With connected devices like Nest and Sonos breaking into the mainstream, the IoT has become one of the most-discussed tech trends of the last twenty years. And the hype is well founded: IoT startups have attracted a cumulative $7.4B in venture investment over the past 6 years, according to our data.
The Grand Rapids, MI-based heavy-equipment technology startup Modustri announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Caterpillar to develop new products that will help Caterpillar’s customers measure the amount of wear on their machines and better optimize their fleets. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Mention “Industry 4.0” to most manufacturing executives and you will raise eyebrows. If they’ve heard of it, they are likely confused about what it is. If they haven’t heard of it, they’re likely to be skeptical of what they see as yet another piece of marketing hype, an empty catchphrase. And yet a closer look at what’s behind Industry 4.0 reveals some powerful emerging currents with strong potential to change the way factories work. It may be too much to say that it is another industrial revolution. But call it whatever you like; the fact is, Industry 4.0 is gathering force, and executives should carefully monitor the coming changes and develop strategies to take advantage of the new opportunities.
Un forum sur l'industrie 4.0 s'est tenu le 19 février 2015 à l'Institut Hasso Plattner (HPI) de Potsdam (centre de recherche sur les TIC créé et financé par le co-fondateur de l'entreprise SAP). L'évènement a été marqué par la visite du Ministre fédéral allemand de l'économie et de l'énergie Sigmar Gabriel, réaffirmant par sa présence son soutien au secteur. Au cours de ce forum, l'entreprise SAP a été particulièrement mise en avant par les solutions innovantes qu'elle a déjà intégrées avec succès dans diverses infrastructures (port de commerce, pipeline).
NexDefense just announced a $2.4 million funding round that will go towards the launch and further development of a threat exposing network called Sophia.
Sophia is NexDefense’s industrial network anomaly detection system, developed through a collaboration between the United States Department of Energy, Battelle Energy Alliance, and the Idaho National Laboratory. In 2013 NexDefense obtained exclusive rights to Sophia, and shortly thereafter it began running beta tests within a group of 70 utility organizations. Two weeks ago the company launched a full release of its product.
Companies, trade unions and politicians are working together to turn Germany into an industrial centre for the digital future. But on the day of its founding, Industry 4.0’s initiators are divided over its opportunities and risks. EurActiv Germany reports.
Industry is the “jewel of the German economy”, said Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday (25 November) in Berlin.
On factory floors and from computers in Silicon Valley, GE is building what it calls the “Industrial Internet” — global networks that employ sensors, cloud computing and advanced analytics to help people better design and more efficiently operate
The Industrial Internet of Things has been heralded primarily as a way to improve operational efficiency. But in today’s environment, companies can also benefit greatly by seeing it as a tool for finding growth in unexpected opportunities.
In the future, successful companies will use the Industrial Internet of Things to capture new growth through three approaches: boost revenues by increasing production and creating new hybrid business models, exploit intelligent technologies to fuel innovation, and transform their workforce.
For more than a century General Electric made most of its revenue by selling industrial hardware and repair services. But in recent years GE was at increasing risk of losing many of its top customers to nontraditional competitors—IBM and SAP on the one hand, and big-data start-ups on the other. Those competitors aimed to shift the customer value proposition away from acquiring reliable industrial equipment to deriving new efficiencies and other benefits through advanced analytics and algorithms based on the data generated by that equipment. The trend threatened to turn GE into a commodity equipment provider.
The Industrial Internet is here: smart, connected machines generating prodigious amounts of data that can be analyzed to improve operations. Inexpensive sensors, ubiquitous connectivity, the ever-declining cost of microprocessors and storage, and the emergence of cloud-based storage and software have made this shift possible. Traditional capital-equipment suppliers—which have historically focused on mechanical- and electrical-engineering disciplines—will need to rethink their business models and respond with new data- and software-enabled services. Implemented correctly, these new business models will allow suppliers to strengthen their ties to the customer and create new revenue sources.
