The Open Industry 4.0 Alliance is an association of companies with the aim of promoting digitalization on the shop floor. By joining the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, two major global players, Microsoft and Siemens, are now demonstrating their commitment to openness in the industry. Joining also underlines the Alliance's concept.

"As the digital transformation is progressing rapidly and technologies such as edge computing, AI and blockchain are setting new standards, the addition of Siemens and Microsoft is particularly valuable," says Nils Herzberg, CEO of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance and Global Head Strategic Partnerships for Digital Supply Chain and Industry 4.0 at SAP.

From the cloud to the edge with Microsoft

Microsoft has been helping the manufacturing industry realize the full business value of IT and OT for decades. Microsoft Azure cloud, edge and AI technologies and joint innovations with Microsoft partners have helped connect billions of different devices in plants, process vast amounts of real-time data and enable the seamless interaction of people, assets, workflows and business processes.

"Our participation in the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance complements our long-standing commitment to industry alliances such as the OPC Foundation and the Open Manufacturing Platform," emphasizes Ulrich Homann, Corporate Vice President, Cloud + AI, at Microsoft. "Together, we can help companies transform silos and productivity constraints into resilient operations and data-driven, integrated solutions across the supply chain. By leveraging cloud, edge and AI capabilities through open standards, manufacturers are able to reach the next level of productivity, enable customers to realize business benefits faster and respond with agility to changing market demands."

From the edge to the cloud with Siemens

With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, Siemens is driving digital transformation across all industries, in the discrete and process industries. By linking data from operational technology (OT) with information technology (IT), a continuous cycle of optimization is created - across the entire life cycle of products and production. From IoT services with MindSphere to Industrial Edge, Siemens helps its customers to improve processes and drive sustainable innovation. For example, customers can use IoT applications to make production processes more flexible and energy-efficient.

"Achieving the next industrial revolution requires a powerful ecosystem. We are therefore delighted to join the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. By improving interoperability, we are jointly laying the foundation for the development of new IoT applications and business models so that all users can benefit from Industry 4.0," explains Stefan Gierse, Head of Strategy & Technology at Siemens Digital Industries.