BT, one of the world's leading providers of communications services and solutions, and Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd, have announced a global partnership to co-create innovative solutions in the area of industrial and enterprise internet of things (IoT).

The partnership aims to drive better business outcomes for global customers, including greater efficiency, productivity and cost savings.

The companies will initially focus on exploring and designing asset intelligence and predictive maintenance solutions to deliver the desired outcomes for customers in industry sectors such as manufacturing and transportation.

Announced at Hitachi's recent inaugural user conference, Hitachi Next 2017, in Las Vegas, US, the partnership unites BT's global network infrastructure, cloud capabilities and cyber security expertise with Hitachi's extensive operational and information technology (OT/IT) expertise, next-generation Lumada IoT platform software and integrated IoT services and solutions portfolio.

The companies' combined technology, infrastructure and expertise will help their mutual customers to take full advantage of connected intelligence and advanced data analytics to streamline processes and optimise business performance on a global scale.

Bas Burger, CEO Global Services, BT, said: “Our partnership with Hitachi will help BT to accelerate innovation and ease the path to digitalisation and IoT for our customers around the globe.”

“Hitachi's OT, IT and IoT expertise, long-standing customer engagements and its Lumada IoT Platform will combine ideally with our global infrastructure, cloud services and cybersecurity expertise to create powerful IoT offerings that will help maximise the success of our global customers' digital transformation journeys,” he said.

Ryuichi Otsuki, CEO at Hitachi Vantara and vice-president at Hitachi Ltd, said: “IoT represents a critical inflection point, in which the interests of business, industry and society are now intersecting and aligning like never before.”

“We see the creation of strategic partnerships with leaders and market makers like BT as a critical underpinning to Hitachi's IoT strategy as we move our company and business into the next phase of its evolution,” he said.

The first business solutions resulting from this collaboration are expected to be available in Q1 2018, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service