Mr. Hilscher, why do we even need a community app store like the one you have now developed?

Hans-Jürgen Hilscher: The Open Industry 4.0 Alliance is pursuing the goal of implementing interoperable, i.e. compatible Industry 4.0 solutions in a shared ecosystem. We have created a comprehensive guideline for this in the Alliance's technical workstream. It describes the edge computing platform and how apps from different manufacturers can interact with each other via this platform.

In practical terms, what does that mean?

A sensor manufacturer could gain access to its sensor via an IO-Link app, for example, and make its data - enriched with semantics - available via its own app. The plant operator, in turn, uses another specially developed app that generates an overarching plant status from the sensor data of several manufacturers.

And this joint app platform comes from your company?

Since the Alliance as an association cannot conduct business itself, we have taken it upon ourselves to create the 'Open Industry 4.0 Community App Store' in accordance with the Alliance guidelines. The store provides the answer to the questions: Where do these apps come from and how easy is it to integrate them into the ecosystem? Members of the Alliance thus have access to a sales platform for their apps without investment and maintenance costs. The long-term goal is to create a harmonized licensing and business model behind the App Store. Of course, the App Store's offering will not be limited to the Alliance.

When you presented the App Store, you emphasized the philosophy of 'Open and One'! What do you mean by that?

This is one of the principles by which a non-profit organization can become successful. We also claim this for ourselves. We are 'One' Industrial 4.0 ecosystem with a consistent semantics that works according to a common guideline and is 'Open' for everyone. Think back 30 years: the PC market has only been booming since there has been an open PC operating system; and only with open app technology will there be a successful Industry 4.0 arena in automation.

What impact do you expect the recently announced Alliance membership of Microsoft and Siemens to have on the App Store?

With Microsoft and Siemens, we have gained the leading companies in the cloud and device layer of automation technology as members. I see this as an accolade for the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance and its claim to be an implementation community for interoperable Industry 4.0 solutions. At the press conference, both companies pledged to play an active role in the working groups. This strengthens our expertise and points the way for other companies that will follow with their domain knowledge in the form of apps.

What pricing model will the store have? A one-off payment or a subscription model? Does Hilscher take a percentage of the app sales?

There are apps that are only necessary during the set-up phase or for error diagnostics. The user does not want to pay a monthly fee for such apps. Other apps, on the other hand - such as those with an artificial intelligence component - generate ongoing added value. In these cases, I expect subscription models to prevail.

As far as we as Hilscher are concerned, we will certainly finance the App Store via a percentage share of the app providers' revenue, which is a win-win situation. In addition, we see a monthly fee for companies that want to present themselves with a service offering or free apps.

When will the App Store go live?

On May 6, we presented the Community App Store to the members of the Alliance as part of the fourth Community App Store Call and introduced them to the provision of apps and operation. This was immediately followed by a test run without a sales function. It serves to ensure smooth operation and the implementation of further desired functions. The 'go live' should then take place by the end of September.