The final road trip: Ars editors chat about industrial research labs

Terms like "industrial Internet" and "big data" often come across as examples of hype rather than anything that actual human beings rely on. But our talks with researchers at GE made it clear that these concepts are central features to some of the services the company offers. The conversations also revealed a lot about how different areas of research feed into useful products.

To try to put everything we saw together—research projects, computer models, high-end hardware, and building after building filled with labs—GE invited Sean Gallagher, Lee Hutchinson, and me to its research center in Niskayuna, New York for a wrap-up chat. It gave the three of us the chance to try to piece together what we saw at different research centers. We found that some of the work was distinctive: the sorts of issues the company is working on in India and China often focus on problems in those markets, while lots of the work in Germany and San Ramon could be applied anywhere.

But there were a few recurring themes as well. Big data was a key focus in San Ramon, but it was being put to use in places like India and Brazil to solve problems there. The physics-based models researchers were talking about in China were used by people in India to control entire wind farms in real-time. Rather than being buzzwords, these concepts are starting to become things that GE researchers expect to have available. Ultimately, the company's customers will eventually expect to have these services available, too.