Both firms will bring secured Edge Cloud services backed by IBM Cloud Satellite to end customer
Colt Technology Services and IBM have launched a joint lab environment to help customers adopt Industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing value chain.
Under this agreement, the firms say they will bring secured edge cloud services backed by IBM Cloud Satellite to end customers.
The lab, the partners said, will provide hands-on experiences for enterprises across the industry as they seek to leverage and monetize 5G and edge capabilities like visual inspection, supply chain telemetry monitoring, IT/OT security, remote management and threat monitoring.
In order to support the trial use cases, Colt will leverage its next-generation cloud SD-WAN services and Colt Edge, which is a virtualized computing platform that the company said offers a suite of edge solutions that can be used for multiple services, ranging from private 5G to specific industry solutions.
IBM and Colt say their technologies will create an environment for customers that will “optimize their manufacturing operations performance while enabling the smooth convergence of IT and OT at the network’s edge.”
The lab has integrated and enabled three foundational edge use cases for Industry 4.0:
-Visual inspection-based inference at the edge, such as the identification of faulty parts or issues in the supply chain and automatic triggering of intelligent workflows.
-Supply chain telemetry at the edge – where the IBM Maximo Application Suite identifies gaps in stocks and parts, and automates the order and fulfillment process.
-Security at the edge: Monitoring threats and protecting data across the entire IT/OT and cloud environment.
Mirko Voltolini, Colt’s VP of Innovation, said: “Colt and IBM have been working in collaboration for many years, and the launch of the joint lab is a customer showcase for the power of our work together. We’re bringing together the best of connectivity, edge and smart manufacturing solutions, reinforced by the expertise of IBM and Colt, to demonstrate how we can support migration to IBM Maximo Application Suite and power our customers’ transformation journeys. Industry 4.0 has huge potential for the manufacturing sector, and the lab is an exciting next step for Colt and IBM as we support enterprises to improve the visibility, analysis, performance and maintenance of their industrial systems and operations.”
“The partnership between Colt and IBM enables us to bring the best combination of connectivity, edge, security and asset performance management, enabling our manufacturing clients to capture the value of data processing at the edge,” said Jose Favilla, director and industry 4.0 global leader at IBM.
In July of 2021, IBM and Colt Technology Services announced a collaboration to help customers adopt an edge computing strategy designed to enable them to move data and applications seamlessly across hybrid cloud environments, from private data centers to the edge.
Colt said it was expecting to work with IBM to jointly explore innovative use cases using IBM Cloud Satellite and Edge Application Manager, designed to benefit enterprise customers globally across 29,000 enterprise buildings.
