General Electric Co has plans to promote an industrial Internet network that would create about $3 trillion in accumulated growth opportunities for Chinese companies by 2030, a top executive said on Monday.

The Fairfield-based company has revealed its industrial Internet strategy, and said it plans to establish a software center to help Chinese companies develop more efficient, productive and sustainable operations.

The center is expected to add software and analytical capabilities to GE China's current research and development and innovation centers in Shanghai, Chengdu and Xi'an.

The industrial Internet is a global network that combines advanced machines with key software, sensors and analytical technology.

Instead of relying on people-to-people communication through social media websites such as Facebook, the network allows machines to be connected to other machines, and machines to people, as well as machines to business operations on the Web.

"One of the things GE is positioned to do is to show how the combination of big industry machines and the evolution around sensors and software and analytics can play a role in the future," said GE chairman and chief executive officer Jeff Immelt on the forum Industrial Internet: Minds + Machines, which was held in Beijing on Monday. "We see this as the next revolution."

He said the difference between the industrial Internet and previous revolutions is that the industrial Internet is customer-based. The combination of materials and analytics will drive outcomes and deliver productivity.

Wang Jianzhou, former chairman of China Mobile, said on the forum that the communication between humans and machines is a natural extension of human-to-human interaction, only improved by the Internet. He said that advanced technology will play a vital part in reviving the economy.

According to a white paper released by GE, the industrial Internet will play an important role in the new round of economic growth marked by higher efficiency, higher productivity and sustainable development.

The network has the potential to enable China's major industries - including aviation, power, railway, healthcare and oil and gas - to save about $24 billion in the next 15 years, if the technologies help these industries achieve just 1 percent improvement in efficiency, GE said.

With a strong business presence and a large customer base in China, GE brings both equipment advantages and software analytical capabilities to lay the foundation for the industrial Internet, said Immelt.

"GE will leverage its global R&D capabilities, business footprint and installed base to expand its current industrial Internet offerings to provide better services for Chinese customers and better integrate GE's software and analytics offerings for equipment with customers' operations and management ecosystems," he added.

He added that China is ready for the network because of its significant infrastructure and massive customer needs.

China already has a great number of intelligent machines installed due to its ongoing investments in new infrastructure and machinery upgrades.

The aim of GE's new center will be to help address China's needs by bringing high-performance software development and analytics to support application development for the industrial Internet, targeting productivity improvements and operational efficiencies for customers in industries including healthcare, aviation, energy and water, he said.

"Data analytics is the key to the success of the industrial Internet," said Bill Ruh, vice-president of GE's software and analytics center. "Only by cultivating local diagnostics and analytics talents can we better work with our local customers to capture industrial Internet opportunities in China."

The company is committed to expanding its software and analytical capabilities to help increase productivity and energy efficiency in major industries, he added.

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 06/04/2013 page14)