Even though Siemens PR seems to have lost track of me, several invitations to a big event crowded both business and personal inboxes. These were teasers for a two-hour presentation via the Web where CEO Roland Busch and other executives, partners, and customers introduced a platform and products under the banner of Siemens Xcelerator.
They began with “open”, and I thought “here we go again, more of what I’ve heard from a few other control and automation companies.” But no, this was much more like Mindsphere taken to an entirely new level. This brings together the vision of digital factory I first heard from a Siemens executive at an ARC Industry Forum in 2006 fleshed out in 2007 when we discussed the acquisition of UGS. I voiced a bit of skepticism. Kudos to Siemens management for pulling it all off.
Siemens Xcelerator comprises a curated portfolio, a growing partner ecosystem and an evolving marketplace to speed up value creation across industry, buildings, grids and mobility.
The key components:
- Curated portfolio of IoT-enabled hardware, software and digital services following key design principles of interoperability, flexibility, openness and as-a-service
- Launch of new Building X end-to-end smart building Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suite
- Planned acquisition of Brightly Software will accelerate growth in digital buildings complementing Siemens’ smart building portfolio
- Partner ecosystem grows through industrial metaverse partnership with NVIDIA for physics-based, immersive digital twin development
- Reaffirms Siemens’ ten percent compound annual growth targets for digital business
Siemens Xcelerator is an open digital business platform — consisting of a curated portfolio, ecosystem and marketplace — to accelerate digital transformation and value creation for our customers. A business platform creates value by facilitating interactions and fostering innovation between multiple parties (customers, partners, developers etc.). It enables digital transformation easy, fast and at scale.
Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG, said: “Siemens Xcelerator will make it easier than ever before for companies to navigate digital transformation – faster and at scale. By combining the real and the digital worlds across operational and information technology, we empower customers and partners to boost productivity, competitiveness and scale up innovations.”
“Today’s launch of Siemens Xcelerator, this week’s acquisition of Brightly Software and our expanded partnership with NVIDIA are major milestones in implementing our strategy to accelerate high-value growth,” Busch concluded.
Xcelerator becomes the consolidating focal point for Siemens’ array of products and services.
With the launch of Siemens Xcelerator, step-by-step, Siemens will transform its entire portfolio of hardware and software to become modular, cloud-connected and built on standard application programming interfaces (APIs). The highest standards and value for all parties will be ensured by strong technical and commercial governance principles. Siemens and third-party offerings will adhere to the design principles of interoperability, flexibility, openness and as-a-service.
New SaaS launch – Building X
Facility automation has not been forgotten. Siemens announced Building X. The Building CEO must have used the phrase “single pane of glass” a dozen times in his presentation describing the new offering.
Siemens announced today the first new SaaS offering as part of Siemens Xcelerator. Building X is a new smart building suite to create a single source of truth (SSOT) that takes complexity out of digitalization and supports customers to achieve their net zero goals. It is an end-to-end data and analytics suite breaking down data silos across domains such as energy management, security and building maintenance. Building X is a modular, fully cloud-based open software suite, with AI enabled applications, strong connectivity and built-in cybersecurity.
On Monday, June 27, 2022, Siemens announced the agreement to purchase Brightly Software, a leading U.S.-based asset and maintenance management software company. The acquisition will add Brightly‘s well-established capabilities across key sectors to Siemens’ digital and software know-how in buildings. It will be a core element of the Siemens Xcelerator for Buildings portfolio.
Industrial is not forgotten
Siemens also plans to integrate its industrial internet of things (IIoT) solutions for industry as Industrial Operations X, which brings together solutions and applications from sensor to edge to cloud, IoT as-a-service and low code development capabilities, as well as a wide range of ready-to-use-apps. It enables the fusion of data from the real world of automation with the digital world of information technology, enriched by Siemens’ comprehensive vertical IT/ OT integration knowledge and capabilities. Breaking down data silos will help companies to increase their performance, productivity, flexibility and sustainability.
