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Siemens plans to make its open IoT ecosystem MindSphere available on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform in 2017. MindSphere enables industrial enterprises to improve the efficiency of plants through the acquisition and analysis of large quantities of production data. The two companies plan to offer the MindSphere platform and affiliated apps on the Azure cloud platform in the future. The use of public cloud services means cutting out the installation and maintenance work involved in creating a dedicated IT infrastructure. In addition, Azure infrastructure services enable high availability on a scalable basis, as only the actually required computing power is used and charged for. NET support reduces the effort involved in developing new MindSphere apps for programmers.
As part of the collaboration, Siemens customers aiming to develop and make available their apps in the public cloud will be able to choose in the future between Microsoft datacenters in different locations around the world. With Azure Stack, the aim is for them to also utilize Azure services within their own datacenter: They will benefit from the scalability and efficient management of a public cloud solution without compromising the scope for control offered by their own datacenter.
In addition to Java, JavaScript, and Python, plans are in place for MindSphere to also support .NET applications in the future, which will allow .NET developers to benefit from existing applications and expertise when developing new MindSphere apps. This will cut down the familiarization period and programming work involved, and enable faster project implementation.
MindSphere is designed as an open IoT ecosystem. It can be used by industrial enterprises as the basis for their own digital services, in fields such as predictive maintenance, energy data management or resource optimization. Machine and plant engineering companies in particular can use the platform to monitor machine fleets distributed around the world for servicing purposes, to reduce standstill periods and so offer new business models. MindSphere also provides the foundation for data-based services from Siemens, such as predictive maintenance of machine tools (Machine Tool Analytics) or integrated drive systems (Drive Train Analytics).
Keywords: Azure Cloud, Industrial Enterprises, IT Infrastructure, IoT Ecosystem, Predictive Maintenance, Energy Data Management, Resource Optimization, ARC Advisory Group.