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Siemens and Octo Leverage SAS to Improve Patient Care and Driver Safety

By Ken Briodagh

At SAS Global Forum, we learned that Siemens Healthineers, a global medical technology developer, uses SAS machine learning and Internet of Things (IoT) products to analyze urgent data from a variety of devices like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) systems. SAS helps predict system problems and potential downtime several days in advance of a failure.

“Our goal is to maximize the uptime of our medical equipment at the customer site,” said Dr. Mirko Appel, Head of Analytical Services in the Customer Services organization, Siemens Healthineers. “Our analytical system receives hundreds of thousands of lines of sensor data each day, and a significant part of it is only semi-structured. Automated and scalable analytics are crucial to help us offer good decision support to our service-delivery organization and to actively drive the digitalization of healthcare. SAS helps us optimize our service processes, save spare parts and reduce troubleshooting time.”

Enterprises like Lockheed Martin, Octo Telematics and Western Digital also have selected SAS to pull insights from a sea of data created by connected devices.

“Traditionally, IoT has been associated with initiatives like the smart grid, smart cities and connected factories, but as we realize the value of analyzing sensor data, the circle of involved industries grows wider,” said Jason Mann, Vice President of IoT, SAS. “At its essence, Siemens Healthineers uses powerful analytics to help clinical settings remain more productive.”

Also at the event, Octo Telematics talked about how it works with SAS software to provide big data and analytics services for the insurance and automotive industries, collecting 120,000 miles of driver data every minute, including vehicle-use data and crash data.

“Octo is helping transform the insurance business in the age of the connected consumer,” said Gianfranco Giannella, COO, Octo Telematics. “Our solutions help insurers provide more precise policies while encouraging safer drivers and roadways. Delivering intelligence through SAS’ best-of-breed analytics is at the heart of what we do. In shifting from static to dynamic or streaming data, insurers can achieve what we call the ‘internet of insurable things.’”

Octo Telematics works with SAS to deliver multi-dimensional analytics and real-time data services such as risk scoring. These services help insurance customers better evaluate risk, price their premiums appropriately and assess accidents accurately.

SAS and Cisco reportedly are creating an IoT Innovation Lab for teaching and research at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. It is based on the Cisco SAS Edge-to-Enterprise IoT Analytics Platform, which combines hardware and software needed to analyze IoT data. The new lab will explore how edge data generated by connected devices can be gathered and analyzed for decision makers. Early research will focus on advanced energy, manufacturing, agribusiness and healthcare.


Ken Briodagh is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience under his belt. He is in love with technology and if he had his druthers would beta test everything from shoe phones to flying cars.

Edited by Ken Briodagh
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