Driving progress: Telekom forms alliances for the IoT

Telekom and Huawei partner

Telekom and Huawei partner: Shaowei Liu (Präsident Huawei Switch & Enterprise Communications Product Line), Ingo Marten (in der Digital Division von T-Systems verantwortlich für IoT/Industrie 4.0), Yongnong Ma (Vice President Huawei, DT Key Account Department). (from left)

Jun 22, 2016

  • Telekom and Huawei partner on IoT hardware and sensors
  • Expansion of partnership with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
  • Telekom uses GE Digital's Predix cloud platform for industrial data and analytics; expected start: summer 2016
  • Own Cloud of Things Starter Kit counts down to launch

Deutsche Telekom drives the progress of the industrial Internet: The partnerships announced at the Hannover Messe trade fair are already starting to bear fruit. The company's Cloud of Things Starter Kit, developed in-house for the SME sector, is counting down to market launch with the first pilot projects due to start in July.

Developed to make getting started in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment easy, the kit contains hardware, standard data collection sensors, a SIM card with a data rate plan, and access to Telekom's Cloud of Things. Its ready-to-use design means customers can, for example, monitor machine temperatures or track the movements of a vehicle in real time with no need for time-consuming installation work. The Cloud of Things is part of Deutsche Telekom's in-house multi-IoT service platform. This open platform uses stacks to connect to other platforms and partner solutions. It processes incoming data from sensors and makes the information available to customers via an Internet portal. Deutsche Telekom's IoT strategy pursues the same overall vision as its multi-cloud strategy, both of which focus on using partner ecosystems with the Telekom network as the basis for all applications.

"Digitization isn't a solo venture; that's why we don't build standalone platforms. Instead, we take strong in-house products and integrate them with strong partner solutions," says Anette Bronder, Director of the Digital Division at T-Systems . "We work hand-in-hand with partners to develop both solutions and business models for our customers. Our goal is to offer complete packages of user-friendly, secure products from a single source."

Deutsche Telekom follows a best-of-breed approach when selecting its partners and forms alliances with companies that offer market-leading expertise and solutions. As a result, the Group already works closely with Cisco and GE on its IoT platforms. Telekom is also partnering with Huawei on IoT hardware. Together, the partners aim to tap into the IoT mass market for hardware and sensors.

Direct line to research

Deutsche Telekom is expanding its longstanding collaboration with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), in which it is also a shareholder, to incorporate the latest scientific and research findings into its in-house product development processes. With immediate effect, an employee from the Digital Division at T-Systems will work directly at the research center's headquarters in Saarbrücken to assist on various DFKI projects. In particular, Deutsche Telekom is interested in exchanging knowledge in the fields of connected mobility, smart cities, and virtual and augmented reality in the production industry. In a factory that has gone virtual, every part and every device reports its status to a central memory, which in turn uses this data to calculate the ideal degree of capacity utilization for the factory. "Exchanging knowledge and ideas goes both ways – so application-oriented research also benefits from the proximity to commercial enterprises. Our shared goal is to drive forward innovative progress in Germany and convert innovations into successful products and services faster," says DFKI spokesman Reinhard Karger.

New alliance with GE Digital

Deutsche Telekom would like to use the Predix cloud platform from GE Digital, a subsidiary of U.S. industrial group General Electric (GE), for industrial data analytics. Both partners want to combine GE's industrial expertise and Deutsche Telekom's performance capabilities in the fields of connectivity, IT operations, and security to offer digital innovations from a single source in industries including production, transport, energy, and health care. The new alliance is expected to begin in summer 2016.

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