Watch out, another heavyweight is about to enter the data aggregation and analysis software field-- General Electric plans to open a Global Software Centre at Biship Ranch, California.
It will also employ 400 additional staff, from software architects and engineers to business development and user experience professionals.
The move might come as a surprise from an industrial conglomerate best known for a commercial and industrial product portfolio including aircraft engines, medical scanners and light bulbs. Or does it? GE generates $2.5BN in yearly revenues (from a total of $150BN) from software sales, and employs 5000 software professionals.
And that's before one mentions how fast the market for data-crunching software is growing, thanks to the collision between the cloud and M2M. A bang generating big data companies needs to sift through, much like how miners sift through tonnes of dirt in order to find precious metals, be it gold or rare earths...
GE will now square it off against the likes of IBM (a recent Warren Buffet investment), SAP and the Autonomy-owning (for around $11BN) HP. The analytic algorithm ace up GE's sleeve? Deep experience in the aviation and energy sectors, according to VP Bill Ruh.
"We believe that our expertise across many industries will allow us and our customers to accelerate digital innovation and deliver unprecedented results,” Ruh says. As for the channel, GE surely represents a new partner opportunity.
