The software divisions of General Electric (GE) and Bosch have partnered in a bid to drive interoperability and open source collaboration in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
GE Digital and Bosch Software Innovations have signed a memorandum of understanding, which will see GE’s Predix solution and the Bosch IoT Suite used as the guinea pigs to facilitate openness and growth of the IIoT.
The organizations say they intend to establish an open source-based IoT stack by integrating elements of both cloud platforms. This will make complementary software services available on each platform.
No one company can realize IIoT on its own
Commenting on the deal, Bosch Software Innovations CEO, Rainer Kallenbach spoke of the importance of cooperation within open standards.
“Our organizations both have a rich history of manufacturing products, big and small, so we share a common understanding and vision regarding the opportunities in connectivity,” Kallenbach said.
“No company can realize the IoT on its own. It is very important for Bosch to engage in business ecosystems and open source communities. The collaboration with GE Digital is another important milestone for Bosch’s connectivity strategy.”
It is clearly a sentiment that GE shares.
“It’s industrial companies working together that will make a difference in the Industrial Internet of Things,” said Bill Ruh, CEO of GE Digital. “We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with Bosch Software Innovations to advance our IoT platform development.”
A problem shared is a problem halved
Despite much of the hype, IoT is still a nascent industry, so it’s interesting to see how the future is taking shape.
In recent weeks, we have reported on a number of IIoT collaborations. From Cisco and Salesforce, to SAP and Bosch, the leading players in the industry seem to have come to the conclusion that you can’t go it alone with IIoT.
It is also apparent that many companies in this space believe that cooperation must be based on open standards in order to extract the greatest benefit from connected technology. This is inevitably down to the lack of standards in IoT right now.
With IoT adoption rates struggling to meet expectations, perhaps these partnerships are just what the industry needs to improve uptake.