Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and US global conglomerate GE on Thursday announced a global partnership in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) space to boost digital transformation.
RIL and GE will work together to build joint applications on GE's Predix platform -- a move that will provide Industrial IOT solutions to customers in oil and gas, fertiliser, power, healthcare, telecom and other industries.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE, and Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited.
"India needs to rapidly move to the next level of smart manufacturing which leverages big data, algorithms and sensor technology. The presence of ubiquitous high bandwidth connectivity and cloud services enabled by Jio will be a key enabler for the rapid growth of IIoT within India," said Ambani.
"It's time we brought smart manufacturing capability into India by providing value added IIOT solutions for the industry that will enable India's economic growth," he added.
GE will provide its Predix cloud offering, Industrial Internet applications and data science expertise.
RIL will develop solutions on Predix as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), bringing to bear its over 30 years of data, process and operational expertise. RIL will also offer nationwide connectivity infrastructure to customers through a 4G network powered by Jio.
"India's potential in driving the migration to digital is well appreciated. The partnership with Reliance Industries will shape the future of the Industrial Internet not just in India but globally. The possibilities that it opens to develop solutions on our Predix platform for the industrial sector are endless," Immelt noted.
The digital market is growing at a fast pace, with IIOT contributing the highest degree of growth at over 10 per cent.
According to market research firm Gartner, there exists a market opportunity of over $25 billion by 2022 for IIoT solutions across the four key industries - oil & gas, power, healthcare and transportation.
GE would offer the security, availability and monitoring aspects of the platform to RIL and its customers. The potential for other revenue streams includes telecom, healthcare and agriculture, the company said.
