General Electric’s new Industrial Internet Big Data management platform and the “Predictivity” analytic applications built on it promise to move its customers’ maintenance strategies from break/fix to a proactive model based on the ability to identify and remedy problems before they become acute, writes Wikibon Big Data Analyst Jeff Kelly. As the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial equipment, Kelly writes in “GE Unveils Industry-Grade Big Data Analytics Applications“, it is well positioned in high-value data industries such as healthcare, energy, and transportation. However, it does not have the field alone. IBM has a five-year head-start in Industrial Internet with its “Smarter Planet” initiative, and the two industrial giants can be expected to compete heavily for dominance in this developing market.

The Industrial Internet promises high value data that can help companies improve efficiencies and save significant costs by better managing high-value assets. In some cases the potential goes beyond improvement to a promise of revolutionary change, for instance by monitoring medical patients with diabetes and other chronic diseases to encourage better compliance with prescribed health regimens and anticipate developing medical problems early enough to allow effective intervention.

The platform and Predictivity analytics are the initial products of a partnership between GE and Pivotal, the EMC/VMware spin-off. GE owns 10% of Pivotal. The platform is not currently available to third-parties but is supplied to customers along with the analytics applications. GE said the platform is cloud agonstic and will probably be opened up to customers, ISVs, and third-party cloud service providers in the future.

Like all Wikibon research, this Professional Alert is available without charge on the Wikibon Web site. IT professionals are invited to join the Wikibon community, which allows them to post their questions, tips, and comments, as well as Professional Alerts and longer reports. It also gets them invitations to Wikibon Peer Incite meetings, at which IT professionals discuss how they are using advanced technologies to solve real-world business and technology problem.