GE Digital Partners with Intel for Spread of Predix

In what began with a multi-million dollar deal to install GE's cloud-based industrial operating system Predix in Intel's Ocotillo semiconductor manufacturing plant in Arizona, GE and Intel are now planning to work together to bring the benefits of the latest industrial software and sensors to factories all over the world.

In a post on the GE Reports website, the company discussed the relationship:

"Intel’s ultimate goal is to utilize Predix on top of its own internal software and develop a joint offering with GE to streamline its fab processes around the world. GE will then roll out the solutions to GE’s more than 400 factories globally. The two companies also plan to sell a joint offering to other manufacturers that want to optimize their operations."

The vision for the partnership goes beyond even that to incorporate LED lighting from GE Current and sensors based on Intel chips with early applications seen in GE turbine production facilities and Intel's Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters.

The goal is to eventually get every industrial company that uses Intel chips — and most of them do — to connect their operations to Predix and start analyzing their operations in greater detail, says Denzil Samuels, Global Head of Channels, Alliances, Business Development and Ventures, GE Digital.

“We want to embed Predix on every single Intel device, so that as they sell those devices, they’re selling Predix, and the customer just has to activate it,” Samuels says.