Category Archives: GE

AWS, GE, Intel, Internet of Things, IoT, Microsoft, News & Analysis

IoT revenues grow to $6.7bn in Q4 2015

Development projectA new study from Technology Business Research (TBR) has found IoT’s revenues have grown to $6.7 billion over the course of Q4.

The research, which focused on the industry’s largest IoT players, including AWS, GE, Google, Intel and Microsoft amongst others, highlighted strong year-on-year growth as tier one vendors aim to drive profits in a relatively open marketplace. A lack of competition, high-profits and immature regulations/standards, are driving IoT up the priority list for tier one vendors currently.

“Effectively, every type of IT and operational technology (OT) vendor will have a stake in the growing commercial IoT market, as IoT solutions will drive increased use of diverse IT and OT products and services,” said TBR Devices and IoT Analyst Dan Callahan. “In addition to building interest in established IT products, commercial IoT will create growth in specialized business consulting, hardware, network, development, management and security components.

“IT and OT vendors that are quick to capture IoT opportunities within their current customer base, and attract new ones through developer programs and investing in growing mindshare, will enjoy additional, immediate, revenue opportunities.”

The ongoing adoption of cloud computing and the increasing pressure to capitalize on the growing amount of data available to organizations, were highlighted as drivers for the adoption of the technology, as customers aim to increase operational efficiency and the effectiveness of the decision making process. TBR believes the 21 benchmarked companies are gaining an advantage in the attractive IoT market due mainly to minimized competition. A lack of standards and security concerns around the technology has set a high barrier to entry for tech companies, though there is a healthy value chain in which smaller organizations can capitalize.

North America is seen as the leading region to integrate IoT and develop an early adopter community, accounting for just over 40% of the activity. APAC and CALA represented 24.8% and 5.5% of the market, respectively, whereas EMEA accounted for the majority of the remainder.

Big Data, data analytics, GE, GE Digital, News & Analysis

GE launches asset management offering for manufacturing industry

Engine manufactoringGE Digital has launched its suite of its suite of Asset Performance Management (APM) solutions, a cloud-based offering running on its Predix platform, to monitor industrial and manufacturing equipment and software.

The company claims industrial customers can now use data and cloud-based analytics to improve the reliability and availability of their GE and non-GE assets. While APM would generally not be considered a concept, GE claims its offering is the first commercially available to support the industrial data generated by a company’s assets, both physical and software based.

The launch builds on underlying IoT trends within the industrial and manufacturing industry to move towards a proactive performance strategy for their assets, repairing said assets before a maintenance issue as opposed to reacting to a fault.

“GE’s deep expertise in developing and servicing machines for industry gives us a greater understanding of real business operations and the insights to deliver on industry needs,” said Derek Porter, GM for Predix Applications at GE Digital. “With the launch of our APM solutions suite, GE is commercialising its own best practices for customers.”

The offering is split into three tiers. Firstly, a machine and equipment health reporting system will provide a health-check on the asset, detailing performance levels in real-time. Secondly, a reliability tool predicts potential problems within an asset, allowing engineers to schedule maintenance activities. And finally, a maintenance optimization tool will be available later in 2016 to optimize long-term maintenance strategies, which GE claim will enable customers to increase the lifecycle of the asset and reduce downtime.

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The company also launched the generally available module of GE Digital’s Brilliant Manufacturing software suite, Efficiency Analyzer, which will be available through a new SaaS pricing model. Once again, the product offering is built on the need to analyse and activate data collected within manufacturing operations, to improve operational efficiency. One of the first use cases advertised by the company has been within its own transportation division.

“GE’s Brilliant Manufacturing Suite has enabled significant reduction in unplanned machine downtime resulting in higher plant efficiency,” said Bryce Poland, Advanced Manufacturing Brilliant Factory Leader, GE Transportation. “As part of our digital thread strategy, we will increase our machines and materials visibility by 400% in 2016.”

GE, Harel Kodesh, Internet of Things, IoT, Jeffrey Immelt, News & Analysis, Pitney Bowes, Predix

GE reveals Predix-based cloud for industrial Internet of Things applications

GE is launching a cloud service aimed at industrial IoT

GE is launching a cloud service aimed at industrial IoT

GE has launched a cloud service based on its industrial equipment monitoring and analytics platform, Predix, which it is aiming at industrial IoT applications in most of the verticals it already serves – aviation, manufacturing, automotive, energy and healthcare.

The cloud service will hoover up and analyse data generated by IoT sensors embedded in industrial equipment and can use the insights to optimise operations and proactively manage the equipment’s health by suggesting tailored maintenance regimes, whether an energy infrastructure asset or a jet engine.

While GE has offered these kinds of services for years this is the first time it has decided to offer them directly via the cloud to customers. The company is pitching Predix as an on-demand “cloud platform for the industrial internet.”

“Cloud computing has enabled incredible innovation across the consumer world. With Predix Cloud, GE is providing a new level of service and results across the industrial world,” said Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of GE.

“A more digital hospital means better, faster healthcare. A more digital manufacturing plant means more products are made faster. A more digital oil company means better asset management and more productivity at every well. We look forward to partnering with our customers to develop customized solutions that will help transform their business,” he said.

The service includes a range of tools to help customers manage security, compliance and data governance, and GE claims that it can integrate seamless with other services running in on a broad range of cloud platforms.

“A cloud built exclusively to capture and analyse machine data will make unforeseen problems and missed opportunities increasingly a complication of the past,” said Harel Kodesh, vice president, general manager of Predix at GE Software. “GE’s Predix Cloud will unlock an industrial app economy that delivers more value to machines, fleets and factories – and enable a thriving developer community to collaborate and rapidly deploy industrial applications in a highly protected environment.”

The reveal comes less than a month after what was effectively a softer Predix launch. In July GE announced it is partnering with Pitney Bowes to develop a custom asset performance management (APM) application that analyses the data Pitney Bowes generates from its production mailing and shipping machines to improve the efficiency of its equipment. That partnership saw the companies adapt GE’s Predix software analytics platform to its mail handing and shipping environment.

Both companies have already partnered with one another elsewhere in the IoT ecosystem. Pitney Bowes and GE are members of the Industrial Internet Consortium, a membership group of telcos, research institutes and technology manufacturers formed last year and focused on developing interoperability standards and common architectures to bridge smart devices, machines, mobile devices and the data they create.

Enterprise IT, GE, Microsoft, News & Analysis, Nokia, Office 365, Software as a service

Microsoft signs GE in massive cloud deal

General Electric has signed up to use Microsoft's cloud software

General Electric has signed up to use Microsoft’s cloud software

Microsoft announced this week that it has signed up long-time tech partner GE to its cloud-based productivity software in a multimillion dollar deal.

The move will see GE deploy Microsoft’s cloud productivity suite Office 365 to GE’s more than 300,000 employees in 170 countries.

Jamie Miller, senior vice president and chief information officer of GE said: “As we deepen our investments in employee productivity, Microsoft’s innovative approach to collaboration made Office 365 our first choice for providing scalable productivity tools to our employees worldwide.”

GE said it will integrate a number of its line of business applications with Office 365 and deploy cloud-based email and Skype for Business calling and meetings, real-time document co-authoring, and team collaboration.

“Microsoft and GE share many values in common — openness, transparency, data-driven intelligence and innovation — all of which are driving forces behind Microsoft’s own mission to help people and organizations achieve more,” said John Case, corporate vice president of Microsoft Office. “As one of the most innovative companies in the world, GE understands what it takes to unleash the potential of its employees. We’re delighted GE has selected Office 365 as the productivity and collaboration solution to empower its global workforce.”

GE and Microsoft are longtime technology partner. The two companies have even set up a joint venture together – Caradigm, a company that develops and sells a healthcare technology platform for clinical applications and population management.

Nevertheless, the deal comes at a critical time for the company and is in some ways a validation of Microsoft’s goal of turning its business around from a number of strategic stumbles and focusing on its core strengths in software and the cloud. Earlier this month the company reported it would write off its entire Nokia acquisition and shed about 7,800 jobs in the process, mostly from its phone business.

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GE, Pitney Bowes partner on industrial Internet of Things

GE and Pitney Bowes are partnering on industrial IoT

GE and Pitney Bowes are partnering on industrial IoT

GE is partnering with American ecommerce solutions provider Pitney Bowes to develop a custom asset performance management (APM) application that analyses the data Pitney Bowes generates from its production mailing and shipping machines to improve the efficiency of its equipment.

Pitney Bowes handles the automated mailing and shipping for clients like banks and retailers, and will work with GE to adapt its Predix software analytics platform to its mail handing and shipping environment.

The platform will allow Pitney Bowes to hoover up data generated from IoT sensors embedded into mail handling equipment and analyse the information to help improve operational efficiency and capacity planning, as well as proactively identify, diagnose and resolve asset service issues “before the client is even aware” of any problems.

“Our partnership with GE will help accelerate Pitney Bowes’ pace of innovation in combining physical and digital solutions to enable commerce. It is an important step in a series of activities we are pursuing across Pitney Bowes as part of our technology strategy,” said said Roger Pilc, chief innovation officer of Pitney Bowes. “By adding this next generation of data analytics and digital solutions to our hardware products, we will be able to drive more valuable solutions and business outcomes for our clients.”

Jason C. Dies, president of Document Messaging Technologies at Pitney Bowes said: “We see this initiative as potentially transformative to our Production Mail business . ”By gathering digital data from production mail machines, Pitney Bowes can drive compelling business outcomes for our clients.”

Both companies have already partnered with one another elsewhere in the IoT ecosystem. Pitney Bowes and GE are members of the Industrial Internet Consortium, a membership group of telcos, research institutes and technology manufacturers formed last year and focused on developing interoperability standards and common architectures to bridge smart devices, machines, mobile devices and the data they create.

The move comes barely a week after GE ramped up its IoT commitments with NTT Docomo. The two companies agreed to combine GE Digital Energy’s MDS Orbit Platform, a wireless router for industrial equipment, and Docomo’s embedded communication module, which will provide remote access and monitoring capabilities, for industrial IoT applications.

Docomo, GE, Internet of Things, IoT, News & Analysis, NTT

GE, NTT Docomo to form Internet of Things alliance

GE and NTT are jointly developing IoT solutions for industrial applications

GE and NTT are jointly developing IoT solutions for industrial applications

GE Energy Japan and Japanese operator NTT Docomo signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) this week that will see the two companies commit to jointly developing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for industrial uses.

The companies will combine GE Digital Energy’s MDS Orbit Platform, a wireless router for industrial equipment, and Docomo’s embedded communication module, which will provide remote access and monitoring capabilities.

The solution will be capable of monitoring tightly regulated (and hazardous) infrastructure like bridges and electricity, water and gas power plants for fitness and operational productivity.

The data generated by the embedded monitoring sensors will be sent to Docomo’s Toami cloud platform, designed primarily for M2M use cases, and users will be able to manage and analyse the data using strongly authenticated mobile platforms.

GE is an M2M veteran – in aviation and energy it was doing IoT well before the term became en vogue – and NTT Docomo already partners with a number of other technology incumbents embedded in the IoT arena including Panasonic and Jasper Wireless. Its parent, NTT Group, is also fairly active in other IoT initiatives. The company is working with both ARM and Intel on their respective IoT platforms.

Like many in this space the companies are keen to capture a chunk of growing IoT revenues, with the IoT and M2M communications market in particular forecast to swell from $256bn in 2014 to $947bn in 2019 (an estimated 30 per cent CAGR) according to MarketsandMarkets.

BCN and our sister publication Telecoms.com have put together a report on what the industry perceives to be the top benefits and challenges in consumer and industrial IoT. You can download it for free here.