GE to push its PaaS platform Predix to Microsoft Azure

GE's Predix platform (also its OS) builds applications that connect to Industrial assets. Collecting and analyzing data from those assets and delivering realtime, actionable insights to optimize industrial operations will drive the company towards the digital age of IIOT. With GE having its finger in every conceivable business, it can only improve its bottom line. By divesting its financial operations and there by getting rid of the stigma of financial links makes it only better.

As to when this is Microsoft-GE partnership would takeplace was recently answered at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2016. According to Microsoft this is slated for second quarter of 2017 while a preview should be available by this year's end. Watch Microsoft's AppSource protal for its appearance.

This will be followed by integrating with other of Microsoft's arsenal, Azure IOT Suite; Cortana
s AI; Office 365, Dynamics 365 and many more. More information is expecte to emerge at the November 2016 Mind Plus Machines show in San Francisco.

Microsoft is only GE's recent partner and it has already partnered with Accenture; Amazon's AWS to create the foundation for its IOT dreams. Oracle is also a part of GE's IOT strategy.

Read more here.

Watch this year ago video relate to Predix at Mind+Machine 2015

Invest in GE and you may not regret.

Should you exchange your General Electric (GE) stocks to Synchrony Financial(SYF)?

GE received approval  to spin-off its consumer financial operations by exiting from its store credit card business, Synchrony Financial.

What it means is that you can exchange (General Electric) GE stocks to (Synchrony Financial) SYF stocks. As it stands presently you can buy with $100 worth of GE stocks something like $107.53 worth of SYF.

The offer is set to expire on November 16.

Details of this exchange can be viewed here on a daily basis till the conclusion.

I have a small number of GE stocks and probably it does not make much difference one way or the other.

However,

• GE is a much larger company with a long history.
• GE also pays dividends while Synchrony Financial presently does not. Of course dividend is only one part of the equation.
• After the conclusion of Exchange GE may soar.

Presently I am thinking of keeping my GE stocks, but it may change before November 16. What do you think?

Autodesk sets its eye on 3D-Printing

What with Google showing an interest in 3D Printing and more importantly Autodesk coming out with two important events, this area is getting heated up :

• Launch of Open Source 3D printing software platform called SPARK
• Introduction of a 3D Printing machine of its own with a reference implementation of SPARK

Autodesk is doing all of this to provide building blocks to product designers, harware manugfacturers and material scientists.

SPARK ) is open and licensable to hardware manufacturers and the Reference Printer design will also be openly available.

Both SPARK and the 3D Printer will be available at the end of this year according to sources:
This should generate enough competition to the early starters in this field like, Dassault Systemes, Stratasys, DDD (3-D), VoxelJet, ExOne and many others (there are very many to name). However many of them have suffered set backs in recent days.