Parametric pioneer PTC announced it will partner with Microsoft to bring its ThingWorx Industrial Innovation Platform to the cloud. The move, which pegs the success of Internet of Things (IoT) innovation on the scalability of a computing enterprise, will run on Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Services.
A visualization of the connected city. (Image courtesy of Microsoft.)
While tying industrial production software to a cloud platform is nothing new—Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes, you name ‘em, they’re using the cloud to expand the potential of design in one way or another—PTC insists that its plan will be the solution that makes a firm capable of delivering the ideas that, for today, seem a bit too complex to deliver on time and for a profit. To corroborate its claims, PTC turned to Colfax Corporation, an industrial technology company that provides gas- and fluid-handling and fabrication technology to global customers.
“These two industry leaders coming together makes perfect sense,” said Ryan Cahalane, Colfax vice president, Digital Growth. “With ThingWorx and Azure, Colfax will be able to capitalize on the opportunities inherent in the Internet of Things to quickly grow and scale its operations.”
On its face PTC’s decision to formally tie its ThingWorx platform to the Azure cloud as a preferred platform appears to be a great move. Designers using ThingWorx will likely see streamlined integration with cloud services and find the new state of play superior to what they had before.
But I still have one question, and it speaks to the push for IoT, whether in the consumer or in the industrial sphere…
Why does anyone want IoT anyway?
We’ve learned in recent months that there’s no good way to secure the vast amount of data we’re stitching together between products, industrial machines and more. So, why develop the tools to make more data insecure before you’ve figured out a way to button up the sensitive information you’ve already let loose?