ABB launches digital solutions offering

ABB has this week launched more than 180 new solutions and services around its ABB Ability brand, claiming that by combining its domain expertise with network connectivity and the latest digital technologies and innovations, ABB Ability creates powerful solutions and services that solve real business problems and produce tangible business opportunities.

ABB Ability is designed to help utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure develop new processes and advance existing ones by providing insights and optimising planning and controls for real-time operations. The results can then be fed into control systems to improve key metrics such as factory uptime, speed and yield.

“As a pioneering technology leader in digital solutions, with an installed base of more than 70 million connected devices and 70,000 control systems, ABB is uniquely positioned to support its customers’ digital transformation,” said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. “With ABB Ability, we are combining ABB’s entire portfolio of digital solutions and services.”

Digital offerings provided by ABB Ability include performance management solutions for asset-intensive industries; control systems for process industries; remote monitoring services for robots, motors and machinery; and control solutions for buildings, electric vehicle charging networks and offshore platforms. Some of the more specialised offerings address energy management for data centres and navigation optimisation for maritime shipping fleets, among many others.

ABB Ability’s next-generation digital solutions and services are being developed and built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, based on a strategic partnership with the software company.

“Building our solutions on the Azure platform means we can take advantage of all of its capabilities and add value with our domain-specific offering,” said ABB Chief Digital Officer Guido Jouret. “In effect, we are turning ABB’s decades of industrial domain expertise into software offerings that our customers can access through the world’s largest and most advanced digital platform. From being a hidden digital champion, we are becoming the partner of choice for customers embarking on a digital transformation.”