GE Announces New Collaborations and Technology Centers to Drive Digital Industrial Transformation for Customers

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

GE (NYSE:GE) today announced new collaborations and technology centers aimed at driving digital industrial transformation. The company showcased its suite of Industrial Internet applications and software solutions aimed at accelerating business productivity and growth at the first Minds + Machines event in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey region (MENAT).

Powered by Predix, the world’s first and only cloud-based operating system built exclusively for industry, GE’s Industrial Internet and software solutions offer a 20 percent potential increase in performance for its customers. These solutions could help unlock US$465 billion in economic value for industry across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan by 2025 annually.

Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman & CEO of GE, said: “The MENAT region is among the first globally to embrace the digital industrial economy. Our partners here have recognized the value that Industrial Internet can bring to their business and have begun to implement technologies that have the potential for game-changing growth.

“The intersection between the physical world of industry and the digital world of software will transform productivity. By accelerating the growth of a stronger, broader and more diversified manufacturing sector, the industrial app economy will enable the creation of more high-skill jobs for the region’s young and growing population.”

New collaborations

Several industry leaders in MENAT & Pakistan are among the world’s first-movers to embrace GE’s software solutions that integrate heavy machinery with big data and analytics to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency, productivity and profitability. These partners include:

• RasGas Company Limited (RasGas), one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers in Qatar, is marking the first global deployment of Industrial Internet technologies in the LNG sector. This is expected to generate substantial savings through greater asset performance management and operational efficiency.
• Masdar will pilot and commercialize sustainable energy-neutral advanced wastewater treatment solutions in the UAE and MENAT region, and co-develop with GE Industrial Internet solutions to optimize efficiencies.
• Industrial Internet applications are also being deployed for predictivity enhancements and performance improvements at Engro Powergen Qadirpur and Sapphire power plants in Pakistan.

All these partners will build their Industrial Internet solutions on the Predix platform. With a dedicated Predix Cloud purpose-built for industrial data, Predix offers the strength, scale and security required to succeed and thrive in the new industrial era. GE has also unveiled its dedicated environment for industrial developers, Predix.io, which will lay the foundation for the world’s first and largest marketplace for industrial applications.

Bill Ruh, Senior Vice President & Chief Digital Officer of GE, said: “Digital is the future of industry, and the Industrial Internet is the key driver enabling GE to lead the next generation of industrial progress. We know industrial machines and businesses, and we know how to build software that will best serve and optimize them. This meshing of advanced industrial technology with big data analytics gives customers cutting-edge solutions that only GE can provide.”

Strong focus on localization

A key feature of GE’s digital industrial strategy is its strong focus on localization and innovation tailored to address regional needs. GE will digitally transform its own facilities and will support customers to build tailored solutions. Some of the key localization initiatives include:

• GE is opening the Middle East Aviation Technology Center in Dubai, which will develop physics-based analytics, employ data science, and co-create software solutions with the MENAT region’s airlines.
• The GE Oil & Gas multi-modal Manufacturing and Technology facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), Dubai, will feature a state-of-the-art Customer Solutions Center that will house the GE Oil & Gas Monitoring & Diagnostic service for the MENAT region.
• GE’s Monitoring & Diagnostic Center in Saudi Arabia and the UAE will provide unprecedented insights into turbine operations. The goal is no unplanned downtime, using a predict-and-prevent services model to customers. The Center in the UAE is already monitoring 300 gas turbines across the MENAT region.
• GE’s Turkey Technology Center is developing the ‘Aviation Test Visualization App’ on the Predix platform. The App will have the capability to process real-time big data generated during Aircraft Engine Test operations, contributing to greater efficiency for customers.

At GE’s regional Innovation Centers, customers can collaborate to solve challenges through the GE Store, leveraging GE’s scale, software capabilities, and technologies from across its businesses.

Unique approach to industrial cyber security

Predix Cloud also delivers a unique approach to industrial cyber security. GE’s industrial Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities have security embedded at every level of the cloud stack. This specialized approach provides insight into data loss and helps monitor, detect and isolate malware or malicious activities, and brings customers to a more advanced, modern place with cyber security.

Further, Wurldtech, a company acquired by GE that builds solutions to protect critical infrastructures from cyber-attacks, will be based at the Innovation Center in Masdar City. Another office will operate in Saudi Arabia. Both offices will explore co-creative models to strengthen capabilities in promoting cyber security.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the “GE Store,” through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com

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GE
Caroline Wehbeh, +9714 4296318
External Communications Director, GE, MENAT
caroline.wehbeh@ge.com