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Cloud service is the ‘first designed for industrial data’

11 August, 2015

GE is entering the cloud services market with “the world's first and only cloud solution designed specifically for industrial data and analytics”. Its Predix Cloud service will capture and analyse machine data within a secure, industrial-strength cloud environment.

GE predicts that the service will drive the next phase of growth for the Industrial Internet and enable developers to create, deploy and manage applications and services for industry.

“With Predix Cloud, GE is providing a new level of service and results across the industrial world,” says GE CEO, Jeffrey Immelt. “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.”

GE predicts that the new service will allow operators to use machine data faster and more efficiently, saving them billions of dollars every year. It will deliver advanced tools such as asset connectivity, machine data support and industrial-grade security and compliance.

“A cloud built exclusively to capture and analyse machine data will make unforeseen problems and missed opportunities increasingly a complication of the past,” suggests GE vice-president Harel Kodesh, who is general manager of Predix at GE Software. The service, he adds, “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 Industrial Internet is estimated to be generating data twice as fast as any other sector, and more than 50 billion items are expected to be connected to the Internet by 2020. With investment in infrastructure expected to top $60 trillion over the next 15 years, the number of connected devices will continue to expand, generating unprecedented amounts of data and analytics.

Immelt: promising a new level of service

Predix Cloud is intended to provide a secure infrastructure for this next phase of growth, generating new levels of innovation, insight, and asset performance management capabilities.

GE’s own businesses will start to migrate their software and analytics to the Predix Cloud in the last quarter of 2015, and the service will become commercially available to other industrial users during 2016.

To ensure that its customers are industrial, the service will be based on a “gated community” model. It will allow businesses to deploy and monitor machine apps anywhere, continuously adjusting to changing demands in the physical and digital world, while providing security and visibility. It will be offered using an on-demand, pay-as-you-go pricing model.

GE expects its software activities to generate revenues worth $6bn in 2015 – 50% more than in 2014.




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