The Analyst Consensus: Why Strategic Partnerships Are Reshaping Industrial AI

When you look at the pace of change in industrial AI, one truth stands out: no single company can do it alone. The complexity of power grids, transportation networks, and manufacturing systems demands collaboration — and that’s exactly what analysts are watching closely.

Recently, we had the privilege of hosting Analyst Live 2025, where nearly two dozen analysts from leading firms joined us for two days of deep discussions, product demonstrations, and insights from 18 speakers — including our CEO Sheila Rohra and executives from NVIDIA, PowerFlex, and Cisco. While the event is now behind us, the themes that emerged are shaping the future of industrial AI in real time.

The Ecosystem Approach to Industrial AI

Industrial AI isn’t like consumer AI. It requires a different playbook — one built on partnerships. At Hitachi Vantara, we work closely with industry leaders like NVIDIA, Red Hat, and Supermicro to deliver advanced solutions that meet the evolving demands of AI. The goal? Rapid ROI and meaningful use cases that matter, and matter now.

Together with NVIDIA, Hitachi iQ represents a new generation of transformational AI solutions. By layering industry-specific capabilities on top of its AI carbon stack, we’re helping customers achieve targeted outcomes that are relevant to their business.

Our strategic partnership with Supermicro combines GPU and AI server infrastructure with Hitachi Vantara’s storage and software capabilities. Add the performance and scale of VSP One and factor in the strength of other Hitachi Group companies, and the result is a truly differentiated experience — one that spans data and AI solutions end to end.  

What the Analysts Observed

Larry Dignan of Constellation Research highlighted our work with Southwest Power Pool (SSP) as a prime example of industrial AI collaboration: “Hitachi Vantara, along with its sibling companies such as Hitachi’s GlobalLogic unit and Hitachi Energy, can bring expertise to multiple industrial AI use cases. SPP was a collaboration between Hitachi Vantara, Hitachi Digital Services along with NVIDIA.”

Jerome M. Wendt of DCIG noted: “Further, products from other Hitachi Ltd. companies give Hitachi Vantara specific strategic advantages that its competitors still lack. In so doing, Hitachi Vantara provides enterprises new reasons to believe that it can deliver on AI’s potential in ways that its competitors may struggle to achieve any time soon.”

Scott Sinclair from Omdia reflected on our ability to scale innovation in storage, hybrid cloud, and AI while maintaining reliability. In a recent LinkedIn post, Sinclair praised the simplicity of VSP One and VSP 360, noting the integrated intelligence that improves efficiency. On EverFlex, our on-premises-as-a-service offering, he pointed to its ability to manage heterogeneous infrastructure as particularly impressive, reinforcing what research shows about the strategic importance of these solutions. His takeaway on AI? “As AI moves from prototype to production for the enterprise, Hitachi’s experience of enabling the world’s largest businesses to utilize data could give the company an advantage.”

The Broader Shift

Analysts see a clear pattern: no single vendor can own the entire stack for every use case. As AI moves from data centers into physical systems — power grids, railways, factories — the complexity demands collaboration. And what matters is how that collaboration comes together. Can the partnerships deliver industry-specific solutions? Do they address the full data lifecycle? Are they designed for mission-critical reliability?

These questions are shaping how organizations evaluate their AI infrastructure partnerships. The era of single-vendor solutions for industrial AI may be over before it ever truly began. For Hitachi Vantara, partnerships aren’t optional; they’re fundamental to our strategy and the only way to deliver real impact. Industrial AI is too big for any one company to solve alone — that’s why collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. By working with the best in the industry, we’re helping customers turn data into decisions, and decisions into outcomes that matter. That’s the future we’re building — together.

A big thank you to all the experts attending Analyst Live 2025, which also included leading analysts from S&P Global 451 Research, GigaOm, IDC, and NAND Research, as well as our valued customers and partners.