Wind River Teams with IBM for Industrial IoT
Industrial customers will be able to integrate products from Wind River’s Helix portfolio with services from IBM’s Watson IoT Cloud Platform to accelerate time to market for solutions and services
27 January 2016 – Wind River, a global leader in delivering software for the Internet of Things (IoT), announced it is collaborating with IBM to accelerate IoT deployments for industrial customers with new “edge-to-cloud” recipes that will simplify and accelerate the development of smart connected devices.
The new recipes enab.e customers to integrate services from IBM Watson IoT Cloud Platform with products from the Wind River HelixTM portfolio. Industrial customers using the recipes will now be able to connect industrial devices running Wind River software to the IBM Watson IoT Cloud Platform and access to IBM Bluemix cloud services and analytics, allowing IoT developers to more quickly and easily develop smart connected devices.
The IBM and Wind River recipes and reference architectures also provide the necessary building blocks required for a complete IoT solution, including device management and the application of IBM machine learning to IoT. The reference architectures will include capabilities to manage, and deploy devices and systems across market segments, including smart building, transportation, factory automation, and healthcare.
Through the arrangement, Wind River and IBM will be able to provide elements that may be combined for a complete edge-to-cloud IoT solution. Specifically, recipes for Wind River operating systems, VxWorks, Wind River Rocket, and Wind River Pulsar Linux, and Wind River Helix Cloud, its software-as-a-service (SaaS) family of products, will instruct customers on how to integrate with IBM Watson IoT Cloud Platform, IBM Bluemix, and IBM IoT Real-Time Insights for processing device data.
Michael Krutz, chief product officer at Wind River (above), commented, “As we have seen, the industrial sector is primed to tap into the vast potential of IoT. By providing businesses with a guide based on best-of-breed edge-to-cloud technologies, IBM and Wind River are playing a critical role in advancing IoT, and enabling a new generation of deployments for customers in this rapidly evolving market.”
“IBM recognizes that connectivity, intelligence and insight are transforming the way people use things and for that reason is collaborating with Wind River given their focus on applying the Internet of Things in industrial solutions,” said Bret Greenstein, vice president, IBM Watson IoT. “Together, we will aim to help engineers better manage connected things and enable companies to take advantage of this connectivity to gain insights that help business make more informed business decisions.”
Wind River Helix, the comprehensive portfolio of Wind River products, enables IoT advancements from the secure and managed intelligent devices at the edge, through gateways, across the network, and up into the cloud. To learn more about how Wind River is addressing the opportunities and challenges of IoT, visit
For more information on Windriver’s IOT solutions, please visit http://tinyurl.com/WindHelix.
Formore information about IBM Watson IoT, please visit http://www.ibm.com/IoT.
Soruce: Wind River
PTC Acquires Kepware to Boost Industrial IOT Offerings
PTC to pay $100 million, plus up to an additional $18 million based on achievement of certain strategic initiatives and financial results.
Over the past 12 months, privately-held Kepware generated approximately $20 million in revenues.
22 December 2015 – PTC (NASDAQ: PTC) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kepware, a software development company that provides communications connectivity to industrial automation environments, for approximately $100 million, plus up to an additional $18 million based on achievement of certain strategic initiatives and financial results. The acquisition will enhance PTC’s portfolio of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and accelerate the company’s entry into the factory setting and Industrial IoT (IIoT).
Founded in 1995 and located in Portland, Maine, Kepware serves customers in more than 120 countries in such industries as manufacturing, oil and gas, building automation, and power and utilities. The company’s flagship product, KEPServerEX, connects disparate devices and control systems, providing users with a single source of industrial data.
Kepware’s KEPServerEX will become a strategic component of the PTC ThingWorx® IoT technology platform. Once the companies’ products are integrated, machine data will be able to be aggregated into the PTC ThingWorx platform, integrated with a wide array of internal and external information, and then automatically analyzed using ThingWorx machine learning capabilities. The integration will allow organizations to gain tremendous enterprise-wide insight and to proactively optimize mission-critical processes – enabling them to improve operational performance, quality, and time to market.
In its June 2015 research report, entitled The Internet of Things: Mapping the Value Beyond the Hype, the McKinsey Global Institute identified the factory as one of the largest sources of potential value to be realized from the adoption of the Internet of Things. PTC has established a dedicated business segment and has formed a strategic alliance with GE to pursue this brilliant factory opportunity. The acquisition of Kepware is intended to complement the alliance with GE.
Kepware and PTC share many common customers that will be able to realize value from the acquisition. Industrial environments already leveraging Kepware technology will be able to benefit from the added breadth of capabilities available in the PTC ThingWorx IoT technology platform. The acquisition of Kepware will also provide a fast-to-value connectivity option for PTC customers to gain visibility into data from a vast range of industrial controls and production equipment, enabling them to kick-start their smart, connected factory initiatives.
“PTC is committed to helping manufacturers, infrastructure operators, and others realize the enormous value inherent in the Internet of Things,” said Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO, PTC. “With this acquisition, we will gain entry into heterogeneous factory and operating environments with robust technology, an impressive list of customers, and a high-quality, profitable company with incredibly talented employees.”
“Kepware and PTC share a common vision of helping organizations realize the potential of the Industrial Internet of Things,” said, Tony Paine, CEO, Kepware (avove). “We believe this acquisition will benefit our customers, partners, and employees – and ultimately drive software innovation for industrial automation markets. We are excited for the opportunity to become part of PTC.”
Over the past 12 months, privately-held Kepware generated approximately $20 million in revenue. PTC expects to draw on its credit facility to finance this transaction and expects Kepware to be neutral to its FY’16 non-GAAP EPS. The transaction is expected to close in early 2016, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval. PTC intends to maintain the Kepware partner ecosystem and to continue developing and enhancing the Kepware technology, once acquired.
Source: PTC
GE and PTC Partner to Pursue Brilliant Factory Opportunity
The companies will bring to market a solution as part of GE’s Brilliant Manufacturing suite that leverages PTC’s ThingWorx® Industrial Internet of Things application enablement environment in GE’s manufacturing software portfolio.
29 September 2015 – GE (NYSE: GE) and PTC (NASDAQ: PTC) today announced that they are partnering to deliver an innovative manufacturing solution that will be available within GE’s Brilliant Manufacturing Suite. This new GE-branded manufacturing solution leverages the capabilities of PTC’s ThingWorx Industrial Internet of Things application enablement environment.
The result is an industry-hardened solution that features flexible dashboards and powerful data analytics integrated with GE’s software capabilities on the manufacturing plant floor.
The joint solution connects disparate systems – from the shop floor to the ERP – and offers a dashboard and differentiated user experience with consumer-like drag-and-drop capabilities tailored to each user’s role.
GE and PTC will align their respective global manufacturing sales and marketing teams to jointly pursue opportunities worldwide. As GE is one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, the GE-PTC solution will be implemented within GE’s internal manufacturing plants as part of its Brilliant Factory initiative.
“The Brilliant Factory integrates engineering and manufacturing design, leverages data to run our factories much more productively, and optimizes the entire supply chain,” said Jamie Miller, GE CIO (above). “This solution gives us the ability to see that data clearly and easily in a format that makes critical decisions possible, so we can increase machine uptime and predict maintenance before it is needed.”
Leveraging PTC’s ThingWorx technology as part of GE’s Brilliant Manufacturing Suite provides robust manufacturing optimization capabilities coupled with:
- Role-based manufacturing dashboards with real-time manufacturing KPIs
- Standardized KPI models for all plants, connecting to heterogeneous system landscapes
- Collaboration, alerts, notifications and access to actionable data to make more informed decisions
“GE’s world class manufacturing plants have provided a testing ground for this technology,” said Kate Johnson, Chief Commercial Officer for GE Digital. “A united GE and PTC team is now poised to deliver a modular and robust solution to manufacturers badly in need of optimization through digitization.”
GE and PTC will also work together to certify ThingWorx for the Predix ecosystem.
”GE is a true pioneer in the use of technology to build advanced manufacturing facilities,” said Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO of PTC. “It is significant validation that such an industry leader has chosen to deploy our ThingWorx technology at scale. We look forward to collaborating with GE to deliver the promise of the Internet of Things to manufacturers around the globe.”
For more information, please visit http://www.ge.com/digital/partners/ptc.
