Tech Titans Form Industrial Internet Consortium

AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel today announced the formation of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), an open membership group focused on breaking down technology silos to support better access to big data with improved integration of the physical and digital worlds. The IIC will be managed by the non-profit trade association Object Management Group (OMG).

The IIC will identify requirements for open interoperability standards and define common architectures to connect smart devices, machines, people, processes and data. The new group will take the lead in establishing interoperability across various industrial environments for a more connected world. The IIC charter calls for utilizing existing and creating new industry use cases and test beds for real-world applications, delivering best practices, reference architectures, case studies, and standards requirements, influencing the global standards development process, facilitating open forums to share and exchange real-world ideas, and building confidence around new and innovative approaches to security.

“We are at the precipice of a major technological shift at the intersection of the cyber and physical worlds, one with broad implications that will lead to substantial benefits, not just for any one organization, but for humanity," said Janos Sztipanovits, E. Bronson Ingram Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Director of the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS), Vanderbilt University. “Academia and industry understand the need to identify and establish new foundations, common frameworks and standards for the Industrial Internet, and are looking to the IIC to ensure that these efforts come together into a cohesive whole.”

The IIC is open to any business, organization or entity with an interest in accelerating the Industrial Internet. In addition to gaining an immediate, visible platform for their opinions, consortium members will join in developing critical relationships with leaders in technology, manufacturing, academia and the government on working committees.

"As leaders we have come together to drive the ecosystem and market development of Industrial Internet applications and ensure organizations around the world can more easily create better services, access better data, and most importantly, seamlessly connect all the pieces together,” said Bill Ruh, vice president, GE Global Software. “The IIC has been established to achieve this goal through the creation of common architectures and use cases that will enable businesses in aviation, transportation, healthcare or energy to ‘plug-and-play’ Industrial Internet technologies anywhere, anytime.”

“The IIC aligns well with Intel’s vision for the Internet of Things which centers around accelerating business transformation through a robust end to end IoT solution, connecting both existing systems and new systems into a secure infrastructure,” said Ton Steenman, vice president, IoT Solutions Group, Intel. “Enabling IoT scale requires an open solutions architecture facilitated by standards and a strong ecosystem. The IIC will help accelerate the momentum and make the Internet of Things a reality more quickly.”