Siemens Smart Infrastructure, a digital infrastructure division of German conglomerate Siemens, today announced a collaboration agreement with Microsoft to transform access to Internet of Things (IoT) data for buildings. The collaboration will enable interoperability between Siemens’ digital building platform Building X and Microsoft Azure IoT Operations, a component of this adaptive cloud approach, providing tools and infrastructure to connect edge devices while integrating data.
The interoperability of Building X and Azure IoT Operations seeks to make IoT-based data more accessible for large enterprise customers across commercial buildings, data centres, and higher education facilities, and provide them with the information to enhance sustainability and operations. It enables automatic onboarding and monitoring by bringing datapoints such as temperature, pressure, or indoor air quality to the cloud for assets like heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, valves, and actuators. The system should also allow customers to develop their own in-house use cases such as energy monitoring and space optimisation.
The collaboration leverages known and established open industry standards, including World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web of Things (WoT), describing the metadata and interfaces of hardware and software, as well as Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) for communication of data to the cloud. Both Siemens and Microsoft are members of the W3C and the OPC Foundation, which develops standards and guidelines that help build an industry based on accessibility, interoperability, privacy, and security.
“This collaboration with Microsoft reflects our shared vision of enabling customers to harness the full potential of IoT through open standards and interoperability,” claims Susanne Seitz, CEO, Siemens Smart Infrastructure Buildings. “The improved data access will provide portfolio managers with granular visibility into critical metrics such as energy efficiency and consumption. With IoT data often being siloed, this level of transparency is a game-changer for an industry seeking to optimise building operations and meet sustainability targets.”
“Siemens shares Microsoft’s focus on interoperability and open IoT standards. This collaboration is a significant step forward in making IoT data more actionable,” argues Erich Barnstedt, Senior Director & Architect, Corporate Standards Group, Microsoft. “Microsoft’s strategy underscores our commitment to partnering with industry leaders to empower customers with greater choice and control over their IoT solutions.”
The interoperability between Siemens’ Building X and Azure IoT Operations will be available on the market from the second half of 2025.
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