Siemens partners with Microsoft to improve IoT interoperability for buildings

• Collaboration enables interoperability between Siemens' digital construction platform, Building X, and Microsoft Azure IoT Operations
• Open standards, such as W3C Thing Descriptions and OPC UA PubSub, will provide greater integration of IoT-based data.
• Reduction of integration efforts by up to 80 per cent, resulting in optimised building operations and sustainability 

Siemens Smart Infrastructure has announced a collaboration agreement with Microsoft to transform access to Internet of Things (IoT) data for buildings. The collaboration enables interoperability between Siemens' digital building platform, Building X, and Microsoft Azure IoT Operations, powered by Azure Arc. Azure IoT Operations, part of this adaptive cloud approach, provides tools and infrastructure to connect edge devices while integrating data, enabling organisations to optimise their operations and realise the potential of their IoT environments. 

The interoperability of Building X and Azure IoT Operations makes IoT-based data more accessible for applications in commercial buildings, data centres and higher education institutions, providing them with the information they need to improve their sustainability efforts and overall operations. It enables automatic onboarding and monitoring by bringing data points such as temperature, pressure or indoor air quality to the cloud for assets such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, valves and actuators. The solution also allows customers to develop their own internal use cases, such as energy monitoring and space optimisation.

One-click onboarding of devices to the cloud and efficient data exchange give customers unprecedented freedom to design their IoT architecture. Siemens hardware and software components can be seamlessly integrated without being limited to a single-vendor ecosystem.

The collaboration utilises well-known and established open industry standards, including the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web of Things (WoT), which describes the metadata and interfaces of hardware and software, as well as Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) for communicating 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 solution marks one of the first integrations of IoT data based purely on open standards for different providers.

“This collaboration with Microsoft reflects our shared vision of enabling customers to realise the full potential of IoT through open standards and interoperability,” said Susanne Seitz, CEO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure Buildings. “Improved access to data will provide portfolio managers with detailed insight into critical metrics such as energy efficiency and consumption. Because IoT data is often stored in silos, this level of transparency is a game-changer for an industry that wants to optimise building operations and achieve sustainability goals.”

“Siemens shares Microsoft’s focus on interoperability and open IoT standards. This collaboration is an important step forward in making IoT data more usable,” says Erich Barnstedt, Senior Director & Architect, Corporate Standards Group, Microsoft. “Microsoft’s strategy underscores our commitment to working with market leaders to give customers more choice and control over their IoT solutions.”

Interoperability between Siemens’ Building X and Azure IoT Operations will be available on the market from the second half of 2025.

Building X is a digital construction platform that supports customers in digitising, managing and optimising their building operations, paving the way for sustainable, autonomous and profitable assets. It is part of Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital business platform that enables customers to accelerate their digital transformation more easily, quickly and at scale.