Intel has teamed up with Cisco, IBM, AT&T and General Electric to form the Industrial Internet Consortium, which the companies describe as an open grop whose goal is to break down technology silos, improve access to big data and integrate physical and digital worlds.

The consortium said it will enable organizations to more easily connect and optimize assets, operations and data to drive agility and to unlock business value across all industrial sectors.

Industrial internet applications, the companies said, is a foundational element for accelerating the Internet of Things, the idea that many of the world's devices will be interconnected and produce data that can be used to derive value.

Janos Sztipanovits, professor of engineering and director of Vanderbilt University's Institute for Software Integrated Systems, said the industry was at the beginning of a major shift at the intersection of cyber and physical worlds that would have wide-reaching implications for companies and for humanity as a whole.

“Academia and industry understand the need to identify and establish new foundations, common frameworks and standards for the Industrial Internet, and are looking to the IIC to ensure that these efforts come together into a cohesive whole,” he said in a statement.

The consortium is non-profit and has an open-membership policy. Each of the founding members will hold a permanent seat on its steering committee where they will be joined by four more elected members.

Its charter includes things like using existing and creating new industry use cases and test beds for real-world applications, creating best practices, reference architectures, case studies and standards requirements to ease deployment of connected technologies.

The organization wants to influence the global standards development process for internet and industrial systems. It plans to facilitate open forums to share and exchange ideas, practices, lessons and insights.