GE partners with Amazon for 'Industrial Internet'

General Electric Co joined forces with Amazon Web Services on Tuesday to make a wide range of data on products, including jet engines and gas turbines, available online so they can be analyzed.

GE said Amazon Inc is the first online "cloud" service on which it will start creating an "Industrial Internet" to tap a market that analysts say could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the decade.

The deal will build on GE partnerships with IT infrastructure company Pivotal and consultant Accenture Plc, which will develop applications to help companies tap "big data" - a broad term for the use of vast amounts of stored information.

"It is only in the ability to quickly analyze, understand, and put machine-based data to work in real-time that points us to a society that benefits from the promise of big data," said Bill Ruh, vice president for GE's global software center.

According to technology research group Wikibon, industrial data is expected to grow at two times the rate of any other big data segment over the next decade.

Machine-based software and services will include capturing sensor data, performing local processes and real-time industrial analytics. Wikibon estimates total Industrial Internet technology spending will reach $514 billion by 2020.

GE said its platform will run across the conglomerate's interests, from healthcare to energy to transportation.

© Thomson Reuters 2013