What’s New at the IIC
Driving Membership through SymbIOTic Connections
Quantifying return on investment (ROI) in terms of a membership organization or association
isn’t easy. For members of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), now incorporating OpenFog,
ROI lies in active participation, the overall experience and a common thread that rises to the
surface—“connection.” The industrial internet is all about connecting industries to the internet
and bringing together the organizations and technologies necessary to accelerate the growth of
the industrial internet. Membership empowers this ecosystem to grow.
Woven throughout every working group and task group are activities designed to connect across
groups – vertical industry-focused groups to testbeds, liaison organizations to verticals,
technology to business strategies, architecture to use cases, technology challenges to special
interest groups and end-users to solutions. Forward progress is embodied through delivering
technical insights, actionable intelligence and solutions to real-world problems. In order to do
this, the IIC relies on initiatives such as those described below.
Combining Forces with OpenFog
On January 31, 2019, the two largest and most influential international consortia in Industrial IoT,
fog and edge computing joined forces to work together under the IIC umbrella to drive the
momentum of the industrial internet, including the development and promotion of industry
guidance and best practices for fog and edge computing. The combined organization offers
greater influence to members, more clarity to the market, and a lower-risk path to the future for
end users. We will be the center of gravity for the future of Industrial IoT systems across industry
verticals.
End User Engagement
In Q3 2018, an End User Leadership Council was formed to share end user insights in
implementation challenges and set the vision for the industry. Founding representatives from
Boeing, B&R Automation, Bosch Rexroth, Church & Dwight, Deere & Co. and TRUMPF met again
in Q1 2019 to continue discussions with IIC leaders around key challenges and opportunities to
test IIC-member driven solutions within their own factories.
End User Leadership Council participants may seize opportunities to “test drive a testbed” to
apply an IIC testbed to new use cases, showcase their organization as an early adopter and solve
an immediate problem with a practical IoT implementation directly on their site. These sorts of
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