The much anticipated news coming out of Las Vegas last night at the HxGN Live event was presented by Ola Rollen at his keynote. It’s being called Xalt and its a bold move for a traditional sensor company that is certainly looking to the future by positioning itself as being a leader in leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT).
Xalt is about accelerating digital transformation and it includes every latest buzzword, in addition to IoT that you can think of – AI, machine learning, edge computing, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, the cloud plus a few new ones that Ola coined last night like smart construction, smart autonomous fleets and the one he says will have the greatest impact – smart factories. He claims Hexagon is already implementing Xalt in a number of factory settings.
It’s all part of what Ola labeled as ACE – the Autonomous Connected Ecosystems. If that sounds a little familiar as in AutonomouStuff, the firm Hexagon acquired last week, then you are on the same page as Ola. He said that’s exactly what he sees coming – lots of autonomous “stuff” and he wants Hexagon to be a leader in this transformation. As noted in the previous blog post that is a major shift from just a couple of years ago, particularly as it applies to driverless cars.
Xalt’s framework leverages disruptive technologies that address the critical IoT points of leverage: enterprise integration; cloud orchestration; data visualisation; built-in mobility; intelligent edge connectivity; and artificial intelligence (AI) everywhere. It is the cornerstone of Hexagon’s ACE strategy – delivering industry-specific solutions that integrate sensors, data, and software to create smart digital realities.
“Perhaps the single greatest need in business today is autonomous insight. This means much more than operational line of sight – it means being able to leverage vast amounts of data behind the scenes, where connected devices and machines interpret what’s happening and why, and then act accordingly autonomously,” said Ola Rollén, Hexagon President and CEO. “Customers need to operate based on the whole picture, not just the big picture – something not humanly possible without the aid of AI and visualisation technologies.”
It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the development of this new vision and strategy. It is certainly the direction that the world is moving and Hexagon has a lot of expertise in the sensor side of things. The challenge will be in transitioning the company from one that is built to sell sensors to one that is comfortable with ACE.
The vision is there now it’s all in the doing, or as Ola challenged the audience with – To Take the Big Leap.
