IoT

Microsoft Drives to Create Open IoT Standards for Enterprise Users

March 2, 2020


Three major manufacturers are joining Microsoft and Germany’s BMW Group in an open source initiative to make the most of 5G technology in industrial processes. Not only will the project create design standards for machines using the technology but also promises to drive enterprises to Microsoft’s Azure cloud.

The German automaker and Silicon Valley colossus are developing the Open Manufacturing Platform (OMP)Opens a new window from Azure. They established the collaboration last year to create unified standards for data generated by Internet of Things devices using 5G’s expanded frequency spectrumOpens a new window . With 5G rolling out in world markets, it’s being promoted now as the driver of manufacturing in the future.Opens a new window

The association’s member companies say they’ll retain difference-making technologies while arriving at shared solutions to common hurdles. Yet their partnership is intended to disrupt proprietary manufacturing systems and help its members innovate on the cheap.

Microsoft, which built its name on proprietary software, is getting a boost by providing its Azure platform as the backbone for the project.

Architectural pursuits

Belgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, along with Bosch and ZF Freidrichshain, German engineering and auto parts makers, are the OMP’s new members. They will take up roles on the group’s steering committee and participate in projects that center on connectivity, automated transport and the modeling of semantic data generated by connected devices.

The group of companies got its start under the Linux Foundation’s joint-development arm thus, the open-source approach to software and standards. Microsoft is providing space in the Azure cloud for compute applications and code libraries.

Members of the partnership believe that so-called legacy industrial machines, some of which have been in place for decades, are standardization’s biggest driver. Without standardization, they say, the real-time networking of audiovisual data and control streams central to smart factories is difficult to achieve.

Initially, they want to create reference standards to make better use of the data generated by legacy machines. The standards will permit the machines to work with other machines and systems, a process that’s vital for smart factoriesOpens a new window to acquire actionable insights into data at speed and scale.

That’s because the open platform’s Unified Communication Architecture (UCA)Opens a new window unlocks the data stored in the legacy machines. It gives users a more complete picture of the machines’ processes, and users can glean deeper insights about ways to improve them.

Lessening lock-in

Nevertheless, it’s a step that’s difficult for many companies to take. Building and outfitting smart factories is expensive, they say. And the lack of open standards limits the return on substantial investments for retrofitting machines and production lines.

A UAC reduces those costs in two ways. It liberates buyers from vendor lock-in and it alleviates the makers of systems from having to customize their software and machines to the needs of individual customers.

The inception of 5G makes the transition all the more imperative. The shuttling of larger volumes of more accurate data at faster speeds through analytics and algorithms engines in the cloud lets control systems in autonomous machines adjust and correct themselves without halting production runs.

Cloud control

The UAC also lets enterprises in production-oriented sectors ranging from consumer goods to industrial equipment manufacturing to “innovate at scale” – that is, achieve sustainable growth from new products built on a core business – and it accelerates time to value, members of the consortium say. Transportation is another target sectorOpens a new window , given member interest and investment in the development of autonomous vehicle technologies.

With connectivity viewed as the logical precursor to digitized production, the companies are touting the cloud as a vehicle for leveraging IoT applications. And the initial criticism of Microsoft’s central role in the group is now fading.

Not only have company executives stressed the OMP’s agnostic approach to providers and vendors, they also see the onset of 5G as opening the door for as-a-service connectivityOpens a new window between No. 2 Microsoft Azure and market-leader Amazon Web Services.

Santiago Perez
Santiago Perez

Researcher & Entrepreneur, VitalBriefing

Santiago is an entrepreneur, researcher and designer of sustainable urban strategies. With in-depth knowledge of urban planning, sustainability and resilience, he's an expert in circular economy and environmental tech.
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