GE and Cisco Collaborate to Accelerate ManufacturingProductivity

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To create the factory of the future where machines workefficiently and intelligently with increased speed, less waste and no unplanned downtime, GE andCisco have teamed up to develop a set of best practices for deploying GEs Brilliant ManufacturingSuite within a modern Cisco IT environment. This reference architecture from GE and Cisco,Architecting a Robust Manufacturing Network for the Internet of Things, provides a blueprint forcombining GEs digital industrial strength with Ciscos flexible and highly-secure networkinginfrastructure in order to create a digital thread that will capture machine data on the factory floor.

This solution will marry GE manufacturing software that provides real-time, role-based dashboardsto deliver more products, faster and with increased quality, with Ciscos highly secure, contemporarynetworking technology. It will lay the foundation for brilliant machines that communicate, share dataand insights with other machines and the humans that rely on them.

In order to start down the path to becoming a Brilliant Factory, the first step is to deploy a modernIT infrastructure, said James Beilstein, CIO for Advanced Manufacturing Deployment for GEsmanufacturing facilities worldwide. This infrastructure will give our plants the flexibility andsecurity needed to develop a digital thread from product design to shipping. Cisco is part of GEsBrilliant Factory architecture.

More than ever, manufacturers need to find ways to improve quality, speed, and utilization, andthere is a dramatic increase in demand for real-time insights across manufacturing systems, saidKate Johnson, Chief Commercial Officer for GE Digital. Factory digitization capabilities areimproving, and compute and connectivity prices are falling, but many companies are hamstrung bylegacy IT infrastructure. Our joint GE-Cisco solution creates a state-of-the-art joint information andoperations technology architecture necessary for machines to adapt, predict and diagnose their ownfailure, deployable in todays real world manufacturing environments.

Manufacturers are looking for ways technology can help them to achieve key outcomes of reducingdowntime, and increasing efficiency and output. In addition, they are focused on increasing productquality and safety, and reducing energy consumption and waste. GEs Brilliant Factory solutions usebig data, software, sensors, controllers and robotics to increase productivity and deliver asset andoperations optimization.

Based on a recent survey, 47% of manufacturers are still trying to figure out how to take advantageof the Industrial Internet of Things, said Matthew Littlefield, President and Principal Analyst for LNSResearch. Has this been going upon regarding years? I'm curious in order to know what thebackstory truly can be here.GE and Cisco can help address this gap with best practices for deployinga modern and flexible IP-based industrial networking infrastructure. This can be used bymanufacturers to help accelerate time to market, improve operations and support the cloud, big dataanalytics, and software applications being deployed in next generation manufacturing.

We are honored to be collaborating with GE to enable their first 100 brilliant factories," said TonyShakib, VP of the IoE Vertical Solutions Group at Cisco. "Moving data from machines and assets onthe factory floor through a highly-secure Cisco network and edge compute will help provide arepeatable and scalable reference architecture that we believe will be the blueprint for GE's BrilliantFactories and a model for the industry. Were excited to take this important step together as two

industry leaders work to make the Internet of Things (IoT) a reality in manufacturing."

This go-to-market partnership builds on GEs and Ciscos strategy to seamlessly connect the growingnumber of machines to the Industrial Internet. Last year, GE and Cisco announced they areintegrating Predix software on Cisco networking products to enable the collection and analysis ofasset performance and operational data anywhere in the network. One of the first of these devices isa Predix-ready Cisco router in a ruggedized form-factor for harsh environments such as oil and gasfacilities.

For more information, click here. To download a copy of the Architecting a Robust ManufacturingNetwork for the Internet of Things white paper, click here.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) is the worlds Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organizedaround a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares andaccesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuelsinnovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale,GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities oftomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected.For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in theU.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found atwww.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of theirrespective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship betweenCisco and any other company.

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