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General Electric: An industrial giant learning to live in a small world

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After years of rebranding itself as a “digital” company, General Electric is returning to being a plain old $100-billion industrial giant that builds aircraft engines and equipment for the energy industry.

According to the New York Times, GE spent “several billion dollars” building its digital business, with former CEO Geoff Immelt telling the Harvard Business Review that the company “put about $4 billion into developing analytics software and machine learning capabilities”.

The idea seemed to have been, and still may be, to provide the equivalent of an operating system for machinery and equipment which are connected to the industrial internet of things, and, in the process, become one of the top 10 software companies in the world. [Read more…] about General Electric: An industrial giant learning to live in a small world

GE and Microsoft extend partnership to accelerate industrial IoT adoption

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GE and Microsoft Corp. have announced an expanded partnership, bringing together operational technology and information technology to eliminate hurdles industrial companies face in advancing digital transformation projects.

As part of the union, GE Digital plans to standardise its Predix solutions on Microsoft Azure and will deeply integrate the Predix portfolio with Azure’s native cloud capabilities, including Azure IoT and Azure Data and Analytics.

The parties will also co-sell and go to market together, offering end customers premier Industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions across verticals.

[Read more…] about GE and Microsoft extend partnership to accelerate industrial IoT adoption

GE to sell Distributed Power business to Advent International for $3.25 billion

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General Electric has signed an agreement to sell its Distributed Power business to Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, for $3.25 billion.

The transaction includes Distributed Power’s Jenbacher and Waukesha engines, as well as manufacturing sites in Austria, Canada and the US.

Distributed Power, a business unit of GE Power, is a leading provider of reciprocating gas engines, power equipment and services focused on power generation and gas compression at or near the point of use.  [Read more…] about GE to sell Distributed Power business to Advent International for $3.25 billion

General Electric wins $230 million order for Boeing Dreamliner engines from Uzbekistan Airways

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Uzbekistan Airways has selected General Electric’s GEnx-1B engines to power four new Boeing 787-8 aircraft, also known as Dreamliners.

The engine order is valued at more than $230 million, including a custom-ordered spare engine. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2018.

GE Aviation awarded Uzbekistan Airways its TRUEngine designation for the entire GEnx fleet.  [Read more…] about General Electric wins $230 million order for Boeing Dreamliner engines from Uzbekistan Airways

General Electric resumes talks to sell its industrial solutions business to ABB

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General Electric has resumed negotiations to sell its industrial solutions business to ABB, according to a report on Reuters.com. 

The US conglomerate’s industrial solutions business includes products such as circuit breakers, relays, panel boards and other technologies for sectors including power generation, telecommunications and mining.

Swiss company ABB had previously talked to GE about possibly purchasing the business, and the price it offered was said to be $2 billion.  [Read more…] about General Electric resumes talks to sell its industrial solutions business to ABB

Video: Siemens predicts small number of companies will dominate industrial internet

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Only a small number of companies will dominate the industrial internet, according to a business development executive at Siemens, who was speaking to RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com at Hannover Messe. (See video below.) 

The German engineering giant recently launched its MindScape IoT platform and more than 50 individual apps for a variety of scenarios in industry.

Matthias Lutz, business development manager, digital factory division, Siemens, says: “I personally do see a couple of platforms co-existing in future, and maybe a couple of very specialised ones.

“But in the end, in my opinion, I think it’s a matter of two to three large platforms.”  [Read more…] about Video: Siemens predicts small number of companies will dominate industrial internet

Huawei links up with GE Digital to offer industrial cloud solution

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Huawei and GE Digital are partnering to jointly launch their industrial cloud-based predictive maintenance solution. 

In an interview with Robotics and Automation News, Catherine Du, Huawei’s director of marketing, said the company is looking to increase its share of the nascent but fast-growing sector of business.

“Huawei is one of the leading ICT vendors,” said Du. “We supply a wide range of technologies to the market, from Big Data to IoT, so we feel that now is the right time for us to reach out to the industrial space and build new partnerships.”

And although Huawei’s current focus is on the industrial market, the company is looking to promote its brand globally going forward, in the wider business-to-business market and in the consumer space, says Du.  [Read more…] about Huawei links up with GE Digital to offer industrial cloud solution

The human factor: GE Digital automation boss hints at new directions for Predix

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Exclusive interview with Matt Wells, of GE Digital. By Abdul Montaqim

GE Digital is a subsidiary of General Electric, the quintessential American multinational corporate conglomerate with operations in more countries than the United Nations. 

But far from being just one of its parent company’s dozen or so subsidiaries, GE Digital is something of a shooting star, outperforming many other subsidiaries to the point where it is informing, if not transforming, the entire culture and ethos of the company.

Nowadays, General Electric likes to be known as a “the world’s digital industrial company”, except they capitalise the words to emphasise the importance of the virtual realm.  [Read more…] about The human factor: GE Digital automation boss hints at new directions for Predix

GE, Nokia and Qualcomm unveil ‘first’ private LTE-based trial network customized for industrial IoT

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ge predix windmill

GE Digital, Nokia Networks and Qualcomm Technologies say they have successfully demonstrated a private LTE network for the industrial internet of things market.

LTE stands for “long term evolution” and refers to an advanced version of the 4G network.

The new GE-Nokia-Qualcomm network meshes together each party’s platforms and technologies.

The companies plan to further research and conduct live field trials throughout 2017 based on this demonstration, which they says is “designed to advance the digitization of industrial processes”.  [Read more…] about GE, Nokia and Qualcomm unveil ‘first’ private LTE-based trial network customized for industrial IoT

Clearpath Robotics raises $30 million to expand Otto self-driving logistics vehicle technology

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Funding from iNovia Capital, Caterpillar Ventures, GE Ventures and previous investors will expand new Otto Motors division

Clearpath Robotics, a leading provider of self-driving vehicle solutions, announced today the completion of a $30 million investment led by iNovia Capital with participation from Caterpillar Ventures, GE Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, RRE Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.

Clearpath will use the funding to grow the company’s industrial division, Otto Motors. Clearpath launched Otto Motors in 2015 to focus on self-driving vehicles for material transport inside manufacturing and warehouse operations.

Matt Rendall, CEO and co-founder of Clearpath, says: “Factories operate like small indoor cities, complete with roads, traffic, intersections and pedestrians.

“Unlike city streets, a factory floor is a controlled environment, which makes it an ideal place to introduce self-driving vehicles at scale. Companies like Google, Tesla and Uber are still testing, whereas our self-driving vehicles are commercially available today.”  [Read more…] about Clearpath Robotics raises $30 million to expand Otto self-driving logistics vehicle technology