Zededa received strategic investment from Emerson Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Emerson, a global technology, software and automation company. The move extends the relationship between the two companies, as Emerson is also a Zededa customer.
Emerson’s solution integrates Zededa’s edge management and orchestration offer into its DeltaV automation system, enabling Emerson customers to extend DeltaV to the distributed edge. This expansion is designed to deliver enhanced OT solutions while also continuing into the IT environment, providing software-defined automation and revolutionizing how customers can deploy and connect workloads within their distributed environments, the companies say.
“This expanded relationship demonstrates how edge computing provides manufacturers with the ability to modernize their existing operations and address emerging use cases driven by cloud-native apps like AI and computer vision,” said Said Ouissal, Zededa’s founder and CEO. “Emerson recognizes the role that edge will play in creating a world in which virtual and physical manufacturing systems cooperate with each other in a flexible way at a global level.”
A McKinsey report estimated that advances in data and analytics, AI and machine learning (ML) could deliver irresistible returns for a factory, including 30-50% reductions in machine downtime, 10-30% increases in throughput, 15-30% improvements in labor productivity and 85% more accurate forecasting.
“As companies embrace digital transformational change, we see great promise for Zededa’s cloud-native solution to modernize edge computing in industrial environments,” said Thurston Cromwell, vice president of development and innovation and head of Emerson Ventures. “Zededa is a great example of what Emerson Ventures looks for in a strategic partner.”
Nathan Pettus, president of Emerson’s process systems and software business, added: “Industrial environments are currently constricted by siloes and segmentation. By leveraging edge technologies built on current infrastructure and deploying software as orchestrated workloads, our work with Zededa enables us to bring IT and OT innovation together and create a new paradigm for the industrial edge.”
Zededa’s solution is deployed across verticals such as manufacturing, automotive, energy and retail. The company quadrupled its number of nodes under management since 2021 and recently closed $26 million in Series B funding.
