Siemens, Microsoft Collaborate on Buildings IoT Interoperability

Siemens Smart Infrastructure and Microsoft signed an agreement to transform access to IoT data for buildings. The collaboration will enable interoperability between Siemens' digital building platform, Building X, and Microsoft Azure IoT Operations enabled by Azure Arc.

Azure IoT Operations, a component of this adaptive cloud approach, provides tools and infrastructure to connect edge devices while integrating data, enabling organizations to optimize their operations and utilize the potential of their IoT environments. The interoperability of Building X and Azure IoT Operations is making IoT-based data more accessible for large enterprise customers across commercial buildings, data centers, and higher education facilities, and provides them with the necessary information to enhance sustainability and operations.

The collaboration leverages known and established open industry standards, including World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web of Things (WoT), describing the metadata and interfaces of hardware and software, as well as Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) for communication of data to the cloud. Both Siemens and Microsoft are members of the W3C and the OPC Foundation, which develops standards and guidelines that help build an industry based on accessibility, interoperability, privacy, and security.