Orange Business Services, the global enterprise division of France-based operator Orange, has struck a deal with German industrial giant Siemens in France to combine on industrial IoT, private 5G networks, cloud and edge computing, data analytics, and cybersecurity.
The partnership brings together the two companies’ respective expertise in these various fields, they said. The pair will drive forward the digital-change agenda in France, they said, and “seize the opportunities” linked with IT/OT crossover in the burgeoning Industry 4.0 space. They are targeting the French manufacturing sector as a priority.
A statement said: “The partnership offers end-to-end support ranging from consulting to integration through analysis. It specifically targets three major technological families that make it possible to use production data in complete security for sustainable performance: industrial IoT, cloud and edge computing, artificial intelligence, and data; (5G) network connectivity for critical uses; and cybersecurity solutions and services.”
The duo will take a “proactive approach”, they said, to provide companies of all sizes with “joint and innovative solutions for the digitization of factories”. Dedicated field support will be available to manufacturing companies in France from a combination of the two businesses. The press statement listed integrated IoT solutions for certain use cases, including real-time supervision and predictive maintenance of industrial machines and centralised control of both private and hybrid public-private LTE and 5G networks.
Initial cybersecurity solutions will test the resistance of industrial systems to cyberattacks by verifying the “permeability” between IT / OT environments; Orange Business Services is also offering industrial networking inventories to customers, listing potential impacts on all systems and field equipment — such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human / machine interfaces, cellular and Wi-Fi and other network infrastructures.
Nicolas Petrovic, president of Siemens France, said: “Siemens’ mission is to support French manufacturers of all sizes to go digital in order to gain competitiveness for sustainable performance. In the field, we are seeing a growing demand for support on solutions combining IT and OT.
“Our clients need a relationship of trust throughout the life cycle of each project, from proposal to implementation to service. It was natural to respond to this need. With Orange Business Services, we can offer complete IT / OT solutions and position ourselves as privileged partners to help manufacturers meet the challenge of digitalization.”
Helmut Reisinger, managing director at Orange Business Services, said: “We are convinced that digital technology is a central engine of economic recovery for French manufacturers. Thanks to our dual expertise of operator and integrator, we support our clients in their digital transformation in the face of new challenges linked to the convergence of the IT and OT worlds to turn them into opportunities.
“We are delighted to partner with Siemens, an expert in industrial automation systems, to offer support throughout the value chain. With the secure use of data, manufacturers can increase their performance and competitiveness with confidence to move towards an intelligent and sustainable industry. We are committed alongside them to reveal the potential of their data in order to create a positive impact on their productivity.”
