POWER January 2016 - 31

2016 INDUSTRY FORECAST
4. The promise of Predix. These Predix-ready
devices were on display at Minds +
Machines. GE's Predix platform promises to
connect power generation to the Industrial Internet
to enable more robust data management,
analysis, and decision-making. Source: POWER/
Gail Reitenbach
services that sit on that platform for asset operator
convenience.
Luminant is one generator that currently operates
its own monitoring and diagnostics (M&D)
center, using software from a number of vendors,
including GE. Luminant's Clinton Carter, director
of operations services, told me after his M+M
presentation that rather than seeing GE as a competitor,
his company may consider Predix as the
next platform for its M&D center as it could integrate
multiple vendor services.
In mid-December, GE announced it had
signed 15 Predix customers in the previous
90 days.
Hype and Reality
GE predicts that by 2020, across all industrial
verticals (not just power), thanks to the IIoT:
GE is in the process of migrating into Predix.
Predix, Ayres said, connects " the sensor to
the boardroom " for real-time decisions and
actions, from asset performance management
to running scenarios. You could, for example,
decide that market signals justify pushing a
turbine just beyond its design limits, even if
it means moving up the date for an overhaul,
because the opportunity for selling power at
a premium price is so great.
In one of his M+M presentations, Bell explained
that Predix can run in a box on site
(Figure 4), in the cloud (see " Using the Cloud
for Speed and Scale " ), or as a platform that
bridges the OT and IT divide.
GE envisions competitors writing apps for
the Predix platform-what it calls its " co-innovation "
concept. In essence, GE provides
the integration platform while any number of
other companies can develop capabilities and
■ Its customers will have realized $1 billion
in productivity savings.
■ The industrial app economy, powered by
Predix, will be worth $225 billion.
■ More than 100,000 developers will be
building on Predix.
■ The Predix marketplace will have more
than 500,000 apps.
The previously mentioned McKinsey report
suggests that the hype around the IIoT " may
actually understate the full potential, " but it also
notes that " capturing it will require an understanding
of where real value can be created and
a successful effort to address a set of systems
issues, including interoperability. " Whether
GE is creating a " killer platform " (rather than
just a " killer app " ) remains to be seen.
GE claims there is nothing like Predix in
Using the Cloud for Speed and Scale
By now, cloud computing is a familiar
tool for a wide variety of industries, but
it's been slower to take off in the power
sector. As increasing numbers of sensors
collect ever-more plant data to integrate
with data in historians, business office
systems, and external data feeds (weather,
market prices, and so on), the ability
to seamlessly integrate, access, and manipulate
those data streams for faster operational
and business decisions becomes
more important. For many, cloud computing
is the solution.
Though there is some variation among
cloud service providers, in general, you can
think of the cloud as off-site data storage
and computing power that is metered like
power (you pay for what you use), is manJanuary
2016 | POWER
aged by a specialist who is responsible for
up-time, is rapidly scaleable, and enables
your enterprise to add and subtract services
and applications as needed.
GE and many of its partners are using
Cloud Foundry as the platform to develop
cloud-native platforms, software, and services
for the IIoT. GE has used it to develop
Predix, its purpose-built platform for
Industrial Internet data and analytics. The
Cloud Foundry Foundation describes itself
as " an independent not-for-profit 501(c)
Linux Foundation Collaborative Project.
Our purpose is to make Cloud Foundry
the leading application platform for cloud
computing worldwide. " It's an open standard
for cloud apps, " open source, multicloud,
and multivendor. "
www.powermag.com
the market, and that appears to be the case.
Though GE owns the platform and has acquired
or partnered with several companies
to develop its initial capabilities, it is based
on open standards and is open to the industry,
GE spokespersons repeatedly emphasized.
That should offer some comfort to the various
players and wannabe players in the IIoT
that they will not become obsolete. Instead,
they may be able to gain market and leverage
current capabilities by jumping on the Predix
platform and developing apps for it. There
will certainly be concerns about how such
partnerships are structured, but for now, GE
appears to be the only company developing a
purpose-built cloud platform for the needs of
multiple industrial users.
There's another potential advantage to
other IIoT companies partnering with GE:
easier one-stop shopping for customers. The
developing IIoT ecosystem can be confusing
conceptually and practically, as the ARC
authors explain: " Most industrial organizations
purchase machinery from a variety
of suppliers. In an IIoT context, this could
ultimately result in a wide variety of vendor-specific
interfaces being installed, resulting
in added cost to maintain and update
multiple installations. Companies that are
considering adopting connected devices or
machines and, ultimately, the IIoT, should
focus on establishing their own internal,
non-vendor-specific standards for network
and software interfaces as new connected
devices are acquired. Companies are familiar
with specifying the types of controllers
used in these machines. Now, they need to
extend the specifications to include network,
software, and IIoT platform interfaces, as
well as access control. "
As GE speakers correctly noted several
times at M+M, developing and using the IIoT
is a " journey. " It's not like selecting an OEM
and a model for a replacement turbine. The
landscape will change as we move forward.
Innovation Won't Stop
The necessary caveats aside, neither traditional
industry suppliers nor startups will
stop innovating. Eventually, most power generators
will need to get familiar with the IIoT
or risk being left behind.
The reality is that we're already headed
down the road to an IIoT. There are a plethora
of industrial control systems and power
plants connected to the Internet today. As
Emerson Process Management's Doug Morris
told POWER, " Like the Industrial Revolution,
the IIoT's maturation will be prolonged
and checkered-yet truly revolutionary when
realized. " ■
-Gail Reitenbach, PhD is POWER's
editor.
31
http://www.powermag.com
POWER January 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER January 2016
