PTC Channel Chief: Next-Gen ThingWorx IoT Platform 'One-Stop Shop' For Partners Selling Into Industrial Market

PTC has added new features and manufacturing apps to its ThingWorx Internet of Things platform, aimed at better positioning its channel partners to sell into the industrial market.

The next generation of ThingWorx, which was unveiled during PTC's LiveWorx conference in Boston this week, is a more comprehensive offering for customers who want to quickly develop, deploy and extend industrial IoT applications, according to the company.

"I'm really excited about ThingWorx 8 because it's really a one-stop shop for IoT," Kerry Grimes, senior vice president of worldwide channel sales, told CRN. "We have the platform, applications and services all packaged up so that the customers can accomplish what they need to. There's a lot of good opportunity for what we're doing with ThingWorx in terms of making this available in a more scalable way for the ecosystem."

[PTC Channel Chief: We're Developing A New Operational Technology Channel To Tackle Industrial IoT]

PTC's new platform now offers native platform functionality such as industrial connectivity, anomaly detection, and deeper cloud support for leading cloud providers. ThingWorx Studio also now supports native authoring and publishing of augmented reality experiences for Microsoft's HoloLens – so partners can use codeless augmented reality development capabilities of ThingWorx Studio to create enterprise applications, according to the company.

In addition to its collaboration with Microsoft, PTC has partnered with cloud vendors to help its channel add flexibility to the device clouds, or mobile testing environments, they can use in certain Industrial IoT applications, said Grimes.

"We don't stop there -- we've partnered with Microsoft and Amazon so there are device clouds you can use as opposed to using our device cloud or GE's Predix device cloud. You can use AWS or have your own on-premise site as well."

Over the past year, PTC has been looking to ramp up its market share in the Industrial IoT space through new apps, tools and a new go-to-market channel of integrators with operational technology expertise, according to Grimes. In April, PTC lifted the curtain on Kinex, a new generation of role-based applications that help customers navigate the Industrial IoT market.

PTC extended that application lineup Tuesday with new ThingWorx manufacturing apps to help industrial customers enable faster decision-making and codeless app extensibility.

These apps include Controls Advisor to remotely monitor and troubleshoot machine connectivity; Production Advisor, providing real-time visibility and insight into production line performance and status; and Asset Advisor, to help customers remotely monitor physical assets in real time.

The Needham, Mass.-based company, which has shaped its IoT technology to enhance its traditional visualization software products, including CAD (computer-aided design), PLM (product lifecycle management) and SLM (service life-cycle management), said the next generation of ThingWorx will be commercially available June 8.

"We have been committed to making ThingWorx the most complete, effective platform for companies to quickly and easily tap into the value of the Industrial IoT," said Kathleen Mitford, PTC's executive vice president of product and market strategy, in a statement.

"With ThingWorx 8, we are taking ThingWorx beyond its core platform capabilities with new role-based apps for manufacturing," she said. "The combination of our market-leading Industrial IoT platform and these new apps are specifically designed to quickly deliver value to companies investing in the Industrial IoT."