Our partnership with Microsoft is another reason why our digital solutions like Uptime and VentSim, are leading the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) revolution. All of our digital solutions live in the Microsoft Azure cloud, the most secure cloud technology in the world. Using the Azure platform together with our digital partnership, we can leverage the knowledge and skills of Microsoft themselves to provide world leading storage, analysis and expansion capabilities that can give our customers the confidence that our solutions are the very best that they can be.
We have concentrated our skills into providing digital representations of our skills and knowledge around rotating equipment, and instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, we have built on the best. Our digital solutions are leading the world because we recognise our own strengths and partner with those that compliment them.
Howden joined Microsoft and PTC on stage at the 2019 launch of HoloLens 2 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC19) in Barcelona, further strengthening our digital partnership. Howden makes use of Microsoft HoloLens technology to deliver an outstanding Augmented Reality experience as part of the unique Uptime digital solution, to help our customers reduce downtime and optimise performance.
The Microsoft HoloLens is changing the way we work, learn and communicate, and the HoloLens 2 brings even more value to the customer.
Features of the new Microsoft HoloLens 2 include:
A new display system that allows more than double the field of view from the previous HoloLens and allowing multiple holograms to be viewed at once in your real world environment.
Direct manipulation of Holograms with the same instinctual interactions you would use with physical objects in the real world.
Eye tracking sensors that make interactions more natural.
Log-in to the device through iris recognition, making the sharing of devices easier.
The HoloLens 2 can be worn with ease as it is designed for multi-hour use. The device is glasses friendly and the new design makes it easier to switch between tasks using the flip up visor.
Howden equipment often lasts for decades in the field and whilst this is an advantage to our customers, it means we have a vast number of records which exist only in paper form or stored as electronic files in data silos. Utilising digital technology, we developed Smart Records; a custom-built search engine that leverages machine learning to make historical records easily retrievable. This tool represents a natural evolution of a company that has always embraced and deployed leading edge innovation. Smart Records has been developed in partnership with Microsoft’s world leading Artificial Intelligence team, to ensure 160 years of enriched data is only a click away, expediting sales orders and improving customer delivery times. With the support of OrangeNXT, a preferred partner of Microsoft and expert in Azure Cognitive Search, Howden is keeping pace with the fast evolving world of AI and continually improving the way in which we can leverage our legacy to find the best possible solutions for customers.