Bilingual·Foreign Business｜數字化未來需要的不僅僅是軟體

09-09

大家好！「外企頭條」欄目又跟大家見面了，我們今天推出通用電氣發電首席數字官史蒂文·馬丁（Steven Martin）撰寫的文章《數字化未來需要的不僅僅是軟體》。

請看詳細報道↓↓↓

在我們讀完一句話的轉瞬間，就已經誕生了36PB的物聯網數據。

這意味著什麼？若用紙質文件承載這些數據，可足足裝滿7.2億個有四層抽屜的文件櫃！不止於此，到2019年底，這一數據還將翻倍。

In the time it takes the average person to read this sentence, 36 petabytes of IoT data, (an amount roughly equivalent to 720 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text) will be created. That number will double by the end of 2019.

儘管當下，我們仍處於工業物聯網「革命」的初期，但數字化工具的運用已初見裨益：

In spite of that staggering volume, we are still at the very beginning of the IIoT revolution.

在短短的一頓飯的功夫里，GE的數字化軟體就可以成功管理8.64億千瓦時的電力運營，這足以為亞特蘭大供電兩個月。

During lunch today, GE Power Digital』s software will successfully manage 864 million kW hours of electricity (enough to power the city of Atlanta…for 2 months).

此外，我們的1200多位客戶每天都在為工業物聯網創造更多數據。

Each of our 1200+ customers add many terabytes of data to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) pool every day.

基於電力市場的體量和重要性，電力行業這一領域的競爭必將十分激烈。對此，我要大聲表明我們的立場：有競爭，是好事！

The size and the importance of the power market ensures there will be substantial competition, and let me say, in my best Gordon Gekko voice, "Competition is good."

因為競爭為「成功」設定了更高的標準，促使大家提出優於市場需求的解決方案。

Competition ensures a high bar for success and guarantees solutions exceed market needs.

在過去幾年中，每個電力人都已感受到，這股尚未被完全挖掘的寶貴力量已經給行業帶來了巨大的改變，在未來，它還將發揮更大的作用。

Anyone who works in this space knows just how much has changed in the last few years and how much more will change over the years to come.

用全球能源領域研究大拿Michael Webber教授的話來說，如今我們正處在一個電力行業未來最為清晰可見的時代。

Noted author Dr. Michael Webber often says, "Today is the easiest day we will have in our industry for the foreseeable future."

我們深知，對於當下的電力市場，進一步提升電力網路效率依然是重中之重，而工業物聯網的發展則是其中關鍵一環。

Driving additional efficiency across the electricity network will continue to be a significant area of focus for the industry, and IIoT plays a huge role in that.

簡單來說，硬體設備是行業的支柱，創下效率紀錄；而軟體的應用能夠優化單個硬體設備甚至是整個電網，助其進一步突破能效上限，造福數以億計的用戶。

Simply put, energy will be underpinned by hardware that sets records for efficiency through software that optimizes that hardware individually and across networks that serve billions of people.

為了更好地服務電力市場，我們緊握三大利器：前沿的行業知識、可靠的運行系統和可擴展的平台。

Delivering outcomes to this market requires three very specific things: first-hand domain knowledge, operational systems, and a scalable platform.

掌握必備的第一手專業知識，對整個電力生態系統的硬體設備了如指掌，這一點尤為重要。換句話來說，誰更能充分利用設計、優化硬體設備的工程師資源，誰就越有競爭力。

First-hand domain knowledge of the hardware used across the power ecosystem is paramount.In short, the closer you are to the engineers who design and optimize the hardware, the better off you are.

也許有人會提出異議，認為這個領域的知識具有普遍性。難道只要理解了發病的原理，就可以不再需要醫生了？

Some may attempt to argue that this knowledge can be genericized. It』s like trying to argue that you don』t need doctors because the path of disease is understandable.

實際上，人們需要醫生用專業的醫學知識和技術來診斷病因，以治癒疾病。在管理電力生態系統的硬體設備也是一樣，我們需要依賴專業的知識做出判斷。

In medicine, it』s the expertise and ability to diagnose what』s really happening that cures the sick. Similarly in our industry, deciphering signal from noise creates value and underscores the importance of the profession.

GE在全球擁有龐大的燃氣輪機裝機容量，覆蓋60個國家，惠及3.5億人口。每天，這些燃機機組都可產生多達90萬的分析數據。

Today and every day we will run over 900,000 analytics on the world』s largest fleet of gas turbines under management across 60 countries, covering 350 million people.

之所以能擔此大任，是因為背後凝結著無數GE發電人畢生的心血，他們終其一生打造並優化發電硬體設備，積累了相當豐碩的一線行業知識。

We can do it because of the peerless amount of expertise accumulated by people who have spent their entire careers building and optimizing this hardware.

此外，可靠的運行系統同樣舉足輕重。無論在發電、輸電還是供電過程中，軟體及控制系統同樣支撐著電網運行。

Access to operational systems is equally critical. The software and controls that drive generation, transmission and distribution are the backbone of the energy network.

要知道，從發電廠到電源插座，全球有40%的電力在其生命周期的某些階段都受益於GE軟體系統的管理。

Keep in mind that over 40 percent of all electricity on earth is managed by GE software at some point in its lifecycle; extending from the power plant to your power socket.

憑藉數十年運行經驗和對下一代技術的投入，我們在分散式能源管理系統等新興領域也成為佼佼者。

For example, being identified as a leader in emerging spaces like distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) reflects GE』s decades of operational experience as well as a commitment to invest in the future.

這些軟體系統助力企業深入了解電力網路狀態，為優化機組運行提供重要數據資源。

These systems know more about the state of the network than any other resource. As result, they are increasingly becoming the source of data for optimization.

了解電力網路的運行狀態僅僅是第一個層面，在此基礎上，數字化應用還應找出其可優化之處，並提出可行的優化解決方案。

Being tied directly to this layer of software isn』t just about knowing the state of the system, it also gives you the ability to 「close the loop」 and do something about it. Optimization solutions that aren』t logical extensions of this layer are, at best, recommendation engines lacking richness and the ability to act.

我們的軟體系統具備自動優化功能，使電力網路形成一個更加安全保險的閉環流程。這讓工業數字化不再停留於藍圖和學說，而是成為可以真正創造商業價值的解決方案。

Automating changes so that they happen as part of a fully secure, fail-safe, closed-loop process takes this capability from the realm of a science project to a solution that creates real business value.

不過放眼未來，我們將會有更多的解決方案運用公有雲。

That said, we have no doubt that in the fullness of time, more solutions will leverage public cloud infrastructure.

雲服務供應商也已經充分預見了這一趨勢，不斷開發各種工具，如平台即服務（PaaS）組件和軟體即服務（SaaS）組件。

Cloud providers are clearly aware of this trend and are increasingly building tool kits, PaaS (Platform as a Service) components, and SaaS (Software as a Service) components to address these needs.

我們非常歡迎，並將積極擁抱這一趨勢，也期待將公有雲技術作為我們解決方案的又一重要支柱。

We completely expect, want, and embrace this evolution. Even more to the point, we look forward to leveraging public cloud technologies as a backbone for solutions that require 100 percent up-time.

我們並不著眼於表面的競爭，而將專註於滿足客戶和行業的真正需求。

We』ll leave the competitive gamesmanship to others and focus instead on what our customers and the industry need.

作為行業領軍者，GE將繼續提供最高水平的專業技術和服務，在保證我們數字化平台堅如磐石的同時，為客戶帶來更多、更全面的數字化解決方案。

GE Power will continue to offer performance guarantees at a level that only someone with domain expertise can, and we will stand behind them financially. We will continue to make sure that our platforms are rock solid and offer customers a full set of options for cloud, edge, and on-premises deployments.

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來源 / 經濟日報記者陳頤、朱琳

編輯 / 徐曉燕