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GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt has bet on developing analytics
and software for customers of the company's jet engines,
power-generating turbines, healthcare equipment and other
industrial products.
More than 50 billion machines are expected to be connected to
the Internet by 2020, according to GE.
GE's customized cloud offering is built on the Predix operating
system it had previously developed for software used by its
customers.
Predix Cloud is designed to improve the operating system while
incorporating security and regulatory requirements specialized
for industrial data and applications.
"You just look at the consumer world, you get jealous at the
speed at which you can easily and quickly gain access to
applications," Bill Ruh, vice president of GE software, said in
an interview. "That is exactly the same thing you want in the
industrial world. The thing is you need it done in an industrial
way."
GE expects $6 billion in software revenue this year, up from $4
billion last year. The company says it is investing $500 million
annually in software, including spending on the Predix Cloud.
Ruh described Predix Cloud as a "gated community" of industrial
users, as opposed to a public cloud infrastructure open to
anyone.
Some GE customers have begun using Predix Cloud with a broad
launch set for the fourth quarter, Ruh said.
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Editing by Bernard
Orr)
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