our operating layer on AI, we carry far less overhead, and we are set up to put that saving where it counts: the cost of the hardware. Lower overhead is not an internal efficiency story. It is how we intend to make holograms affordable, and it is the reason we went AI-native.

AI in the products, not just the back office

The same shift runs through what we put in front of your visitors. The AI Hologram is an interactive, life-size holographic character that greets, answers and routes. IRIS OS is the control plane that lets you switch a screen live between pre-recorded content, a live human on a two-way call, and managed AI agents, across a whole fleet from one browser.

The IRIS appliance brings that stack to the edge of any install: one stack for a Holobox, a TV, Holofans, or any display. A holographic greeter is one form of a managed agent; a voice-only agent that books and routes while the screen shows your content is another. Same stack, updated and monitored centrally.

New ownership, proven track record

AI-native does not mean untested. Holoconnects has named deployments in production today: CIC Hospitality in a rollout planned for 30 hotels in Scandinavia, Crescent Regional Hospital as the first US hospital offering holographic patient consultations, the UN's ITC-ILO for holographic training, and brand activations for BMW, ING and Aiden by Best Western.

We are trusted by organisations that range from United Nations agencies to some of the world's biggest brands. New ownership brought continuity, not disruption. Support and delivery are handled by the current Holoconnects team, and the products you already run keep working and keep improving.

What this means for you

You get a supplier built for how the world works now: a proven hologram product, a team that has shipped it for years, and an AI operating layer that makes the whole company faster and more reliable to work with.

Want to see it? Book a demo, explore the products, or read the IRIS OS platform story.

Want to see the Holobox in person?

Book a live demo at our Culemborg studio or via a remote holographic call, see transparent pricing, or explore the Holobox range.