STAMFORD, Conn. - Pitney Bowes Inc. has joined founding members AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel as a member of the recently formed Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). The group catalyzes, coordinates and manages the collaborative efforts of industry, academia and government to accelerate growth of the Industrial Internet. The organization will define requirements for open interoperability standards and develop common architectures to connect smart devices, machines, people, processes and data.

As physical and digital worlds merge, organizations will be able to leverage data and analytics from Internet-connected devices to optimize operations and develop innovative new offerings. In order to help achieve this vision, the IIC was formed as a not-for-profit group with an open membership that will take the lead in establishing interoperability across various industrial environments for a more connected world.

“Harnessing the power of integrating physical and digital technologies is central to Pitney Bowes’ strategy. Today’s transformative technologies enable us to drive valuable business outcomes for our clients by coupling our hardware and software products with information and services,” said Roger Pilc, Chief Innovation Officer at Pitney Bowes. “We are working with many members of the IIC in areas such as API management, cloud and mobile-based services, customer communications, Big Data, and global networking of our hardware devices at client sites. We have tremendous opportunities for further innovation.”

Pitney Bowes is a technology company driving innovation that facilitates commerce in an increasingly connected, digital and physical world. Whether for bills, insurance policies, bank or credit card statements, the firm’s solutions help more than 1.5 million companies – from small businesses to the majority of the Fortune 500 – communicate with their customers through mail and online channels. Pitney Bowes’ global ecommerce solutions span the digital shopping experience and the physical logistics of shipping merchandise across borders in all regions of the world. Today, more than 1.2 billion people use location intelligence technology from Pitney Bowes when they ‘check in’ or use location-sharing features on mobile social media platforms.

Initial examples of Pitney Bowes’ Industrial Internet initiatives include:

“Public and private sector organizations see the enormity of trends such as the Internet of Things. By sharing ideas, best practices and technology developments, together, we will move the Industrial Internet forward,” said Dr. Richard Soley, executive director, Industrial Internet Consortium and Chairman and CEO of the Object Management Group. “We welcome Pitney Bowes and encourage innovative firms to join the IIC.”

Specifically, the IIC’s charter will be to encourage innovation by:

• Utilizing existing and creating new industry use cases and test beds for real-world applications;
• Delivering best practices, reference architectures, case studies, and standards requirements to ease deployment of connected technologies;
• Influencing the global standards development process for Internet and industrial systems;
• Facilitating open forums to share and exchange real-world ideas, practices, lessons, and insights;
• Building confidence around new and innovative approaches to security.

The IIC is open to any business, organization or entity with an interest in accelerating the Industrial Internet. In addition to gaining an immediate, visible platform for their opinions, consortium members will join in developing critical relationships with leaders in technology, manufacturing, academia and government on working committees.