German data-centric vendor Software AG has expanded its Digital Business Platform by partnering with Cumulocity, an IoT application enablement platform vendor. Known for its streaming analytics and data integration competencies, this is clear move by Software AG to up its IoT quotient.
What is application enablement?
Application enablement is often defined as a specific approach to software application development and management which coalesces the developer function with telecommunications network providers (and increasingly more pure play device connectivity networking vendors as is the case here) to combine their essentially connected and web-centric application delivery abilities.
NOTE: Readers can read more on Application Enablement Platforms (AEP) for the IoT here with commentary by IoT tech evangelist Omer Pesach.
The partnership in question here intends to connect devices for deployment across numerous industrial environments to produce operational efficiencies and create new revenue streams.
By incorporating Cumulocity’s device connectivity and management product, Software AG’s Digital Business Platform hopes to provide a foundation for enterprises to securely integrate, link and scale to a network of millions of connected devices, distributed globally over thousands of tenants.
A plethora of IoT use cases
This enables a plethora of IoT use cases such as remote machine monitoring and control, production diagnostics, predictive maintenance and remote service across several markets and industries worldwide from their data streams.
Enterprises now have the ability to connect and manage any ‘thing’, independent of hardware and protocols, to any application or business process in their enterprise or business ecosystem.
Wolfram Jost, CTO at Software AG is a big fan of Cumulocity’s device integration. “It is now possible to bring together operational technology and integrate it with an enterprise’s IT systems (i.e., CRM, ERP, BI, etc) translating the streaming IoT data into meaningful, actionable information,” he said.
Apama Streaming Analytics helps with the creation of operational technology by correlating the IoT data. Operational technology data is often provided as streams of measurements, which can then be enriched with other contextual and historical data sources arising from IT systems. Based on a set of applied rules, this information can then be used to take action, generate an alert, or kick off a business process.
Real-time via machine monitoring
The Software AG Digital Business Platform claims be able to ‘remove the guesswork’ from product development by collecting data about how products function, as well as how they are actually used.
For example, by continuously analysing equipment sensor data in real-time via machine monitoring, operators can determine equipment condition and understand when maintenance will be required.
Cumulocity’s origins as part of Nokia Siemens Networks gives it some experience of managing networks with millions of devices. This is a logical partnership that appears to make a lot of sense on paper — and in cyberspace.