HCL Technologies has announced that it will open an Incubation center in Redmond to take advantage of the Microsoft Azure IoT suite to help companies answer the challenges of IoT adoption. The announcement itself is rather thin on details with no actual news about how many staff will be involved from either corporation or what the investment value actually is.
The intention is to create a center that will build industry vertical solutions that take advantage not only of Microsoft’s knowledge of the IoT Space but also HCL’s expertise in Engineering and Product Lifecycle management. The two vertical markets that HCL hope to develop IoT solutions for initially are Industrial & Manufacturing and Life Sciences & Healthcare.
Within these fields HCL are looking to create solutions within Industrial Automation, Remote Patient Monitoring and Fleet Management. What will be truly interesting is if they can develop something different though. The intention is to combine HCL’s expertise in other areas such as real time analytics, sensory data and the experience of co-creation with existing clients to deliver something new that also has sustainable business value.
Sukamal Banerjee, EVP & Head of IoT WoRKS Business Unit, HCL Technologies commented: “Innovation in today’s world requires Invention and Execution. The ability to rapidly prototype and bring solutions to market is a key to enterprise success in a hyper-innovative global environment.
“Industrial IoT is slated to be the next big productivity and revenue generation lever for enterprises worldwide. We are confident that our collaboration in this space will create some truly innovative and actionable Industrial IoT solutions which are scalable, cost-effective and focused on user experience.”
Four challenges of IoT adoption
HCL recognises four key challenges of IoT adoption;
- standardization & interoperability
- security & privacy
- change management
- regulatory & compliance
The alliance with Microsoft is likely to aim at helping to resolve the first two for its clients. With the Azure platform providing a standardised access point for many companies and Microsoft delivering security and privacy from the Azure platform HCL hope that will placate CISO’s.
One area where this is especially important is healthcare where the collection of data is becoming more sophisticated and the question of data sovereignty will become a growing topic of discussion. Microsoft has data centres spread across the globe, and HCL will be able to leverage these with its clients in a consistent, standardised platform. For multi-nationals this is the standardisation they will be looking for.
Conclusion
Both companies already deliver IoT solutions through partners, HCL with a global engineering company and Microsoft with companies like Kuka Systems Group. It will be interesting to see what new innovations this alliance will bring to the table. HCL have an approach to IoT that is split into three phases, Define, Build and Run, however this new partnership will also need to design the initial proof of concept before it can be designed for specific environments.
For Microsoft this will bring another SI onto its IoT cloud platform. Susan Hauser, Corporate Vice President, Business & Corporate Responsibility, Microsoft commented: “One of the most transformative trends affecting businesses today is the Internet of Things. Together with HCL, we’re enabling companies to accelerate IoT adoption with industry-specific solutions that deliver greater business insights, new revenue models and speed return on investment.
“These capabilities are essential to creating greater impact and maintaining competitive advantage in the digital economy.”
HCL also list IBM as an IoT partner and it will be interesting to see whether this a new and growing relationship that supercedes the with IBM or coexists alongside it. HCL are also jointly developing IoT solutions using IBM BluemIx at their joint incubation centre that was announced in September 2015.
