MigrationVRHosting

Migrating Virtual Workspace Customers Off Proprietary VR Platforms: A Hosting Migration Playbook

ssitehost

2026-02-06

11 min read

Step-by-step playbook for moving virtual workspace customers off proprietary VR platforms into open standards or 2D cloud-hosted alternatives.

Facing a shutdown? How to move your virtual workspace off proprietary VR platforms without breaking workflows

If your business relies on a proprietary VR platform for meetings, training, or customer experiences—and that vendor just announced end-of-life or reduced commercial support—you have two urgent problems: keep users productive today, and reclaim control of your assets and identity data tomorrow. In early 2026 the market shifted hard: major vendors reduced enterprise VR offerings and pushed customers toward open standards or 2D fallbacks. This playbook gives a step-by-step migration plan for moving customers off proprietary VR services into open-standard WebXR or a 2D cloud-hosted alternative under your control.

Executive summary — what to do first

Do this first: run a rapid inventory, export everything you can, and stage a fallback UX so users aren’t disrupted. Then put identity and data migration on a short timeline, and design hosting with CDN+edge for low-latency realtime and static asset delivery. Use CI/CD and automated tests to make cutover repeatable and safe.

"Meta has made the decision to discontinue Workrooms as a standalone app, effective February 16, 2026." — public vendor notice, Jan 2026

Why this matters in 2026

Late 2025 and early 2026 saw consolidation in enterprise VR: large vendors curtailed dedicated commercial VR services, and enterprises are reacting by choosing either open standards (OpenXR/WebXR/glTF) or robust 2D fallback apps (PWA, SPA) hosted in their cloud. The risk of vendor lock-in has become a board-level concern. Your migration needs to deliver:

Continuity — minimal downtime and immediate fallback UX.
Portability — data and assets you can reuse across platforms.
Control — identities, billing, SLAs under your governance.

Overview of the migration plan (high level)

Assess & prioritize: inventory assets, users, integrations.
Export & archive: extract 3D assets, logs, chat history, user metadata.
Transform & store: convert proprietary formats to glTF/GLB/FBX as needed and store in S3-compatible buckets behind CDN.
Recreate identity flows: map SSO, permissions, and roles into your IdP.
Design hosting & realtime: choose WebRTC, WebSocket, or server-rendered streaming for low latency.
Implement CI/CD and testing: automated asset pipelines and canary deployments.
Cutover with DNS & fallback UX: staged DNS, feature flags, rollback plans.
SLA & monitoring: define SLOs, observability, incident runbooks.

Step 1 — Inventory & prioritization (48–72 hours)

Start with two lists: a technical inventory and a business-impact matrix.

Technical inventory

3D assets (models, textures, animations) and their file types.
Persistent user data (accounts, avatars, preferences).
Real-time systems (voice, spatial audio, presence, physics).
Integrations (HR systems, SSO, LMS, analytics).
Logs and compliance records (retention needs).

Business-impact matrix

Critical: production meeting rooms, training modules, customer-facing demos.
Important: scheduled events, archived sessions with compliance needs.
Low priority: experimental spaces and personal sandboxes.

This assessment drives the order of migration and your SLA targets.

Step 2 — Data export & formats

Export everything you can from the proprietary platform via vendor APIs or admin consoles. If the vendor is winding down, prioritize exports you can't later reconstruct: user export, transaction logs, and asset files.

Export checklist

Users: full profiles, unique IDs, email addresses, role mappings.
Assets: models, textures, animations, audio files, original source files.
Sessions: recordings, chat logs, telemetry, meeting timestamps.
Permissions: space-level access controls, ACLs.
Billing & subscriptions: invoices and entitlement records.

Preferred formats

glTF / GLB — industry-preferred for realtime 3D on the web. Use this where possible.
FBX, USDZ — legacy exchange formats; keep copies for compatibility.
Standard audio formats (OGG/Opus, AAC) and images (PNG, JPEG, KTX2 for compressed textures).
JSON/CSV for user metadata and logs.

If the vendor only gives you proprietary blobs, plan a reverse-engineering step to extract mesh and texture data. Document every conversion with checksums and automated tests.

Step 3 — Data transformation and hosting

Once exported, convert assets into production-ready formats and store them in object storage with CDN distribution. This reduces latency and improves cacheability for both WebXR clients and 2D fallbacks.

Storage & CDN pattern

S3-compatible buckets for raw and processed assets (versioned).
Edge CDN (Fastly, Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront) for delivery of GLB, KTX2, and streaming segments.
Immutable object path naming with content hashes: /assets/{sha256}.{ext}

Example: upload a GLB and serve via CDN

# Upload with AWS CLI
aws s3 cp avatar.glb s3://my-company-assets/avatars/avatar-abc123.glb --acl private
# Invalidate CDN and set public URL via signed URL for auth'd access

Step 4 — Identity & user management migration

Preserve user identities and roles. The typical pattern is to map vendor user IDs to your Identity Provider (IdP) using an immutable externalId. For enterprises, SAML or OIDC is the norm.

Core tasks

Export user records and map vendor IDs to externalId.
Provision users in your IdP (Okta/Auth0/Keycloak) with role mappings.
Implement account linking UX so users authenticate to your IdP the first time they visit the new app.
Support fallback: invite-by-email flows for users not in your directory.

Example of a mapping record (JSON):

{
  "vendorId": "vr-vendor-1234",
  "externalId": "okta|00u1abcdEXAMPLE",
  "email": "alice@example.com",
  "roles": ["trainer","host"]
}

Step 5 — Architecture choices: open standards vs 2D fallback

Decide whether to rebuild as WebXR/OpenXR-first or provide a robust 2D alternative. Many organizations adopt a hybrid approach: a WebXR client for capable devices and a 2D PWA for everyone else.

WebXR/Open standards path

Use WebXR + WebGL/WebGPU for browser-native VR experiences.
Serve glTF/GLB assets from CDN and use progressive loading.
Realtime: WebRTC for low-latency voice/video; WebSocket or WebTransport for state sync.
Consider server-side rendering for heavy scenes using GPU instances (NVIDIA/AMD cloud) and stream to clients (similar to cloud gaming).

2D fallback / PWA path

Single Page App (React/Vue/Svelte) with responsive UI mapping VR concepts to 2D workflows.
Use spatial audio rendering libraries so audio context remains familiar.
Implement session recording playback, chat transcripts, and shared whiteboards.

Step 6 — Integration: realtime, APIs, and messaging

Your platform will need a realtime backbone and well-documented APIs for integrations.

Realtime patterns

WebRTC for audio/video and optional data channels for small state updates.
WebSocket or WebTransport for high-frequency state sync (positions, transforms).
Message brokers (Redis Streams, Kafka) for server-side event distribution and replay.

Design your API so legacy integrations can still pull data. Provide both REST and event-stream endpoints.

Step 7 — CI/CD, automated asset pipelines & testing

Automate conversions, builds, and deployments so rolling back is safe and repeatable.

CI/CD roles

Asset pipeline job: validates and converts 3D assets and runs visual diff tests.
App pipeline: builds WebXR client and PWA, runs linters, unit and integration tests.
Deployment pipeline: runs canary deploys, smoke tests, and blue/green switches.

Sample GitHub Actions snippet (deployment step):

name: Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Build
        run: npm ci && npm run build
      - name: Upload assets
        run: |
          aws s3 sync ./dist s3://my-company-assets/site --delete
      - name: Invalidate CDN
        run: aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id ${{ secrets.CDN_ID }} --paths "/*"

Automated tests

Unit tests for UI and server logic.
Integration tests for SSO and provisioning flows.
End-to-end smoke tests: login, join session, playback, asset load under simulated latency.

For WebXR, add device emulation and headless rendering checks in your CI to assert scene load and asset integrity. Use visual regression tools for rendered frames.

Step 8 — DNS, traffic cutover, and fallback UX

Plan DNS and traffic cutover carefully. A staged approach with feature flags gives you control and a rollback path.

DNS best practices

Lower TTL for affected records to 60–300 seconds a few days before cutover.
Use CNAMEs for easy target swap with CDN or load balancer.
Consider split-horizon DNS if you need to route specific subnets to legacy systems during transition.

Fallback UX considerations

When a VR client is unavailable, redirect users to a PWA that preserves session context (meeting ID, room bookmark).
Provide guided tours and short-run training modules for users switching to 2D workflows.
Implement a clear account-linking flow on first login to map vendor identities.

Example: JavaScript feature detection for WebXR and fallback:

if (navigator.xr && await navigator.xr.isSessionSupported('immersive-vr')) {
  // Load WebXR experience
} else {
  // Load 2D PWA fallback
}

Step 9 — SLA, monitoring, and incident response

Define SLOs and have monitoring and runbooks in place before cutover.

Suggested SLA / SLO metrics

Availability: 99.95% for critical endpoints (control plane), 99.9% for CDN asset delivery.
Latency: p95 API response under 250ms; end-to-end session join under 2s for local regions.
Recovery: RTO under 30 minutes for control-plane outages, RPO under 5 minutes for session state persistence.

Monitoring & alerting

Metrics: Prometheus for server metrics, CDN analytics for cache hit ratios.
Tracing: distributed traces with OpenTelemetry to find slow RPCs.
Logging: structured logs sent to ELK/Opensearch for quick queries.
On-call runbooks: for authentication failures, asset-serving outages, and realtime broker lag.

Step 10 — User migration and change management

Migration is also a people problem. Good communications and support reduce friction.

Communication playbook

Announce early with clear timelines and what to expect.
Provide migration slots and dedicated support (chat, webinars, office hours).
Offer an opt-in pilot with heavy users for 2–4 weeks to gather feedback.

Provide a secure deletion or archive option to respect user privacy and compliance.

Testing & verification checklist before cutover

All exported assets validate (glTF validator) and render in dev browsers.
User identity mapping tested with a sample cohort.
Session join times meet SLAs under simulated load.
Fallback UX retains session context and chat history.
Runbook tested with a simulated incident and on-call rotation.

Sample migration timeline (8–12 weeks)

Week 0–1: Inventory, export, emergency fallback setup.
Week 2–3: Asset conversion pipeline and object storage/CDN setup.
Week 4: Identity mapping and account-linking flows development.
Week 5–6: Build WebXR and PWA clients; integration with realtime backbone.
Week 7: Pilot with a small user group, run incident drills.
Week 8–9: Gradual rollout with DNS staging and canary deployments.
Week 10–12: Full cutover, post-mortem, and SLA tuning.

Advanced strategies & 2026 predictions

Expect these trends through 2026 and beyond:

Open standards dominance: WebXR and OpenXR compatibility will be non-negotiable for new solutions. Favor glTF and KTX2 for efficient asset delivery.
Edge + cloud hybrid rendering: For highly detailed scenes, server-rendered streams with low-latency codecs will be common.
AI-assisted migrations: Automated converters that repair meshes and remap materials will speed asset transitions — expect tools and edge AI helpers to appear.
2D-first resiliency: Many orgs will treat 2D PWAs as the canonical client to guarantee continuity in case specialized hardware loses vendor support.

Case example: migrating a 500-user training workspace

Summary: a mid-sized enterprise moved from vendor-locked VR rooms to a hybrid WebXR + PWA approach in 10 weeks. Key wins:

Exported 2.4k assets and converted to glTF; CDN cache hit rate reached 98%.
Account-linking reduced support tickets by 60% within 2 weeks.
Canary deployment caught a realtime broker memory leak, prevented large-scale outage.

Lessons learned: start with a small pilot, and automate conversions early.

Quick reference: minimal tech stack

Hosting: Kubernetes or managed containers + GPU nodes when needed. See devops playbooks for examples.
Storage: S3-compatible buckets, VPC endpoints.
CDN: Edge provider with WebSocket support and HTTP/3.
Realtime: WebRTC + TURN, Redis/Kafka for event distribution.
Identity: OIDC/SAML IdP (Okta, Keycloak, Auth0).
CI/CD: GitHub Actions/GitLab CI, container registry, Terraform for infra.
Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry.

Takeaways — making the migration low-risk

Prioritize continuity: get a usable fallback in place first.
Export early: vendor exits accelerate; keep copies of everything.
Automate conversion and testing: repeatability beats ad-hoc scripts.
Design for phased cutover: DNS TTL, canaries, and feature flags are your friends.
Measure and commit to SLOs: SLAs must be realistic and verifiable.

Final checklist (30-minute rapid audit)

Have you exported user data and assets into a versioned S3 bucket?
Do you have a working PWA fallback that preserves session context?
Are identity mappings tested for at least 10 pilot users?
Is your CDN configured with proper cache-control and HTTP/3 enabled?
Do you have monitoring, alerts, and an incident runbook ready?

Need hands-on help?

Migrating virtual workspaces off proprietary VR platforms is a multi-disciplinary effort: infrastructure, realtime engineering, identity, and change management all matter. If you want a migration runbook tailored to your fleet size and regulatory needs, we can provide an audit and a timeline with costs and resource breakdowns.

Call to action: Schedule a migration assessment with our team to get a custom 8–12 week plan, SLA templates, and an automated asset conversion pipeline you can run in your cloud.

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