There has been quite a significant announcement related to Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet technologies, one that line of business, product management and manufacturing focused teams should pay close attention to.
General Electric announced that it will partner with Microsoft in uniting their Cloud computing and analytics technologies in a partnership that will bring GE’s Predix platform for the Industrial Internet to businesses running on Microsoft Azure. The parties indicate in the joint announcement that the combination of Predix with Azure will bridge GE’s industrial equipment and digital expertise in industry and manufacturing, and Microsoft’s forte in information technology. From the lens of this analyst, there are far more implications related to the all-important selection of a technology platform to power IoT initiatives.
This latest announcement bears significance because of selection of Microsoft itself. It is no secret that Microsoft technology has over the years become a dominant integrating technology within and across factory floors. Therefore, from my lens, the potential is the ability to link not only physical objects to business and supply chain business processes but further to connect the shop floor and manufacturing applications with operating assets as well. GE engineers and executives do due diligence very well and they are increasingly acted like an information technology provider with deep domain expertise in industrial equipment and expensive physical assets.
SAP focused readers may recall that at the recent SAP Sapphire conference, Microsoft and SAP also announced a strategic alliance to leverage Azure in the future development of more desktop and mobile applications as well as to provide extensibility of SAP applications to desktop, mobile, Cloud and analytics needs.
We believe that readers should view both of these alliance announcements as a strategy by Microsoft via its Azure platform to become a far more pertinent player as an IoT information and analytics platform. It further opens IoT efforts for the scope of mid-market equipment manufacturers where Microsoft technology is dominant.
In prior Supply Chain Matters commentaries we have called attention to GE as a manufacturer that is both a dominant player and first mover in IoT, but also a significant influencer as to which technology players will ultimately be key IoT participants. By recently opening up its Predix platform in its Digital Alliance program, GE is striving for Predix to become the Industrial Internet platform of choice. In our most recent blog related to GE Predix, I have stated:
“Make no mistake, the expanded (GE) Digital Alliance program is a wide swath initiative to build extensive influence and critical technology and development mass in the IoT marketspace.”
This week’s GE-Microsoft announcement adds far more credence to this intent. It is sure to invoke other responses from competing enterprise information, business applications and infrastructure technology providers. The announcement is indeed a big deal and this partnership merits lots of visibility and scrutiny over the coming months.
We will do our part to keep readers informed and in helping to connect events and implications. While the IoT focused industry remains in the early stages of more widespread IoT deployments, current actions center on how major enterprise, supply chain, industrial equipment and platform vendors converge on approach, since the current strategy is one of fostering platform and technology dominance.
This is great theatre one that will keep technology analysts busy and engaged in advisory modes. Insure that you acquire multiple opinions and viewpoints to determine how to position your organization or line of business perspectives related to planned IoT initiatives. Give us a call or send us an email if you require further assistance.
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