Siemens, IBM and Red Hat launch cloud initiative

Siemens, IBM and Red Hat have launched a new collaboration that will use a hybrid cloud designed to deliver what they say is an open, flexible and more secure solution for manufacturers and plant operators to “drive real-time value from operational data”.

In one month, a single manufacturing site can generate more than 2200 TB of data, according to a report by IBM — yet most data goes unanalysed.

Through the joint initiative, Siemens Digital Industries Software will apply IBM’s open hybrid cloud approach, built on Red Hat OpenShift, to extend the deployment flexibility of MindSphere, the IIoT-as-a-service solution from Siemens.

This will enable Siemens customers to run MindSphere on-premise, unlocking speed and agility in factory and plant operations, as well as through the cloud for seamless product support, updates and enterprise connectivity.

“Today’s manufacturers require agility and flexibility to meet expectations for higher quality products with shorter production cycles,” said Raymond Kok, Senior Vice President of Cloud Application Solutions for Siemens Digital Industries Software. “MindSphere already provides customers with data-driven insights to strengthen operations through Industrial IoT. Through our work with IBM and Red Hat, we can now offer customers the flexibility to choose to operate MindSphere on-premise or in the cloud to best meet their distinct operational needs and become more efficient, nimble and responsive to today’s marketplace.”

MindSphere is used by organisations to collect and analyse real-time sensor data from products, plants, systems and machines, enabling users to optimise products, production assets and manufacturing processes along the entire value chain to build a real-time digital twin.

By adopting Red Hat OpenShift, users will have the flexibility to run MindSphere solutions locally in a private cloud or in future applications through a hybrid, multi-cloud model, as well as enabling field to enterprise insights.

“We see that most industrial data is generated outside of IT — in manufacturing operations, supply chains or connected products — yet to leverage digital technologies, manufacturers choose to either send data up to their enterprise cloud or bring the technology down,” said Manish Chawla, Industry General Manager, Energy, Resources, and Manufacturing at IBM. “Our collaboration with Siemens uses hybrid cloud and is being engineered to deliver manufacturers the best of both worlds: autonomy, speed and control over shop-floor data processed at the edge, as well as seamless connection to the enterprise.”

“Our collaboration with Siemens helps streamline operations in manufacturing by bringing the leading Kubernetes platform and an open hybrid approach,” said Darrell Jordan-Smith, Senior Vice President, Industries and Global Accounts, Red Hat. “With Red Hat OpenShift as the underlying platform for MindSphere, we reduce complexity by providing manufacturers one unified method to deploy and operate MindSphere onsite or in the cloud. This allows manufacturing leaders to focus on innovation and drive maximum business results.”

To help operationalise the capabilities and reduce IT risk, IBM Global Business Services and Global Technology Services consultants will serve as a provider for managed services and IoT solutions for Siemens’s MindSphere customers.

Through this offering, Siemens and IBM enable customers to retain full physical control of their data to better cope with regulatory requirements and data privacy.

The announcement builds on a longstanding relationship between IBM and Siemens, including, most recently, the introduction of a joint solution with IBM Maximo that extends the operating life cycle of industrial products and machinery by bringing together engineering, operations and maintenance data into one platform.