Another example of monitoring is using sensors to track the health of physical systems and make maintenance continuous and effective. Sensors have been attached to bridges to continuously monitor structural health, replacing periodic checks by human inspectors. In the United States, the new Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, is equipped with sensors to monitor the stresses
and deterioration that led to the sudden collapse of its predecessor bridge in 2007. General Electric collects hundreds of terabytes of streaming data daily from sensors in its gas turbines and monitors the data in real time to identify anomalies before they cause equipment shutdowns and power outages.Similarly, hard disk drives and other equipment can sense imminent failure
and can preemptively inform the user or even the manufacturer, potentially opening up opportunities to provide tailored maintenance services (see Trend 4: “Realizing anything as a service”).