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Industrial Internet Competition Heats Up
The industrial Internet movement, which allows machines in factories to better communicate, thus reducing energy and labor costs, is picking up steam. The United States and Germany are at the forefront of this movement, and companies in both countries are competing to see who can devise an industrial Internet industry standard.
Manufacturing firms are expected to dump $500 billion globally into industrial Internet programs by 2020, up from $20 billion in 2012. Major players in the United States, such as AT&T, Cisco Systems, IBM, and others have started a partnership called the Industrial Internet Consortium, aimed at encouraging smaller businesses to embrace new technologies. Germany, long a leader in industrial innovation, previously created a similar group called Industrie 4.0, which includes businesses, academics and government officials.
