ABB expands partnership with Pratexo in Texas

ABB is expanding its partnership with Pratexo, an IT company based in Austin, Texas, according to a statement. Together, the companies will develop edge computing solutions to improve the security, autonomy and resilience of decentralized electrical networks, the statement explains. ABB is acquiring a minority stake in Pratexo through its venture capital firm ABB Technology Ventures (ATV). Financial details were not disclosed.

ABB's Electrification Service division will use the Pratexo Studio development platform to accelerate the design of digital edge-to-cloud solutions for customers. The collaboration will help ABB's customers implement edge-based networks and solutions that deliver real-time analytics. While cloud data transfer volumes are reduced in the process, data protection and security are improved, and can run even when not connected to the internet. 

Edge clouds are hosted by micro data centers that store, analyze and process data faster than is possible using a connection to a data center, according to a technical explanation from the chip maker Intel.

“The last 20 years of IT have been mostly about centralizing computing into the cloud,” commented Blaine Mathieu, CEO of Pratexo. “The next 10 will be about balancing that with a hybrid edge-to-cloud approach – doing the right compute at the right place and at the right level.”

The partnership is ABB's sixth venture capital investment of 2023. Since its formation in 2009, ABB's venture capital arm ATV has invested around 300 million US dollars in startups in the fields of electrification, robotics, automation and motion control. ce/gba