technology

The Industrial Cloud is here

September 29, 2015

Safer storage of data is a must for the future.Our World of Data

You’ve got the data. But now what do you do? You want it stored safer, analysed faster and at a lower cost than ever before.

GE has the solution. GE’s Predix software was launched in August this year, offering the world’s first and only cloud-based solution designed specifically for industrial data and analytics. And it’s going to change everything.

There will be over 50 billion machines online by 2020. The storage space alone will be staggering. Gigabytes will be a thing of the past. Terrabytes will be a memory. Exabytes will be floating around in the every day.

By 2020, the human race will be producing over 44 zettabytes of digital data annually. That’s 44, with 21 zeros. That really is Big Data. But how will the world cope with that much information? And more importantly, how can the industry make it work for them?

Predixing the Future

The industrial internet is generating data twice as quickly as any other sector, with an investment infrastructure on route to top US$60 trillion over the next 15 years. GE’s Predix software is designed to offer a highly secure, cloud based infrastructure to assist industry in benefiting from this growth in the industrial internet. Predix is built by the industry, for the industry, to address the data of the future.

Predix captures and analyses the unique volume, velocity and variety of machine data generated across the industrial world. With Predix you benefit from the experience provided by one of the world’s largest manufacturers. GE alone has 400 factories around the world and currently monitors and analyses 50 million data elements from 10 million sensors on US$1 trillion of managed assets daily. Predix doesn’t just work for you, or for GE, it works for all of industry.

In offering a cloud-based solution, GE’s Predix software guarantees a flexible, constantly updated system. For individual organisations, that means no more huge outlay on bespoke in-house data analytics systems only to find that four years down the line the software is out of date. The Predix system provides developers operational visibility, allowing them to better test and deploy industrial apps in a way that integrates seamlessly with the cloud based system. It is a system born of innovation, where innovation will thrive. With that innovation comes the potential for huge savings.

What Can Efficiency Save Us?
Imagine the digital hospitals of our future, tracking and improving patient flow, increasing efficiency in equipment use and allocation of resources. Predix software provides the platform and the opportunity. Even a 1% gain in efficiency globally could yield more than $63 billion in health care savings.

Imagine the railways of the future, advanced industrial data analytics providing for an increased efficiency of 1% would provide US$27 billion in fuel savings across the globe, and a consequential decrease in environmental footprint.

Thanks to the same software oil and gas itself will be reaping a similar benefit. Better asset management increasing productivity just 1% in capital utilisation upstream exploration and development could amount to US$90 billion in avoided or deferred capital expenditure. The changes are already under way here in ASEAN, with Kuala Lumpur home to one of GE’s 3 strategically important iCenter for the monitoring of oil and gas. By harnessing the power of the industrial internet these centres provide 24 hours a day, 365 a day year monitoring and diagnostic service for GE’s installed turbomachinery for customers throughout the world.

With its unique approach to industrial cyber security, Predix also offers safer storage for your industrial data than ever before. Predix provides the most advanced, adaptive security available, embedded at every level of the cloud stack. This offers insight into data loss and helps monitor, detect and isolate malware and malicious activity and in doing so reduce the possibility of associated losses. Predix is an opportunity for savings, but one for safety as well.

Now is the Time

The Industrial Internet is not a thing of tomorrow. It is here, knocking on the factory door, louder and louder each day. With Predix GE brings you the world’s first, and only, cloud offering designed specifically for industrial data. It is a unique platform. Whether you operate in oil and gas, aviation, healthcare or transportation, it’s also a unique opportunity.

GE is a company of imagination at work. Now that imagination is shared. The Predix software provides a secure, adaptive platform that will change the way industry works and change with industry to ensure it always grows alongside. It will increase efficiency whilst driving collaboration and the depth of understanding we have of the industries we work in around the world. Predix isn’t simply imagining a better way to work. It’s providing it right here today.

*This article was sponsored by GE.