Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is teaming with GE Digital to combine its hardware with GE’s Internet of Things (IoT) software platform. The goal of the partnership is to deliver real-time analytics from the edge to the cloud.

Specifically, HPE will be the preferred storage and server provider for GE’s Predix, the platform-as-a-service (PaaS) designed specifically for industrial IoT, and GE will use HPE for its virtual infrastructure.

In addition, Predix will be the preferred PaaS for HPE’s industrial IoT use cases. And HPE plans to train 100 developers on Predix.

The two companies believe that by joining forces, they will be able to attract more clients in the aerospace, oil and gas, manufacturing, automotive, and energy industries.

IoT partnerships between hardware and software companies seem to be a growing trend. Earlier this week, IBM announced it is collaborating with Cisco to combine its IoT technology and business analytics with Cisco’s edge analytics. Similar to the HPE/GE deal, the Cisco/IBM partnership aims to give IoT customers better access to real-time data from the cloud to the edge of the network.

“I think partnerships such as the ones announced between HP and GE and between Cisco and IBM are reducing barriers for enterprises to implement IoT,” says Dima Tokar, co-founder and CTO of MachNation, an IoT-focused analyst firm.

MachNation estimates that global IoT revenue will grow to $83.4 billion in 2025 from $1.1 billion in 2016. “This is why companies with strengths in hardware want to be relevant in the software space,” Tokar says. “In this particular case, GE will use HPE as their go-to hardware vendor while HPE will leverage GE’s Predix analytics offerings.”

However, Tokar believes these combinations are still going to require vertical-specific customization. Even if the technology is 'off the shelf,' Tokar says there will still be professional services involvement to get custom business logic, custom business rules, and custom back-end integrations in place.

GE said last September that it expected its Predix IoT platform to generate about $6 billion in revenue in 2015 and $15 billion in revenue by 2020.