GE and Microsoft have announced an expanded partnership to pool resources in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sector, jointly taking a product to market.
The deal will see GE Digital standardise its Predix solutions on Microsoft Azure, combining GE’s data and industrial applications expertise with Microsoft’s enterprise cloud; essentially combining operational technology and information technology.
It will also see the GE Predix portfolio be deeply integrated into Azure’s native cloud platforms, including Azure IoT and Azure Data and Analytics.
What is GE Predix?
GE Predix is GE’s cloud-based Platform as a service (PaaS), designed for solutions within the digital IoT space. It is an application development platform that equips industrial organizations with everything they need to build, deploy and run IIoT applications from edge to cloud, turning asset data into actionable insights.
Major companies such as BP, Exelon, Schindler and Maersk are all using GE Digital’s flagship applications.
The applications include Predix Asset Performance Management and ServiceMax alongside thousands of other apps created by GE’s customers and partners.
Bill Ruh, Chief Digital Officer, GE and CEO, GE Digital said: “Through this expanded partnership, Microsoft and GE are enabling customers around the world to harness the power of the Predix portfolio, including Predix Asset Performance Management, to unlock new capabilities to drive growth.”
Microsoft’s Role in the Partnership
Microsoft has a major role in their expanded partnership with GE, where the Boston-based multinational company will use the tech giant’s Azure cloud services across the entire company.
Different GE businesses would be able to use Microsoft’s advanced enterprise capabilities, thus supporting the petabytes of data that is managed by GE’s Predix platform.
It also means that within the partnership, the Predix platform will have an added security layer, meeting specialised requirements of the aviation, power and utilities industries.
Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President of Microsoft added: “With this strategic partnership, GE and our mutual customers will benefit from a trusted platform with the flexibility and scalability to deliver unprecedented results and help advance their business potential.”
