GE and American Water Announce Digital Initiative to Help Solve Urgent Water Challenges

GE (NYSE:GE) and American Water today announced they have formed a new digital initiative to identify and explore advances in the Industrial Internet of Things to help solve pressing challenges in the water industry and help lead the country toward a smarter water future.

GE is the world’s leading digital industrial company, and American Water is the nation's largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. Together, they are collaborating on a digital alliance that will enable the water industry to harness the power of data and analytics to improve national water infrastructure. The digital collaboration announcement is being made in conjunction with today’s World Water Day celebration.

The GE-American Water initiative will include the use of GE’s Predix*, the world’s first and only cloud platform built exclusively for industry that powers the Industrial Internet. The companies will collaborate to develop the next generation of software and data analytics solutions to help the industry reduce the environmental impacts and operating costs associated with water production, treatment, transportation and delivery.

“We are excited to launch our new digital collaboration with American Water by combining our collective expertise in software, water technologies and utility management to help the United States build a more sustainable and secure water future,” said Heiner Markhoff, president and CEO—water and distributed power for GE Power. “We are developing software, advanced predictive analytics and diagnostic tools that will give operators the real-time data they need to better manage their critical water infrastructure assets 24 hours a day.”

“These are critical times for our nation’s water infrastructure. For 130 years, American Water has been a trusted guardian of water sources and a leader in the industry, providing capital resources, research, innovation and new technologies,” said Susan Story, president and CEO, American Water. “We're proud to collaborate with GE in seeking new and innovative ways to use data analytics to continue our tradition of providing solutions to our nation’s water challenges.”

About American Water

Founded in 1886, American Water (NYSE:AWK) is the largest and most geographically diverse publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. Marking its 130th anniversary this year, the company employs more than 6,700 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 15 million people in 47 states and Ontario, Canada. More information can be found at www.amwater.com.

About GE

GE (NYSE:GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com

About GE Power

GE Power is a world leader in power generation with deep domain expertise to help customers deliver electricity from a wide spectrum of fuel sources. We are transforming the electricity industry with the digital power plant, the world’s largest and most efficient gas turbine, full balance of plant, upgrade and service solutions as well as our data-leveraging software. Our innovative technologies and digital offerings help make power more affordable, reliable, accessible and sustainable.

For more information, visit the company's website at www.gepower.com. Follow GE Power and GE’s water business on Twitter @GE_Power and @GE_Water and on LinkedIn at GE Power.

*Predix is a trademark of General Electric Company.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160322006019/en/