Cloud data lakes with agile and scalable compute let information technology teams do broad analysis on aggregated Industrial Internet of Things data. But folks working in the field need instant insight at the edge, according to Tripp Partain (pictured, left), global chief technical officer for OneHPE at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

“If I’m on an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea, it’s going to be very important for me to have everything I need in the right form factor at the lowest power utilization possible and still solve my problems,” Partain said.

Joining Partain in an interview at HPE Discover in Las Vegas, Nevada, Anthony Rokis (pictured, right), vice president of software engineering, Predix, at GE Digital, agreed that the edge must get smarter to fulfill IoT’s promise.

GE and and HPE are converging on IoT edge and compute strategies, Rokis told John Furrier (@furrier) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio. (* Disclosure below.)

Thus far, the companies have focused on laying foundations, enabling devices with sensors, etc., he said. Increasingly, GE and HPE are working together on collecting the data and making it actionable.

“Where we think GE is headed now are the smart analytics. It’s the outcomes that are going to drive those big dollars of productivity,” Rokis said.

IT and OT meet at the edge

A key to developing intelligent edge analytics is breaking the barrier between Information Technology and Operational Technology teams within industries, Partain stated.

“When we have IT teams come to visit HPE, we bring along GE operational experts to actually talk about the business side of the outcome, so it isn’t just an IT conversation,” he said.

Insights from both can be carried across silos to form holistic analytics solutions, Partain added.

HPE’s Edgeline Converged Systems in tandem with GE;s Industrial Internet Predix platform will form the foundation of the companies’ intelligent edge innovations going forward, he explained, adding that third party partners will round out the solutions.

“And now you have enough compute power in the right form factor that can all sit and reside at the edge, process at the edge and solve the problems there locally,” Partain concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of HPE Discover US 2017. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for HPE Discover US 2017. Neither Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. nor other sponsors have editorial control on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE