Kepware on IoT Alliance & Silence Falls on Schneider & AVEVA [Roundup]

Kepware Forms IoT Alliance

Kepware has pulled out all of the stops to further indulge into the Internet of Things (IoT) space. Partnering with 10 organizations Kepware has launched the IoT Alliance program, which is a program that is set on molding the guidance on the IoT industry, and being a part of the global IoT growth. Among the ten IoT savvy alliance members are Aizoon, Altizon, DeviceLynk, Falkonry, Informatica, IoT Technology Solutions, mnubo, Perseus, Splunk, and ThingWorx.

Each alliance partner is said to have access to industrial data from the KEPServerEX and insight to the product roadmap. The Kepware CEO, Tony Paine sees great things arising from the alliance sayin, “The IoT Alliance has the potential to be a disruptive force in the industrial automation market. By collaborating closely with Kepware and fellow alliance members, we have the capability to release new, innovative and proven solutions—reducing risk and accelerating time to market.” To read more on the IoT Alliance and what Kepware plans to have come from it click here.

Schneider and AVEVA Terminate Discussion

The AVEVA Group, an engineering design and software solution organization, and Schneider Electric, a electricity and automation giant, have discontinued the discussion regarding a non-official agreement of harmonizing Schneider Electric industrial software assets with AVEVA. The conversation first took place in July, 2015.

Commenting on the transaction is LNS Research Principal Analyst, Dan Miklovic saying, “the AVEVA Group and Schneider Electric tie-up represented an opportunity to increase competition in the asset lifecycle support market. The combination of the two companies would have resulted in a cradle-to-grave asset performance management (APM) solution set that is rare in the marketplace today. However this deal’s collapse does not represent any significant risk to existing or future Schneider Electric customers. The company still has a suite of APM solutions that many will find suitable to manage their asset-intensive businesses.” To read more on the transaction between the two organizations click here.

Joy Global Takes Major Profit Loss

Joy Global Incorporated, a mining equipment manufacturer, took a loss in the fourth quarter as it compensated for the fiscal year. The company reported a $1.32 billion loss, down nearly 25% compared to last year’s fourth quarter revenue.

As the mining industry has reduced production due to the commodities downturn, they have cut back on investing in equipment. According to the Institute of Energy Research, many power plants have been shut down in recent years or are planned to close, and are not likely to return due to more energy efficient, or green solutions. Joy Global, identifying the decrease, has cut back on production of equipment to avoid a larger loss than manufacturing equipment with no ROI. To read more on the loss of profit and decrease in shares click here.

Watson, Is That You?

IBM announced it upgraded its Watson system, a technology platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to process data. The improved system will to not only help doctors and financial professionals, it will now help clients sort and organize through Big Data received by Smart Connected Assets that are connected to the IoT. According to IBM, the program is set to have improved services that consist of an API that conducts voice recognition with clients, services to machine learning and predictive analytics, facilitates video and image recognition, and a textual analytics amenity that can provide meaning from unstructured text-based data.

The new features will help connect clients to the IoT and vital information amongst the Big Data obtained from Smart Connected Assets, and take it a step further with the stream of services. To read more of what to expect from IBM’s Watson click here.

Understand the capabilities of twenty of the leading vendors in the APM space by downloading our APM Solutions Section Guide. The guide contains comparison charts for the factors listed above and the detailed profiles of the twenty vendors ranging from automation companies, to enterprise software providers and includes many specialized APM solutions as well.