Siemens and Alibaba have struck a deal to “foster” new growth in the industrial ‘internet of things’ (IIoT) market in China, the pair have announced. The deal will see Siemens’ MindSphere IoT platform made available on Alibaba Cloud in 2019, to enable enterprises in mainland China to work with advanced industrial solutions. Alibaba said the deal helps its ambition to serve the global market.
The pair will start working together immediately, they said.
Siemens and Alibaba’s cloud computing arm agreed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) Monday (July 9). The signing in Berlin by Siemens chief Joe Kaeser and Alibaba Cloud president Simon Hu, was witnessed by German chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese premier Li Keqiang, underlining the importance of the deal, the deal-makers and the burgeoning IIoT to their respective economies.
The pair will leverage each other’s technology and industry resources to build a unique IIoT solution to support both market’s industrial transformation plans, which go under the Industry 4.0 and Made in China branding respectively.
Kaeser said: “We continue to build our global industrial digital network by partnering with Alibaba Cloud. This cooperation is a landmark deal for bringing Industrie 4.0 solutions to China as the world’s powerhouse of manufacturing. Our customers will be able to unlock the potential of the industrial internet-of-things with MindSphere now also on the leading Chinese cloud platform. Today, we further strengthen our global leadership in automating and digitalizing the Industrial world.”
Hu commented: ”Today’s landmark partnership marks an exciting step towards Alibaba Cloud’s goal to enable digital transformation across the globe. We are delighted to partner with Siemens and together we hope to accelerate the adoption of IoT products and services that will create industry-wide breakthroughs and progress.”
