Siemens Digital Industries Software has announced an expansion of its partnership with tech giant Microsoft, with the hopes of enhancing accessibility to Siemens’ ‘Xcelerator as a Service’ portfolio through Microsoft’s Azure cloud and AI platform.
This strategic move will see the integration of generative AI and Copilot for Microsoft 365 features to provide increased flexibility for Siemens’ clientele. while also making Microsoft’s AI solutions more accessible.
Tony Hemmelgarn, CEO and president of Siemens Digital Industries Software, said: “Our customers have asked for Siemens to bring our industry leading industrial software to Azure.
“Siemens and Microsoft have been partners for more than 35 years, and we are pleased to expand this partnership so we can best enable our customers to digitally transform through our joint solutions.”
The first phase of the integrations involves delivering Teamcenter X software, a secure product lifecycle management (PLM) solution on Microsoft Azure.
In turn, this should enable customers to implement solutions on their preferred cloud platform, offering better agility and reduced IT costs.
The collaboration encompasses the launch of the Teamcenter app on Microsoft Teams, which connects frontline teams with design and engineering through Siemens’ PLM software, with the app also incorporating generative AI and natural language processing.
Siemens has announced it is developing a Copilot for Microsoft 365 plugin for the Teamcenter app on Teams, to enable improved workload tracking and prioritisation. Leveraging GitHub Copilot, developers hope to co-opt AI to deliver new features to customers with a shorter turn-around time.
Nick Parker, president of industry and partnerships at Microsoft, expressed excitement about empowering design engineers and frontline workers with Azure AI.
He commented: “By harnessing our latest advances with generative AI and Copilot capabilities, together we empower design engineers, frontline workers and teams across business functions and geographies, unlocking new levels of customer-centric innovation and productivity,”
