GE, Cisco focus on enterprise-wide communication

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2000

With an eye for improving communications between the shop floor and other aspects of the enterprise, GE Industrial Systems and Cisco Systems have created a new company called GE Cisco Industrial Networks. GE brings to the venture its expertise in factory control and automation while Cisco offers its networking capabilities with a special emphasis on the Internet.

The new company will assess, design, and build network infrastructures for manufacturing plant floor and industrial environments that will enable enterprise-wide communication. This is essential for real-time decision making, e-business, and higher productivity.

"With a company-wide network infrastructure, businesses can achieve the transparency needed for a boundaryless culture. Global connectivity from a factory to the business to partners to customers is the foundation for the speed of 'e,'" says Lloyd G. Trotter, president and CEO of GE Industrial Systems.

GE Cisco will use the Ethernet open standard network infrastructure to bridge the information gap between the factory floor and the rest of the enterprise.