Microsoft Inspire 2018: GE and Microsoft expand IIoT partnership

By Rebecca Gibson on 17 July 2018

Microsoft Inspire 2018: GE and Microsoft expand IIoT partnership

GE and Microsoft have expanded their partnership to help their customers accelerate their digital transformation projects and industrial internet of things (IIoT) implementations.

The two companies will combine GE Digital’s industrial data and application development platform (named Predix) with Microsoft’s enterprise cloud to help customers act on their asset data and rapidly build and deploy IIoT applications.

GE Digital will integrate its Predix portfolio with Microsoft Azure’s native cloud capabilities, including Azure IoT and Azure Data and Analytics. The company will also explore how it can integrate its Predix IIoT solutions with Microsoft Power BI, PowerApps and other third-party solutions, as well as the Microsoft Azure Stack to enable companies to implement hybrid deployments across public and private clouds.

“Every industrial company will have to master digital to compete in the future, connecting machines and making them more intelligent to drive efficiency and productivity,” said Bill Ruh, chief digital officer for GE and CEO of GE Digital. “Our customers are asking for us to make a deeper connection between our two companies. 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.”

The partnership will enable Microsoft and GE to co-develop and co-sell complete IIoT solutions across verticals, including specialised industries such as aviation, power and utilities.

“The industrial sector plays an important role in fuelling economies around the world,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president of Microsoft. “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.”

GE will also use Microsoft Azure across its own businesses to manage additional IT workloads and productivity tools, including internal Predix-based deployments, to drive efficiency and innovation.