Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
The Siemens Innovation Day, held at their Central Research and Development Center in Princeton was a showcase of disruptive, “game-changing” technologies. The event was a great chance to hear Siemens’ perspective regarding high value opportunities for digital transformation and its general approach to discovering and fostering innovation through the next47 program.
The day began with keynotes from Roland Busch (CTO), Kurt Bettenhausen (Head of Corporate Technology USA), and Tony Hemmelgarn (CEO of Siemens PLM), who summarized Siemens current position as a global leader in electrification, automation, and PLM. More pertinently, the keynotes set the stage for the breakout sessions by positioning Siemens as the only IoT Platform provider with the domain knowhow, installed hardware base, and global partner ecosystem necessary for the success of its customers’ digital transformation – a lofty claim. The breakout sessions focused on specific technologies or trends that, as Siemens put it, “are helping industry embrace the power of data in a digitally connected world.” Unfortunately, I don’t have the space here to reflect on all the sessions in detail, so I’d like to focus on the one I found most intriguing: Intelligent Infrastructure. I don’t necessarily find this subject more interesting than say, Artificial Intelligence, Additive Manufacturing, or Autonomous Robots, all of which were covered, however, it departs from the typical discussion of production and process automation, emphasizing a much broader role for Siemens IoT products.
David Hopping (President of Siemens Building Technologies, North America) and Marcus Welz (CEO, Siemens Intelligent Traffic systems) shared the stage to discuss how smart buildings and connected mobility will revolutionize how the world will live and commute. It makes sense that Siemens targets these technologies. From an IIoT Platform standpoint, optimizing building automation or traffic control is not radically different from optimizing a process or production line. Assets need to be connected, data needs to be streamed, and the applications will do, well, whatever it is they need to do.
On the mobility side, Siemens already provides solutions to rail systems in North America. In New York, the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA) relies on Siemens’ new Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) to track subway train locations, enabling more trains to run together safely and reducing passenger wait time. Across the USA, freight rail companies depend on the RailFusion platform to predict where a railroad might have an issue and fix it remotely before problems occurs. But rail is a piece of cake compared to automotive transportation, where infrastructure is controlled by various municipalities and each of the millions of vehicles by individual owners. Despite these complexities, it is clear based on trends like ride-sharing and increasing vehicle autonomy, that a major shift in transportation is coming.
Siemens aims to anticipate this shift with the help of next47, a wholly-owned Siemens subsidiary established in 2016 to act as a venture capitalist, coach, and advisor to founders and startups. Next47 is using part of its $1 billion budget over the next 5 years to invest in pilot projects promoting digitalization of mobility, which it believes will lead to cloud-based applications for all means of transport. Examples include communication between smart vehicles and smart infrastructure as a source for smart traffic control, development of electric charging infrastructure and technology, and of course, the holy grail – autonomous driving.
Maybe it was the New Jersey traffic jam I encountered after leaving, or perhaps it was the ensuing 3-hour delay at Newark International Airport that really underscored this portion of the event.
The task of digitalizing building automation will be significantly easier to address than automotive transportation. The concept of Building Management Systems (BMS) has existed for decades, so the challenge for Siemens is to create a solution that demonstrably improves upon the status quo. To do so, Siemens has established its Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions concept, labeled “I2S”, and described as a, “customer centric approach [that] centers around three core components: an integrated building management system (IBMS), Advanced Analytics, and Digital Services.” By connecting disparate building systems such as security, fire, lighting, and HVAC to a single platform, advanced analytics can be used to monitor and optimize energy consumption, system performance, and other factors that contribute to the overall building performance.
The next step is taking this model and expanding it across entire communities, which is exactly what Siemens is doing. In partnership with Sterling Ranch, Siemens is developing a comprehensive command control and communications solution to service the 3,400 acre, 12,050 house community currently under construction in Colorado. I’m eagerly anticipating the result of this project, and hope it’s success is taken as a proof-of concept for other green-field and brown-field Smart Building and Smart City projects.
While I look forward to seeing what Siemens and its competitors offer in these industries, I still have two nagging concerns:
In transportation, specifically automotive, who will purchase and maintain a Smart Infrastructure solution? Additionally, the success of such a solution may become increasingly difficult as you increase the number of individuals who need to conform to whatever system is put in place. I envision a need for legislation and a crippling susceptibility to bureaucracy.
When compared to factories and plants, buildings have significantly lower incentive and cities have significantly higher hurdles to optimize operations. What is the threshold of return on investment, or safety, or environmental impact, that will compel these customers to go digital?
The day began with keynotes from Roland Busch (CTO), Kurt Bettenhausen (Head of Corporate Technology USA), and Tony Hemmelgarn (CEO of Siemens PLM), who summarized Siemens current position as a global leader in electrification, automation, and PLM. More pertinently, the keynotes set the stage for the breakout sessions by positioning Siemens as the only IoT Platform provider with the domain knowhow, installed hardware base, and global partner ecosystem necessary for the success of its customers’ digital transformation – a lofty claim. The breakout sessions focused on specific technologies or trends that, as Siemens put it, “are helping industry embrace the power of data in a digitally connected world.” Unfortunately, I don’t have the space here to reflect on all the sessions in detail, so I’d like to focus on the one I found most intriguing: Intelligent Infrastructure. I don’t necessarily find this subject more interesting than say, Artificial Intelligence, Additive Manufacturing, or Autonomous Robots, all of which were covered, however, it departs from the typical discussion of production and process automation, emphasizing a much broader role for Siemens IoT products.
Digital Transformation of Infrastructure
David Hopping (President of Siemens Building Technologies, North America) and Marcus Welz (CEO, Siemens Intelligent Traffic systems) shared the stage to discuss how smart buildings and connected mobility will revolutionize how the world will live and commute. It makes sense that Siemens targets these technologies. From an IIoT Platform standpoint, optimizing building automation or traffic control is not radically different from optimizing a process or production line. Assets need to be connected, data needs to be streamed, and the applications will do, well, whatever it is they need to do.
Roadmapping the Future of Connected (E-)Mobility
On the mobility side, Siemens already provides solutions to rail systems in North America. In New York, the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA) relies on Siemens’ new Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) to track subway train locations, enabling more trains to run together safely and reducing passenger wait time. Across the USA, freight rail companies depend on the RailFusion platform to predict where a railroad might have an issue and fix it remotely before problems occurs. But rail is a piece of cake compared to automotive transportation, where infrastructure is controlled by various municipalities and each of the millions of vehicles by individual owners. Despite these complexities, it is clear based on trends like ride-sharing and increasing vehicle autonomy, that a major shift in transportation is coming.
Siemens aims to anticipate this shift with the help of next47, a wholly-owned Siemens subsidiary established in 2016 to act as a venture capitalist, coach, and advisor to founders and startups. Next47 is using part of its $1 billion budget over the next 5 years to invest in pilot projects promoting digitalization of mobility, which it believes will lead to cloud-based applications for all means of transport. Examples include communication between smart vehicles and smart infrastructure as a source for smart traffic control, development of electric charging infrastructure and technology, and of course, the holy grail – autonomous driving.
Maybe it was the New Jersey traffic jam I encountered after leaving, or perhaps it was the ensuing 3-hour delay at Newark International Airport that really underscored this portion of the event.
Constructing the Smart Building
The task of digitalizing building automation will be significantly easier to address than automotive transportation. The concept of Building Management Systems (BMS) has existed for decades, so the challenge for Siemens is to create a solution that demonstrably improves upon the status quo. To do so, Siemens has established its Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions concept, labeled “I2S”, and described as a, “customer centric approach [that] centers around three core components: an integrated building management system (IBMS), Advanced Analytics, and Digital Services.” By connecting disparate building systems such as security, fire, lighting, and HVAC to a single platform, advanced analytics can be used to monitor and optimize energy consumption, system performance, and other factors that contribute to the overall building performance.
The next step is taking this model and expanding it across entire communities, which is exactly what Siemens is doing. In partnership with Sterling Ranch, Siemens is developing a comprehensive command control and communications solution to service the 3,400 acre, 12,050 house community currently under construction in Colorado. I’m eagerly anticipating the result of this project, and hope it’s success is taken as a proof-of concept for other green-field and brown-field Smart Building and Smart City projects.
Some Questions to be Answered
While I look forward to seeing what Siemens and its competitors offer in these industries, I still have two nagging concerns:
In transportation, specifically automotive, who will purchase and maintain a Smart Infrastructure solution? Additionally, the success of such a solution may become increasingly difficult as you increase the number of individuals who need to conform to whatever system is put in place. I envision a need for legislation and a crippling susceptibility to bureaucracy.
When compared to factories and plants, buildings have significantly lower incentive and cities have significantly higher hurdles to optimize operations. What is the threshold of return on investment, or safety, or environmental impact, that will compel these customers to go digital?