Siemens and Nvidia Collaborate to Expand Digital Services

A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)
A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)
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Siemens and Nvidia Collaborate to Expand Digital Services

A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)
A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)

Siemens has signed a partnership agreement with chip designer Nvidia Corp to create an industrial metaverse - an enhanced virtual reality for companies to reduce the costs of running their factories, buildings and speed up new product design.

The deal is a cornerstone of Siemens Xcelerator, a new open digital platform also launched by the German technology and engineering company on Wednesday.

The cloud-based platform, which will feature hardware, software and digital services, is part of Siemens' ambition to grow its digital business by 10% per year from the 5.6 billion euros ($5.89 billion) generated in 2021.

"Siemens Xcelerator will make it easier than ever before for companies to navigate digital transformation - faster and at scale," Siemens Chief Executive Roland Busch said in a statement.

Siemens, which bought Brightly Software for $1.58 billion on Monday, is moving further into the digital space because it offers faster growth rates and higher margins than its traditional business of trains and industrial drives and automation.

Siemens and Nvidia are just two of the companies which are working in the so-called metaverse, which refers broadly to the idea of a shared virtual platform that people can access through different devices and where they can move through digital environments.

Facebook-owner Meta Platforms and Microsoft and others are also looking at metaverse technology can be used in business and leisure.

Siemens's Xcelerator will be the umbrella term for services which will allow customers to visualize yachts or factories, for example, before construction starts.

"We can essentially replace having to build a thing in the real world first," Tony Hemmelgarn, CEO of Siemens Digital Industries Software, told reporters.

The platform would also ensure products "are going to work well, before we commit to building them in the real world when it becomes really expensive and difficult to change," he added.

The services will be offered to customers through Siemens's software as a service (SaaS) subscription model, to make it more affordable for small and medium-sized companies.

As part of the collaboration, Siemens will connect Xcelerator and its own software and digital twin products with Nvidia's Omniverse, a platform for 3D design.



Google Holds Illegal Monopolies in Ad Tech, US Judge Finds, Allowing US to Seek Breakup

A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)
A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)
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Google Holds Illegal Monopolies in Ad Tech, US Judge Finds, Allowing US to Seek Breakup

A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)
A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)

Alphabet's Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, a judge ruled on Thursday, dealing another blow to the tech giant and paving the way for US antitrust prosecutors to seek a breakup of its advertising products.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, found Google liable for "willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power" in markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. Publisher ad servers are platforms used by websites to store and manage their ad inventory.

Antitrust enforcers failed to prove a separate claim that the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of Regulatory Affairs, said Google will appeal the ruling.

"We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half," she said, adding that the company disagrees with the decision on its publisher tools. "Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective."

Google's shares were down around 2.1% at midday.

The decision clears the way for another hearing to determine what Google must do to restore competition in those markets, such as sell off parts of its business at another trial that has yet to be scheduled.

The DOJ has said that Google should have to sell off at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company's publisher ad server and ad exchange.

Google now faces the possibility of two US courts ordering it to sell assets or change its business practices. A judge in Washington will hold a trial next week on the DOJ's request to make Google sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its dominance in online search.

Google has previously explored selling off its ad exchange to appease European antitrust regulators, Reuters reported in September.

Brinkema oversaw a three-week trial last year on claims brought by the DOJ and a coalition of states.

Google used classic monopoly-building tactics of eliminating competitors through acquisitions, locking customers in to using its products, and controlling how transactions occurred in the online ad market, prosecutors said at trial.

Google argued the case focused on the past, when the company was still working on making its tools able to connect to competitors' products. Prosecutors also ignored competition from technology companies including Amazon.com and Comcast as digital ad spending shifted to apps and streaming video, Google's lawyer said.