GE and Bosch have announced a collaboration between their software divisions. Namely GE Digital and Bosch Software, the two departments will jointly develop an open source-based Internet of Things (IoT) platform and bring some notable developments for connected devices.
As per the agreement, the collaboration will bring technology interoperability and integrate major parts of GE’s Predix operating system with the Bosch IoT Suite. Further, GE Digital and Bosch Software Innovations are set to inter-exchange some complementary software services to enhance each other’s cloud offering.
GE and Bosch will together establish a core IoT software stack using open source software that will help in developing a larger ecosystem for connected devices over time. Developments through the partnership will be featured within the open source community Eclipse Foundation.
“No company can realise the IoT on its own,” said Rainer Kallenbach, CEO of Bosch Software Innovations, in a statement. “It is very important for Bosch to engage in business ecosystems and open source communities. The collaboration with GE Digital is another important milestone for Bosch’s connectivity strategy.”
Existing open source projects within the Eclipse Foundation are likely to get some tweaks through the new deal. These improvements would help other vendors develop new IoT solutions. However, some parts of Predix and IoT Suite will remain closed source.
This is not the first time when two multinational engineering companies tied up for IoT expansion. Earlier this year, IBM and Cisco Systems announced their partnership to deploy IBM’s Watson IoT analytics on Cisco edge devices.
