Organizations are rapidly expanding their analytics infrastructure to accommodate the growing amounts of machine-generated data pouring into their networks. And since the connected universe is largely unfamiliar territory, they’re seeking out the help of providers like FogHorn Systems Inc., which closed $12 million in funding this morning to capitalize on the trend.

Three of the five investors that contributed to the round are major players in the industrial sector. General Electric Co.’s venture capital arm co-led the investment, while German manufacturing giant Robert Bosch GmbH and Japan’s Yokogawa Electric Corporation joined as strategic backers. Their interest in FogHorn can be attributed to its namesake analytics software, which is designed to be deployed at offshore factories, oil rigs and other remote industrial sites without a lot of on-premise technology infrastructure.

At the heart of the platform is a lightweight stream processing engine that is specifically optimized for analyzing the time-sensitive sensory information that is collected at such locations. Organizations can run custom software on top to turn the raw measurements into useful operational insights for the on-site personnel. For instance, a utility could use FogHorn’s software to pick out problem indicators from the diagnostics logs generated at a power plant. The platform thus removes the need to send the data to a remote site for processing, which provides a number of major logistical benefits.

The first is that analysis can be performed without the delay of transmitting the data over the network and then waiting for the results to come back the other way around. As a result, field technicians are able to address technical issues much faster than they could otherwise. And second, FogHorn eliminates the risk that comes with being dependent on a remote data center for operational information, which makes remote sites much less vulnerable to network outages. Its software also reduces bandwidth requirements in the process by reducing the amount of information that organizations need to send to their backend analytics infrastructure.

Today’s investment will enable FogHorn to expand its software’s capabilities and step up marketing efforts. The cash couldn’t have come at a better time: Incumbent vendors like IBM Corp. are also starting to target edge analytics use cases. The vendor recently revealed plans to bring the data crunching capabilities of Watson to Cisco Systems Inc.’s popular edge routers. FogHorn will need to be very resourceful if it wants to differentiate from its larger and better-established rivals.

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