The Internet revolution set off a monumental change in how we communicate, how we interact and how we do business. Twenty-five years later, we are seeing a rapid expansion in the number of connected objects including mobile devices and industrial physical things such as wind turbines, jet engines, etc. This interconnection of devices is often referred to as The Internet of Things (IoT) and has sparked new products, services and organizations, including The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). This not-for-profit organization was founded earlier this year to accelerate the growth of the Industrial Internet and offer an environment for industry collaboration.
As a provider of infrastructure that makes the IoT possible, EMC has embraced the growing IoT trend and I am pleased to announce that EMC has joined the IIC. EMC will work side-by-side with its customers and partners and other industry leaders to set the direction and enable the development and rollout of the Industrial Internet. In particular, EMC will participate in working groups including the technology working group and the security working group.
At EMC, we believe it is essential that the IT industry work together to define IoT use cases and develop frameworks, architectures and standards. Without this collaboration, the industry could face serious challenges around interoperability, standards, security, and privacy issues. EMC, together with Pivotal and VMware, is already enabling our customers to leverage IoT by offering solutions to help customers gain insight into real-time operations, conduct predictive modeling and make smarter business decisions. These solutions have proven to help state and local governments improve public services such as public transportation, or improve an organization’s offshoring logistics using predictive analytics for upstream inventory management.
The IoT, both at the industrial level and on the consumer side, delivers opportunities for competitive innovation and collaboration. The industry is moving more and more towards a data-driven knowledge economy. The need for agile, high-performance adaptive platforms with advanced storage capabilities, Big Data analytics and security, smart device and end point management will be greater as demand for IoT increases over the next several years. We’re excited about these transformative changes in the IT industry and look forward to being involved at the center of it, working together with the other members of the IIC.
