Siemens' MindSphere: Progressing Leader in Industrial IoT Software Platforms

• At IoT World, Siemens’ industrial IoT platform MindSphere snagged an award in the “Achievements in IoT Integration” category.

• New Xcelerator Software from Siemens Can Build, Integrate and Extend Existing Data.

  NMindSphere is ranked as “Best in Class” Platform for IoT by PAC.

• One of the main benefits of implementing third party policies is that they solve issues around accountability.

Introduction

Not long ago, the idea of an IoT platform looked hazy. Numbers of offerings, many of them broadly divergent, have received the moniker. The ultimate number of platforms seems almost impossible to know, as new offerings continue to crop up while lesser-known offerings fade away without much notice.

But while the number of IoT platforms, both in total, and those in the industrial space continues to be too many to easily count, leaders are beginning to emerge. One such trailblazer is Siemens, which may have initially been relatively quiet about its industrial IoT ambitions several years ago, but has recast itself as a “digital enterprise” enabler in recent years. It is a recognized industrial automation leader with deep multiple vertical industries and domain knowledge, as well as the largest customer base across industrial domains.

The company’s MindSphere platform, which launched in 2016 and now has more than 1,100 customers, recently was commended in the inaugural IoT World Awards in the “Achievements in IoT Integration” category. The platform’s comprehensive capabilities and partner ecosystem spanning several industry verticals are helping drive a growing customer base. As companies around the world continue to develop IIoT strategies and implement solutions, they are frequently partnering with Siemens and strongly preferring MindSphere, the cloud-based, open Internet of Things (IoT) operating system, as the foundation of their IIoT programs. With data analytics, connectivity capabilities, tools for developers, applications, and services, MindSphere helps companies exploit the full potential of their data and transform it into measurable business success.

Siemens was among the elite companies that Forrester invited to participate in The Forrester Wave: Industrial IoT Software Platforms, Q4 2019 evaluation. In this evaluation, Siemens' MindSphere was cited as a Leader in Industrial IoT Software Platforms.

According to Forrester, “Siemens’ latest corporate restructure emphasizes the importance of digital industries and its MindSphere IIoT platform to the companys future growth. The 2018 acquisition of Mendix continues a recent flurry of digital acquisitions and underpins efforts to make MindSphere’s capabilities accessible to nonprofessional developers at the company’s industrial customers. The MindSphere Marketplace provides access to a growing catalog of third-party applications powered by the platform, and the member only MindSphere World community has expanded beyond its initial focus on German industrial companies. MindSphere builds on Siemens’ strength in industrial equipment and controllers but isn’t limited to interacting with Siemens hardware. Capabilities around KPI management or device monitoring and alerting are less developed than those we saw from others in this evaluation. The company continues to tell a strong story about the importance of digital twin, and MindSphere plays a key part in turning this vision into something pragmatic and implementable. MindSphere is well suited to customers with existing investments in the Siemens ecosystem but also deserves the attention of any industrial company interested in tapping Siemens’ deep domain knowledge and the experience it’s gained from its own internal digital transformation.

MindSphere has continued to grow and strengthen over the past year, and we now have over 500 MindSphere partners including Microsoft, AWS, Arrow and Alibaba, which has helped fuel success in the Chinese market where we recently launched the partner program. We are proud to be recognized as a Leader within the Forrester Wave report and will work to build on this momentum to continue to help our customers achieve their goals.

Ray Kok, Senior VP and GM, Siemens Digital Industries Software.

Xcelerator Integrates Siemens'Industrial Software Portfolio

Siemens Digital Industries Software is driving transformation to enable a digital enterprise where engineering, manufacturing and electronics design meet tomorrow. Siemens has built the broadest and deepest portfolio of software for electronic and mechanical design, system simulation, manufacturing, operations and lifecycle analytics. Xcelerator brings together and integrates that portfolio with embedded tools and databases that connect to existing Information Technology, Operational Technology and Engineering Technology environments.

With the ability to build apps that consume and expose data from a broad range of IT systems and applications, Xcelerator enables companies of all sizes and in any point in the supply chain, to digitally transform their businesses through software solutions that are personalized, adaptable and support new ways of working. Whether organizations require on-premise solutions, seek a mix of cloud-connected solutions, or want to work exclusively on the cloud, Xcelerator helps enterprises realize their digital futures at the pace and configuration that best suits them.

Siemens has a long history of delivering innovation by blurring the boundaries between engineering and operational domains and bringing together the virtual and real worlds. Xcelerator continues that tradition, combining our full portfolio of software that spans from electronic design automation through product lifecycle management with the Mendix platform and MindSphere for IoT. Unique to Xcelerator is the ability to build personalized applications that can capture feedback and performance and feed those insights back into design and manufacturing -- delivering on the promise of the Digital Enterprise across the discrete and process industries. I am also excited to be moving into the future as Siemens Digital Industries Software – a new identity that reflects our broad portfolio of digitalization software and services that are where design, engineering, and manufacturing meet tomorrow.

Tony Hemmelgarn, CEO, Siemens Digital Industries Software.

PAC as market research and strategic consultancy provides a holistic evaluation of leading IT providers and positions them in a Radar report. Siemens cloud-based open IoT operating system MindSphere was rated as one of the best of its kind in meeting customers’ requirements.

Siemens Digital Industries (DI)

It is an innovation leader in automation and digitalization. Closely collaborating with partners and customers, DI drives the digital transformation in the process and discrete industries. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, DI provides companies of all sizes with an end-to-end set of products, solutions, and services to integrate and digitalize the entire value chain. Optimized for the specific needs of each industry, DI's unique portfolio supports customers to achieve greater productivity and flexibility. DI is constantly adding innovations to its portfolio to integrate cutting-edge future technologies. Siemens Digital Industries has its global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, and has around 75,000 employees internationally.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich)

It is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation, and digitalization. One of the largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. With its publicly listed subsidiary Siemens Healthineers AG, the company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2018, which ended on September 30, 2018, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and a net income of €6.1 billion. At the end of September 2018, the company had around 379,000 employees worldwide.