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CIMdata had the pleasure of attending Mendix World 2020, a virtual event delivered the 1st through 4th of September 2020. Mendix, a global leader in low-code application development and delivery, was acquired by Siemens AG in August 2018. Since then it has become core to the strategy for much of the Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Xcelerator portfolio, with a particular emphasis on supporting and enhancing Teamcenter and MindSphere.[1]
The event keynote, entitled “Build the Future Together,” was jointly presented by Mr. Derek Roos, Mendix CEO, and Mr. Johan Den Haan, Mendix CTO. During their remarks they claimed that since last year’s event they have grown by 100%, and now support over 200,000 makers using their solutions who introduced about 120,000 new applications during that time. They stated that approximately 10 million users access their solutions each week. In their last fiscal year, Mr. Roos claimed $100 million revenue and said that is expected to double over the next 18 months.
Mr. Den Haan then talked about their new release, Mendix 9, about which the company made 20 announcements across six different Mendix use cases. This CIMdata highlight does not cover all of the announcements made in the session, only focusing on a few key topics.
One big problem that Mendix is helping their clients solve, according to Mr. Den Haan, is growth in volume and sources of data. Such growth makes it harder for users to find data in the first place and, once found, it can be difficult to interpret and use. He stated that Mendix rethought how they were addressing this problem and introduced the Mendix Data Hub to help bring the abstraction and automation principles of low-code to the data integration challenge. It includes a cataloguing function to help users find and understand the data they need. The Mendix Data Hub is deeply integrated with both Mendix Studio and Mendix Studio Pro, their offering for developers. This new solution was first released to customers a month before the event. According to Mr. Den Haan, they see the Mendix Data Hub as more than a technology, engendering a real paradigm shift from thinking about apps and their associated data to a democratized platform view. They believe that this removes a barrier to integration, allowing users to access and leverage any data they have access to.
One exciting new area is Mendix for Industrial Edge, an important topic for IIoT applications. These solutions are designed to help link business data in information technology (IT) systems and operational technology (OT) data coming off of a company’s physical assets and plants. Mr. Rainer Brehm, CEO Siemens Factory Automation, provided more details about this new solution that can run embedded in automation devices or on dedicated computers. Just as Siemens Digital Industries Software wants to support application development among their IT users, they also want to make it easier for people to build and use applications that leverage OT data. CIMdata believes this has huge potential for Mendix customers, given the heterogeneous nature of OT sources. Anything that can make that data more accessible increases the opportunity to leverage it more effectively.
Another important strategic direction announced is Mendix Industry Solutions—prebuilt solutions leveraging app services and app templates to provide packaged business capabilities that address common pain points in an industry. During the event, Mendix launched the beta version of Mendix Field Service Management, a purpose-built solution to help manufacturers manage services. Given that Siemens AG is one of the world’s largest industrial equipment manufacturers they bring deep domain expertise in this area. It also leverages much of the work Siemens has already done in this area with the MindSphere ecosystem. Siemens Digital Industries Software is using the Mendix Data Hub to provide access to data from Teamcenter, SAP, IBM Maximo which is a leading enterprise asset management solution and a major Siemens partner, and others. This was just a taste, with many more industry solutions in their pipeline.
The Mendix AppStore has also seen significant growth, with over 500,000 downloads of over 2,500 applications. Mendix has expanded their ambitions in this area and are rebranding the offering the Mendix Marketplace. This new offering is more than a storefront, providing a backbone to automate the app administration process, including managing pricing and metering. The Marketplace will be available next year.
This highlight presents but a small window into Mendix World 2020, which included more than 60 sessions, many presented by happy Mendix customers. There were also sessions highlighting how Mendix will enhance core Siemens Digital Industries Software offerings in product development and manufacturing. Mendix World 2020 was an exciting event, providing excellent case studies of how Mendix is being used both by Siemens Digital Industries Software and their customers to expand current and create new solutions that address all aspects of the product lifecycle. CIMdata is glad to see the Mendix technology continuing to become more broadly used throughout the Xcelerator portfolio. It is being applied with and embedded within many Siemens Digital Industries Software solutions. The use of Mendix is dramatically expanding the capabilities of those solutions to be IT-friendly, while also tailored for individual business needs.
