General Electric and Microsoft announce deeper partnership involving Predix industrial internet and Azure cloud platform

General Electric Co and Microsoft Corp are due to announce a deeper partnership involving GE’s Predix industrial internet platform and Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, a senior GE executive said. [caption id=“attachment_4176339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The logo of General Electric Co. is pictured at the Global Operations Center in San Pedro. Reuters[/caption] The agreement broadly expands integration of Microsoft’s cloud software with GE’s Predix applications, Bill Ruh, Chief Executive of GE Digital, told Reuters late on 24 October. Predix is a software platform developed by GE that connects industrial equipment like jet engines and power plants to computers that can predict failures and reduce operating costs. The **partnership** , due to be announced on 25 October by GE Chief Executive Officer John Flannery and Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, comes days after GE announced a partnership with Apple Inc. It shows GE’s ability to forge significant new deals with its industrial internet system after a rocky period with Predix. The joint effort is focused initially on oil-and-gas and mining companies, but would also be applicable to other companies that run Microsoft software, which includes the vast majority of industrial companies, Ruh said. He declined to provide further details.