AVEVA and Microsoft Expand Collaboration on Cloud and AI for Industrial Manufacturing

As part of the collaboration, AVEVA will work with Microsoft to Provide Cloud Platform and Domain Expertise for Industrial Sector Organizations.

It follows a previous agreement between the two companies. AVEVA contributed to the launch of the Microsoft Energy Core program, a cloud-based solution for electricity and gas retailers, earlier this year.

 

An Evolving Partnership

Following the new continuation of the partnership, AVEVA will now pursue joint efforts with Microsoft to advance platform integration strategies, a multi-solution engagement approach, and a shared go-to-market strategy. 

The companies’ decision to continue their collaboration beyond Microsoft Energy Core was sparked by the desire to contribute to the digitalization of manufacturing and energy industries.

“With so much of the world’s economy becoming reliant on digitization, meeting the highest standards for these critical deployments is no longer just a nice to have, it is an absolute necessity,” commented Steen Lomholt-Thomsen, Chief Revenue Officer at AVEVA.

 

AVEVA and Microsoft partner. Image courtesy of AVEVA. 

 

In fact, according to a survey by AVEVA, 86% of organizations would agree that digital transformation is a critical component of their company’s strategic plan. This trend would have been exacerbated even further by the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

“The upshot of this pandemic is that it has forced entire sectors within the industry to embrace innovative digital platforms available to facilitate a way of working that keeps both people connected and agile, and more importantly, safe,” Lomholt-Thomsen added.

However, such an overwhelming majority of intent would not correspond to practical preparedness, as many of the companies surveyed admitted not having a plan for digitalization in place.

 

AVEVA and Microsoft Bridging the Gap in Cloud Technologies

AVEVA will now work with Microsoft to bridge this gap, helping customers explore the value of cloud technologies and solutions like Azure AI, Azure Machine Learning, and Big Data Analytics.

“We are proud to be extending our relationship with Microsoft as we strive to make our joint contribution towards helping customers navigate the challenges and complexities that today’s volatile environment brings,” Lomholt-Thomsen concluded.

 

Azure AI for Industrial Automation

Microsoft has been providing the manufacturing industry with Azure-powered services for a while.

In 2019, the company released specific guidelines for using the Azure software in applications related to a variety of manufacturing scenarios.

For example, under the high-power compute section, Microsoft highlights details related to cloud design workstations, remote desktop protocols, and analysis and simulation.

A predictive maintenance section explores maintenance strategies using Azure AI and provides a guide to building a predictive maintenance solution.

Finally, Microsoft offers a section about extracting actionable insights from IoT data using Azure Event Hubs.

Moving forward, AVEVA will be able to take advantage of these technologies to help manufacturers integrate Azure solutions into their strategies.

 

The Azure Cloud platform. Image courtesy of Microsoft. 

 

“With today’s economic resilience now tied so closely to digital infrastructures, it is important [for] industrial organizations [to] adopt a scalable, stable, and harmonized framework to support their corporate strategies,” said Deb Cupp, CVP WW Enterprise & Commercial Industries at Microsoft

According to Cupp, cloud technologies like Microsoft Azure can enable businesses to configure, provision, and design the solutions they need in the most efficient way possible.

“Our collaboration with AVEVA will empower industrial and manufacturing organizations to develop innovative solutions for our customers.”

 

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