PTC announced it has partnered with Microsoft to make available the ThingWorx® Industrial Innovation Platform on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, capitalising on the two companies’ complementary technologies and together targeting opportunities in industrial sectors, including manufacturing.
PTC and Microsoft will align the technology and expertise of both companies to deliver a robust solution for Industrial IoT and digital product lifecycle management. At the core of the solution are Microsoft Azure IoT and the ThingWorx Industrial Innovation Platform, which together enable customers to innovate their products and operations with IoT connectivity, rich contextualisation, business systems orchestration, and breakthrough user engagement via mixed reality. Extending these services is PTC’s full portfolio of solutions including Creo® and Windchill® for design, manufacturing, and service, and Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed reality headwear.
Central to the collaboration is PTC’s selection of Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform for manufacturing customers. PTC also will be offering a managed service of ThingWorx delivered on Azure, leveraging Azure services, including Azure IoT Hub.
Customers will be able to capitalise on the many benefits of Azure including speed, security, scale, and global reach. ThingWorx, combined with Microsoft Azure IoT, will provide customers with faster time to a production-ready solution, faster time to iterate and refine, access to a rich trove of engineering data, and flexibility.
PTC and Microsoft will continue to pursue joint customer opportunities in operational settings such as discrete, process, and hybrid manufacturing, oil and gas, and utilities. One recent exemplary customer win is Colfax, a leading diversified industrial technology company that provides gas- and fluid-handling and fabrication technology products and services to customers around the world.
Colfax will employ PTC ThingWorx and Microsoft Azure for its company-wide Industrial IoT initiatives. “These two industry leaders coming together makes perfect sense,” said Ryan Cahalane, vice president of Digital Growth at Colfax. “With ThingWorx and Azure, Colfax will be able to capitalise on the opportunities inherent in the Internet of Things to quickly grow and scale its operations.”
“This collaboration combines Microsoft’s expertise in the intelligent cloud business with PTC’s leadership position in IoT, product design, manufacturing, and service,” said Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO, PTC. “This is exactly the combination customers require to unlock the value in their digital transformation journeys.”
“We are pleased that Azure is PTC’s preferred cloud platform to help accelerate digital transformation in IoT, particularly for customers in the manufacturing industry,” said Jason Zander, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure. “Combining PTC’s platform with the speed, scalability, and intelligence of Azure will enable customers to accelerate industrial innovation.”
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