Jasper Partners With Microsoft for Enterprise IoT Service Management

30 July 2015 – Jasper, a global Internet of Things (IoT) platform leader, today announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to provide enterprises worldwide with an IoT service management solution that enables them to bring new IoT services to market faster, facilitate their shift from product businesses to services businesses, and rapidly scale. Through joint engineering efforts, the companies are combining the power of the Jasper IoT services platform and the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite, available in preview later this year.

"More than 2,000 enterprises across dozens of industries worldwide have selected the Jasper Platform to enable them to deliver IoT services that increase customer value and grow revenues," said Macario Namie, VP of Strategy at Jasper (above). "Through this strategic partnership with Microsoft, we continue to increase the business value of IoT by making it easier and faster for enterprises to bring their IoT services to market, and to scale those services globally."

The Azure IoT Suite extends existing Azure capabilities to connect devices and other assets (i.e. "things"), capture the diverse and voluminous data they generate, and integrate and orchestrate the flow of that data. The suite also manages, analyzes and presents device data as usable information to help businesses make better decisions, while also intelligently automating operations. The offering, while customizable to fit the unique needs of any organization, also provides complete applications which speed deployment of common scenarios seen across many industries, such as remote monitoring, asset management and predictive maintenance, while providing the ability to grow and scale solutions to millions of "things."

Jasper Control Center, Jasper's IoT services platform, is a cloud-based IoT platform that enables companies of all sizes to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy, manage and monetize IoT services for any connected device. The platform, which is easily configurable to meet the unique requirements of business across industries, gives companies the real-time visibility, intelligence and control they need to accelerate time-to-market, automate operations, optimize performance, troubleshoot and fix issues, and manage costs. As those companies grow, Control Center makes it easy for them to seamlessly scale their businesses across the globe. Jasper partners with 25 mobile operator groups, representing more than 100 mobile operator networks worldwide, to deliver the benefits of Control Center in over 100 countries.

"Our vision for the Azure IoT Suite is to help companies thrive in this era of IoT by delivering preconfigured solutions and world class services that any company, whether startup or the most established global enterprises, can use to create new value," said Sam George, Director of Azure IoT. "Jasper's IoT services platform is a critical component of delivering on this vision. By bringing together the Jasper Platform and the Azure IoT Suite, businesses of any size and in any industry can build cost effective IoT solutions for themselves or their customers."

The combination of the Jasper Platform and the Azure IoT Suite will provide enterprises worldwide with the following advantages:

• Faster Time-to-Market - Enterprises in any industry can accelerate time to market of their IoT services by taking advantage of pre-established, deep integration across all technology layers -- connectivity, application, and data.
• Global Visibility - Businesses gain a global view of their IoT deployments -- including both device data and Control Center IoT service data -- through the Azure IoT Suite experience.
• Automated Business Decisions - The solution delivers richer insights that inform more sophisticated decision-making.

About Jasper
Jasper is a global Internet of Things (IoT) platform leader. Jasper has designed its industry-leading, cloud-based IoT platform to enable companies of all sizes to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy, manage and monetize IoT services on a global scale. When companies do this, they become much more than product businesses. They become service businesses, capable of automatically managing their customers' entire IoT services lifecycle, delivering increased customer value and unlocking new sources of revenue. More than 2,000 companies in over 20 industries, including many of the world's top brands, choose Jasper to fast-track their IoT services. Jasper currently partners with 25 mobile operator groups, representing more than 100 mobile operator networks worldwide.

Founded in 2004, Jasper is based in Santa Clara, California. For more information, please visit www.jasper.com.

AllSeen Alliance Welcomes Philips as Premier Member

29 July 2015 – The AllSeen Alliance, a cross-industry collaboration to advance the Internet of Things (IoT) through an open source software project, today announced that Philips has joined as a premier member.

Philips joins more than 170 members of the AllSeen Alliance, including premier members Canon, Electrolux, Haier, LG, Microsoft, Panasonic, Qeo (a Technicolor company), Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., Sharp, Silicon Image (a Lattice Semiconductor company) and Sony.

Philips strives to make the world healthier and sustainable through meaningful innovations and aims to improve the lives of 3 billion people a year by 2025. By joining the AllSeen Alliance, Philips will help advance the AllJoyn open source project as the common software framework used by devices, services and apps within the Internet of Things ecosystem. The investment also affirms the need for collaborative development and ownership of an open platform to overcome the interoperability challenges that impede movement in the Internet of Things.

"Healthcare will change substantially in the coming years, with a growing role for health self-management. Addressing the needs of personal health requires a new perspective and innovative technologies like the AllJoyn software framework," said Liat Ben-Zur, Senior Vice President and Head of Digital Technology at Philips. "Philips also values the potential of collaborative partnerships to advance markets and improve consumer experiences forever. We look forward to working with the other members of the AllSeen Alliance to advance connectivity and digitalization in the personal health area based on AllJoyn as part of a truly connected world."

"The AllSeen Alliance is thrilled to welcome Philips to its member roster," said Philip DesAutels, senior director IoT for the AllSeen Alliance. "With a global leader with expertise connecting technology between home and healthcare, we're in a position to advance AllJoyn as the software leveraged by all healthcare solutions."
The AllSeen Alliance is the broadest cross-industry consortium to date to advance adoption and innovation in the "Internet of Everything" in homes and industry. More information can be found on http://www.allseenalliance.org.

About The AllSeen Alliance
The AllSeen Alliance is a nonprofit open source consortium dedicated to driving the widespread adoption of products, systems and services that support the Internet of Everything with an open, universal development framework that is supported by a vibrant ecosystem and thriving technical community. The Alliance manages and advances an industry-supported collaborative open source software connectivity and services framework based on AllJoyn technology accepting contributions from premier members, community members and the open source community. This secure and programmable software connectivity and services framework enables companies and individuals to create interoperable products that can discover, connect and interact directly with other nearby devices, systems and services regardless of transport layer, device type, platform, operating system or brand. For more information, visit: http://www.allseenalliance.org.

The AllSeen Alliance is a Collaborative Project at The Linux Foundation. Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects are independently funded software projects that harness the power of collaborative development to fuel innovation across industries and ecosystems. For more information, visit: www.linuxfoundation.org.

Source: AllSeen Alliance

Kii and Yankon Lighting Collaborate on Next-Generation IoT Smart Lighting

28 July 2015 – Kii, one of the leading Internet of Things (IoT) cloud platform provider, today announced it has teamed up with Yankon Lighting, a leading LED manufacturer, to launch next-generation IoT smart lighting solutions for homes and offices. The smart lighting products, which can be accessed through a smartphone, have adopted a system-on-a-chip solution provided by MediaTek, the worldwide leading integrated circuit (IC) design company. These products will meet consumer demand for a more low cost, comfortable, convenient, energy-efficient lighting system.

The smart lighting system incorporates the following core features:

• Multi-request demand capabilities like high brightness settings that feature low power consumption
• Long product life with free maintenance for repairs
• Excellent waterproof and heat dissipation characteristics to hold up under any temperature, environment or climate
• Timing control options that can help save manpower and power consumption at home or in the office
• Remote control operations can support pre-turn on lighting and ensure power consumption with a turn-off function when a user is not home/in the office
• Scene setting for full customization of colour adjustments and brightness settings for different lighting effects

Kii is focused on addressing the high-performance demands of innovation in the connected world with an end-to-end cloud platform optimized for the IoT. Kii will provide smart lighting app solutions for Yankon's app, allowing users to intelligently control lighting equipment on both Android and IOS.

"We are excited to work with Yankon, one of the biggest LED device companies in the world," said Masanari Arai CEO of Kii. "With Yankon's planned production of over 80M units per year, we expect to have Kii enable up to 20% of these devices, and we will look to increase that number as smart lighting becomes increasingly popular."

"As the leading IoT Cloud Service provider, Kii is expanding in the IoT industry," said Dominique Tu, CEO of Kii China. "Our collaboration with Yankon for smart lighting highlights an important step forward in IoT industry development. We hope to show consumers Kii's advanced IoT technology through the smart lighting system's launch."

"Our prior development and production experience accumulated in LED lighting, has allowed us to stake our claim in the smart lighting space," said Yong Guan, Yankon Lighting's General Manager. "Through our partnership with Kii, we have achieved intelligent lighting control to meet the energy-saving and convenience features which today's consumers demand, while simultaneously improving the added value of LED lighting products."

About Kii
Kii is focused on addressing the high-performance demands of innovation in the connected world with an end-to-end backend platform optimized for Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile applications. Businesses of all sizes are able to build, test, deploy, manage, optimize and acquire users from a single integrated platform to accelerate time-to-market. Trusted by the world's largest device manufacturers and mobile carriers, such as NTT Docomo, Kii currently serves 140M+ end-users worldwide. Kii is a global company with data centers in the US, China and Japan. For more information,  visit kii.com.

About Yankon Lighting
Yankon Lighting is a China-based company principally engaged in the development, manufacture and distribution of lighting appliances. The Company's products consist of integrated electronic energy-saving lamps, T5 high-power energy-saving fluorescent lamps and related accessories, specialty lamps, light-emitting diode (LED) lighting equipment and others. It distributes its products in domestic and overseas markets, including Europe, Latin America, North America, Africa, Asia and other areas.

Source: Kii

Wind River Delivers Real-Time Virtualisation for IoT Device Development

28 July 2015 – Wind River®, a global leader in delivering software for the Internet of Things (IoT), has announced a major update to its real-time virtualisation offering that allows customers to further reduce cost and innovate connected devices. The update includes storage virtualisation capabilities, enhanced security capabilities, and expanded processor support.

Virtualisation Profile for VxWorks® is based on Wind River virtualisation technology and extends the scalability capabilities of VxWorks by integrating a real-time embedded, Type 1 hypervisor into the core of the real-time operating system (RTOS). Through embedded virtualisation, it allows VxWorks customers to consolidate multiple disparate workloads on a single processor. Critical in today's era of IoT, it helps to address the need for robust, safer and more secure partitioning across all market segments.

“Virtualisation is a key attribute in GE’s global vision for industrial control systems in the era of the Industrial Internet. It allows the GE businesses to combine their real-time control logic, HMI, security, and cloud connectivity into a single platform,” said Wes Skeffington, principal engineer at GE. “Wind River’s virtualisation offering provides the right attributes like scalability, storage virtualisation, real-time behavior, virtual machine isolation, and security capabilities to realize this vision.”

Updates to Virtualization Profile for VxWorks include the following:

• Storage virtualisation through VirtIO allows devices to share a single storage controller, even a single disk, such as a Serial ATA device between multiple virtual machines (VMs), thereby dramatically reducing cost and complexity for consolidated systems. The run-time configuration, combined with support for the VirtIO device virtualisation framework makes the virtualisation profile a flexible and highly customizable virtualisation layer for embedded devices.
• Enhanced security capabilities include seamless integration with the Security Profile for VxWorks. These capabilities help customers to guard security from power-on all the way through VM load and beyond with secure boot, secure load, and data encryption during transmission and after shutdown.
• Expanded processor support includes support for Intel® Atom and Celeron architectures, providing even greater choices for customers to build product lines that scale from low end controllers to major gateways and high performance compute and display stations.

“Embedded virtualization allows customers to meet the challenges of the IoT era; it enables a future-proof architecture that can adapt and evolve to meet changing market requirements, customer needs, and technology advancements,” said Dinyar Dastoor, vice president and general manager of operating system platforms at Wind River (above). “With these latest virtualisation and security capability enhancements, Wind River has further strengthened VxWorks as the leading RTOS for IoT where connectivity, scalability and the ability to develop safer and more secure environments are paramount.”

The Virtualisation Profile for VxWorks is an integral part of the Intel Industrial Solutions System Consolidation Series, a production-ready, virtualisation software stack used for running an assortment of industrial and IoT workloads on a single platform.

More information about Virtualisation Profile for VxWorks is available at http://tinyurl.com/VxWorksVirtualization. And to learn more about how Wind River is addressing the opportunities and challenges of IoT, visit http://tinyurl.com/WindHelix.

About Wind River
Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), is a global leader in delivering software for the Internet of Things. The company has been pioneering computing inside embedded devices since 1981, and its technology is found in more than 2 billion products. Wind River offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for addressing the system-level challenges and opportunities of IoT that is backed by world-class global professional services, award-winning customer support, and a broad partner ecosystem. Wind River delivers the software and expertise that enables the innovation and deployment of safe, secure, and reliable intelligent systems. To learn more, please visit www.windriver.com.

Source: Wind River

Icon Labs Launches Security Management System

28 July 2015 — Icon Labs, a leading provider of embedded networking and security technology, today announced the release of its Floodgate Security Manager (FSM ), a security management software suite specifically designed to protect IoT and embedded devices against cyber-attack. FSM can be operated as either an on premise or a cloud-based security manager.

The Floodgate Security Manager provides device status monitoring, security policy management, command audit logging, and security event logging and reporting for devices running Icon Labs’ Floodgate Agent or other lightweight IoT management protocols such as COAP and MQTT.

Floodgate Security Manager provides comprehensive reporting and auditing capabilities to help achieve EDSA Certification, ISA/IEC 62443 Compliance, and/or compliance with the NIST Cybersecurity framework.

“The current approach to security management for IoT devices is to repurpose legacy security management systems.  While this solution works for some IoT gateways and other large IoT devices, it does not scale to the smallest IoT devices, especially small battery powered edge devices and sensor solutions,” says Alan Grau, President and Cofounder of Icon Labs (above). “Floodgate Security Manager is designed to provide the management services required by all IOT devices, including small, battery powered and mobile devices without the overhead and complexity of traditional enterprise security management systems.”

“With the IoT growing dramatically, it’s only a matter of time before hackers turn more attention toward embedded systems with limited onboard security resources,” said Steve Hoffenberg, a Director at industry analyst firm VDC Research. “New security technologies are needed not only to protect IoT device functionality and data, but also to protect conventional IT and the cloud assets to which the embedded systems are connected.”

Icon Labs products provide embedded security for IoT and Machine to Machine (M2M) solutions such as aerospace, military and space probes, industrial and medical control devices, medical systems, and consumer electronics products. The Floodgate Security Framework provides a “defense in depth” solution that protects control units and endpoint devices from cyber threats, aids in compliance with regulatory mandates and guidelines, and gathers and reports command, event and device status information for audit requirements.

About Icon Laboratories, Inc.
Icon Labs, a 2014 Gartner “Cool Vendor” and 2015 Gartner “Select Vendor”, is a leading provider of embedded software for device security, device protection and networking management, including the award winning Floodgate Defender. Founded in 1992, Icon Labs is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa. For more information, please visit www.iconlabs.com.

Source: Icon Labs

Philips Accelerates Innovation and Research in Connected Lighting for the Internet of Things

23 July 2015 – Royal Philips, one of the global leaders in lighting, aims to collaborate with the one of the world’s top technology start-ups, pushing the boundaries of connected lighting for the Internet of Things (IoT). The company has teamed up with Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play Tech Center, one of the world’s largest accelerators, to mentor and partner with some of the newest, most exciting IoT innovators.

“Silicon Valley is pulsing with many promising Internet of Things start-ups. Our partnership with Plug and Play represents our most recent commitment to Open Innovation, a highly collaborative ‘outside-in’ approach that helps us gain new insights”

Plug and Play introduces start-ups to corporations and investors to accelerate their commercial development. It will work with Philips to filter hundreds of IoT-orientated start-ups that match Philips’ most relevant technology needs. Of particular interest are innovators in sensor data, analytics and connected lighting for buildings and smart cities.

“Silicon Valley is pulsing with many promising Internet of Things start-ups. Our partnership with Plug and Play represents our most recent commitment to Open Innovation, a highly collaborative ‘outside-in’ approach that helps us gain new insights,” said Olivia Qiu, Chief Innovation Officer at Philips Lighting (above). “As an anchor partner, Philips will steer the technology focus toward connected lighting and base experts on-site in Sunnyvale, California, where they will identify and nurture talent, building our capabilities in this rapidly growing market.”

The connectivity of LED lighting to IP networks, sensors and software control systems is transforming the lighting industry. Lighting is at the heart of the Internet of Things due to connectivity and its presence everywhere, in homes, cities and professional environments.

Connected lighting enhances energy savings because it can be controlled to provide the right light, in the right place at the right time. Furthermore, data generated by (and aggregated from) embedded sensors can help deliver new business outcomes, such as:

•   Data from occupancy sensors providing new insights into building utilization to help businesses optimize their real estate expenses.
• Supermarket lighting fixtures transmitting their location to smartphones so that shoppers can use an app to navigate to items in a store and access location-based offers.

About Plug & Play
Plug and Play Tech Center is a global investor and technology accelerator that specializes in growing tech startups. Headquartered in Sunnyvale California, Plug and Play’s network includes over 300 tech startups, 180 investors, and a community of leading Universities and corporate partners. http://plugandplayaccelerator.com/iot

About Royal Philips
Royal Philips is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2014 sales of EUR 21.4 billion and employs approximately 108,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is one of the leaders in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

Source: Business Wire

OORT starts partnerships with CISCO, Intel & Deutsche Telekom

22 July 2015 – OORT, a company which helps manufacturers transform their devices into smart, connected ones, was selected from among hundreds of companies from Europe, Middle East & Africa and won an international acceleration program – Challenge UP! As a reward, OORT enters into business cooperation with CISCO, Intel & Deutsche Telekom.

The purpose of the Challenge Up! is to support innovative IOT start-ups and help jump start their commercialization efforts. Winners of Challenge Up! are invited to joint projects with the three global corporations and get access to their resources and know-how.

OORT had gained interest of the organizers thanks to the unique end-to-end solution for transforming ordinary consumer electric devices into connected ones, and thus enabling the manufacturers to rapidly prototype and introduce new cutting edge IoT-enabled products.

"Our technology can transform any device into a smart, connected one. Those connected devices create new opportunities for manufacturers – from understanding how the devices are used through data, to opening a new 1-on-1 communication channel with the end-used of a product, which can lead to cross-selling and up-selling opportunities" – according to Radek Tadajewski, OORT CEO (above). "We believe that the jury of Challenge Up! truly appreciated our vision for quick adoption of IoT on the global scale. There are a lot of synergies between OORT and the organizers of Challenge Up!” he added.

The cooperation between OORT and Cisco, Intel & Deutsche Telekom started immediately after the winners were announced.

In not too distant future, customers should see new intelligent devices with OORT & Intel Inside labeling, which communicate through a Cisco cloud and are sold by Deutsche Telekom – said Tadajewski.

About OORT:
OORT is a global Internet of Things company whose unique technology enables users to control devices in their living or working environment with a single mobile app. OORT works on the consumer market providing innovative smart home systems as well as institutional: letting manufacturers change their existing products into smart ones and providing dedicated IoT solutions.

OORT has won many global awards, including Bluetooth Breakthrough Award, IoT Trailblazer Award, and Envisioneering Innovation & Design Award.
www.oort.in

Source: OORT

Samsung Leads Home Appliances Segment Study Rankings for Second Year

16 July 2015 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a leading innovator in home appliances, announced today that it has achieved the highest rank in four categories, out of a total of nine, in J.D. Power’s 2015 Kitchen and Laundry Appliance Satisfaction Studies. Samsung’s highest rankings in the Front Load Washer, Top Load Washer, Dryer and French Door Refrigerator categories exceed all other home appliance manufacturers in this year’s study. For the second consecutive year, Samsung has received the highest number of segment honors across all categories in this study.

J.D. Power surveyed consumers who purchased appliances over the past 24 months. Consumer satisfaction is measured on a point scale and is based on six factors: ease of use, features, performance and reliability, price, styling and appearance, and warranty. Highlights of this year’s survey include:

• In Front-Load Washers, Samsung ranked highest out of 9 brands and performed highest in ease of use, performance and reliability, price, and styling and appearance
• In Top-Load Washers, Samsung ranked highest out of 9 brands and performed highest in ease of use, performance and reliability, and styling and appearance
• In Clothes Dryers, Samsung ranked highest out of 10 brands and performed highest in features, and styling and appearance
• In French Door Refrigeration, Samsung ranked highest out of 10 brands and performed highest in ease of use, features, price, styling and appearance, and warranty.

“Understanding and anticipating consumer needs is a critical component of Samsung’s R&D process, and J.D. Power’s Satisfaction Studies are a crucial indicator of how we are doing,” said John Herrington, Senior Vice President, General Manager of Home Appliances, Samsung Electronics America. “Our goal is to help make peoples’ lives easier and offer appliances that complement their homes. We are honored to be recognized by the J.D. Power organization, and proud that our new product innovations are not just meeting, but exceeding, the needs of consumers.”

In 2015, Samsung introduced a new suite of home appliances that surprise and delight while seamlessly blending superior innovation with beautiful design. Key product innovation launches include:

•  Samsung Counter Depth 4-DoorFlex Refrigerator with convertible zone enables you to choose fridge or freezer at the touch of a button for ultimate flexibility.
• Samsung activewash™ Top Load Washer features a built-in sink with water jet and gentle scrubbing surface to make pre-washing fabrics easier and more convenient.
• Samsung Dishwasher with WaterWall™ Technology equipped with Zone Booster targets different zones of your dishwasher with custom settings.
• Samsung Flex Duo Oven with Dual Door™ lets you cook two dishes at two different temperatures simultaneously.
• Samsung POWERbot VR9000 robot vacuum cleaner lives up to the promise of convenient floor cleaning with its powerful suction, extra-wide rectangular brush and maximum maneuverability.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies, redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, printers, medical equipment, network systems, and semiconductor and LED solutions. They are also leading in the Internet of Things space through, among others, their Smart Home and Digital Health initiatives. They employ 319,000 people across 84 countries with annual sales of US $196 billion. For more info, visit the official website at www.samsung.com and their official blog at global.samsungtomorrow.com.

GE Unveils High-Speed Network for the Industrial Internet

16 July 2015 – GE today announced the installation of some of the world’s fastest, high-speed fiber optic lines to support the company’s Industrial Internet initiative. As a founding member of the Industrial Internet Consortium, GE software scientists and developers created an industry test bed that will transfer data at 100 gigabits per second to support seamless machine-2-machine communications and data transfer across connected control systems, big infrastructure products and manufacturing plants.

A typical Internet connection for home computers or mobile devices can transfer data at speeds of 15 megabits per second, or the equivalent one full quality, high-definition movie at a time. These speeds pale in comparison to the high-speed networking lines installed at GE’s Global Research Center that deliver speeds of 100 gigabits, or 100,000 megabits per second. That’s the equivalent of downloading not one, but more than 6,000 movies at a time.

While computer-processing speed has improved substantially over time, every user has experienced the long wait times of downloading large files on a home computer or mobile device. Downloads can sometimes take several minutes to complete. Imagine giving an industrial machine a command that has data sets with 1,000 times a standard movie file size. With the new 100 gigabit lines, industries can instantaneously connect and control machines located thousands of miles away. Through the Industrial Internet, GE is harnessing major advances in software, data analytics and now networking to connect people, data and machines in ways that take product development and services to the next level.

“A software research focus for GE has been to advance the real-time connections between large scale systems and to develop sophisticated control systems that increase the performance and efficiency of our products,” said Colin Parris, Vice President, GE Software Research (above). “These high-speed networking lines enable accelerated data movement and an increase in data volumes within Industrial Internet products and services. This ability will greatly accelerate needed advancements in these areas, and in collaboration with the Industrial Internet Consortium, help advance industry standards.”

The use of high-speed networking lines will be critical to helping GE rapidly transform its 400 manufacturing facilities into brilliant factories. For example, GE will now be able to connect to its manufacturing plants and have full visibility and control of the operation in the plant, which in turn makes them brilliant. This 100 Gb capability also extends to the wireless edge, allowing GE to provide more data and analytical results to mobile users through advanced communication techniques.

Industrial Internet Consortium member Cisco has also contributed expertise to building this project, as well as Internet2, which provides the infrastructure to give the network its national reach.

“As founding members of the IIC, Cisco and GE are collaboratively working on innovation test beds, reference architectures and standards infrastructure for Industrial Internet applications. GE's new fiber link and continued test beds are crucial to advancing our efforts around the Internet of Things and to our ability to rapidly generate valuable customer insights through our industry solutions,” said Cisco’s Tony Shakib, VP, IoE Vertical Solutions Group.

About GE Software
GE Software connects streams of machine data to powerful analytics, providing Industrial companies with valuable insights to manage assets and operations more efficiently. World-class talent and software capabilities driving big gains in productivity, availability and longevity. For more information, visit the website at www.gesoftware.com.

About GE Global Research
GE Global Research is the hub of technology development for all of GE’s businesses. Their scientists and engineers redefine what’s possible, drive growth for their businesses, and find answers to some of the world’s toughest problems. They innovate 24 hours a day, with sites in Niskayuna, New York; San Ramon, California; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; Munich, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Visit GE Global Research on the web at www.geglobalresearch.com. Connect with the other technologists at www.geglobalresearch.com/blog and www.twitter.com/geresearch.

Source: Business Wire

GE Power & Water Wins Outage Services Work for DTE Energy Nuclear Power Plant

16 July 2015 – Michigan-based DTE Energy has awarded outage services work to GE Power & Water through GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and GE Power Generation Services (PGS) for the utility’s Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant.

GEH will provide a host of outage and inspection services related to the boiling water nuclear reactor at the Fermi 2 plant in Newport, Michigan, while PGS will provide inspection and maintenance services to the main generator and six turbine valves. The services will be provided during an outage this Autumn.

“These awards are outstanding examples of the comprehensive, end-to-end solutions that GE Power & Water provides to nuclear power customers,” said Lance Hall, senior vice president, Nuclear Services and Fuels, GEH (above). “We’re pleased to strengthen our alliance with DTE Energy and look forward to bringing project management excellence, technical rigor, industry-leading performance and innovative technology solutions to the fall outage at Fermi 2.”

Fermi 2 is a 1,170-megawatt (MW) boiling water reactor that has been operating since 1988. The reactor has the capacity to provide clean, carbon-free electricity to more than 1 million homes. Global Nuclear Fuel, a GE-led joint venture, has provided fuel to the plant since the initial core load.

In addition to providing critical maintenance services to its existing unit, GEH also has partnered with DTE Energy in the new plant’s space. In April, the utility received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to construct and operate a GEH Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) on the Fermi 2 plant site. Issuance of the license concluded a six-year process that examined the technical, safety and environmental aspects of the potential 1,500-MW unit. The license marked the first for an ESBWR and came on the heels of the reactor’s NRC certification in 2014.

About GE
GE imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that makes the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. For more information please visit www.ge.com.

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

About GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
Based in Wilmington, N.C., GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) is one of the worlds-leading provider of advanced reactors and nuclear services. Established in June 2007, GEH is a global nuclear alliance created by GE and Hitachi to serve the global nuclear industry. The nuclear alliance executes a single, strategic vision to create a broader portfolio of solutions, expanding its capabilities for new reactor and service opportunities. The alliance offers customers around the world the technological leadership required to effectively enhance reactor performance, power output and safety.

Source: Business Wire