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How G.E. Is Transforming Into An IoT Start-Up (nytimes.com)
Slashdot reader mspohr shares an article about "General Electric 're-inventing' itself as a software start-up." Jeffrey R. Immelt, the CEO of America's largest manufacturer, describes how he realized that data collected from their machines -- like turbines, engines, and medical-imaging equipment -- could be as valuable as the machines themselves. Now G.E. is hiring software engineers and data scientists from Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to try to transform the company into a "124-year-old startup" to take advantage of the Internet of Things and offer futuristic new services like predictive maintenance.
The Times calls it "the next battlefield as companies fight to develop the dominant software layer that connects the machines," adding that by 2020 there will be 100 times as much data flowing from G.E.'s machines. Now G.E. Digital is using the open source PaaS, Cloud Foundry, to develop Predix, a cloud-based operating system for industrial applications like monitoring and adjusting equipment in the field, whether it's an oil-field rig or a wind-farm turbine. To help transform the company into a digital powerhouse, they're building a 1,400-employee complex in San Ramon, California "designed to suit the free-range working ways of software developers: open-plan floors, bench seating, whiteboards, couches for impromptu meetings, balconies overlooking the grounds and kitchen areas with snacks." And they've also launched the Industrial Dojo program "to accelerate the ability for developers to contribute code that enables the Industrial Internet".
The Times calls it "the next battlefield as companies fight to develop the dominant software layer that connects the machines," adding that by 2020 there will be 100 times as much data flowing from G.E.'s machines. Now G.E. Digital is using the open source PaaS, Cloud Foundry, to develop Predix, a cloud-based operating system for industrial applications like monitoring and adjusting equipment in the field, whether it's an oil-field rig or a wind-farm turbine. To help transform the company into a digital powerhouse, they're building a 1,400-employee complex in San Ramon, California "designed to suit the free-range working ways of software developers: open-plan floors, bench seating, whiteboards, couches for impromptu meetings, balconies overlooking the grounds and kitchen areas with snacks." And they've also launched the Industrial Dojo program "to accelerate the ability for developers to contribute code that enables the Industrial Internet".
Let's hope the first item on their agenda is how to handle security in their internet connected machinery and what to do in the inevitable event of breaches. Or they could just learn their lessons the painful way.
nt
Many years ago I worked for a startup subsidiary of GE and I was not impressed with the management style. I don't think it's just sour grapes due to my being pushed out the door, because the entire subsidiary died a couple of years later. Some kind of Internet thing. Of course it was doomed, eh?
Then again, after reading Jack Welch's book, I think there are grounds for concern. If GE is still as he made it in his image, then it's a dangerous and sociopathic entity. If it were an actual human being, then it is probable that we would all be dead now. Shades of the vicious ASI (artificial super-intelligence) in Our Final Invention (My quasi-review at https://ello.co/shanen0/post/g... as of last week?) No respect for your humanity after GE gets enough IoT devices into the market, and they still design lots of devices for the Chinese to build. Of course the Chinese involvement creates another layer of concern.
We need an economic system that rethinks things in terms of freedom. Cf my sig, eh?
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
I guess nobody's told the big guys that the majority of small businesses fail, fail hard, and fail quickly, but not quickly enough to be cheap. Anyone want to bet that within 4 years, 50% of their currently-american software folks will be outsourced and within 8 years that number will be closer to 75%?
Indian executives say early investments by GE in India gave their technology and business service sectors crucial credibility and cash when other companies still viewed the country as a risky backwater. Moreover, exposure to Mr. Welch's culture of cost-cutting and efficiency taught them business skills they are now using to compete globally, often against U.S. firms.
A company the size of GE cranking out insecure, hackable crap.
Which is a brilliant move from a company point of view. Never again they'll have to deal with warranty claims since the first thing the customer now has to do is to fry the wifi part of his new fridge, voiding the warranty in the process.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Why did it take GE so long to load up on sensors, and computers, for its multimillion dollar turbines? This could have been done 15 years ago. For the stuff GE sells, it is worth hiring people to squeeze out an extra few percent of performance.
I'm not sure what in the hell this is all about except as MBA babble. GE turbines, fixed and mobile have had an extensive sensor suite for years. Does anybody think you're going to run a multi million dollar device with a couple of gauges and an on / off switch? Maybe they're going to rethink how they put together toaster ovens but that hardly seems to be much of a headline.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
GE transforming to a startup? Yeah, and on the same note I'm sure that the local circus elephant will learn to fly and soar through the skies any day now. Seriously, as someone who's been working as a contractor for GE for almost 2 years now, the notion of them becoming a startup is utterly ridiculous. In practice the "startup" changes have meant abandoning personal office space for noisy productivity-destroying open plan offices, appointing someone as "scrum master", slapping a parody of scrum on top of the waterfall model and calling it agile.
Seriously, what the would need to do is shave off about 7 layers of bureaucracy, because right now, something as simple as trying to get QA to accept that the test reports generated by the test automation are not going to be identical to the ones that were previously used when testing was done by hand is a six month political struggle where managers of different departments have to assert themselves in a dick measuring competition. I'd say these guys are about 123 years away from being a startup... :-P
Yup, the future is now.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
"Designed to suit the free-range working ways of software developers" my ass.
It's designed (a) to save on costs (one big room as opposed to many small ones) and (b) to keep you and what's on your screen under the watchful eye of management at any and all times.
It is in no wise intended to foster worker productivity. And it doesn't.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
For the record some of us HATE this idea. I don't want to be that close to my coworkers. I can't work with people staring over my shoulder. I need a reasonable amount of privacy. Since I spend over a third of my life there, I want to be able to bring a couple of personal things and not move them around all the time.
What makes people think professionals known for introversion want to have absolutely NO privacy?
It's nice that GE is thinking about this now, but this is far from a new idea.
Predictive maintenance was a new thing 25 years ago. Companies like Computational Systems Inc (CSI), which was later acquired by Emerson, pioneered this technology.
CSI's first product line used accelerometers placed on each axis to analyze vibrations, which was then graphed and analyzed by software. Based on vibrations, they were able to tell when ball bearings were wearing out so that they may be replaced as part of scheduled line maintenance and avoiding downtime often rated in the $100Ks per hour.
They branched off into other products such as oil analysis, where they magnetically detected metal in engine oil to determine wear. Etc.
Very interesting stuff. (Disclosure: I worked for them in the early 90s.)
"You have liberated me from thought."