A landmark deal between machinery giants John Deere, Claas, CNH Industrial and software company 365FarmerNet will allow farmers to exchange data in real time between different machinery brands.
Similar to how ISOBUS allowed equipment from different brands to work together, DataConnect will allow different machinery platforms to securely exchange and view each others data.
John Deere's Australian precision agriculture segment manager Ben Kelly said in the future farmers and contractors would able to control and monitor their entire machinery fleet using their preferred telematics platform, without having to switch portals or manually transfer data from one system to another.
"We have the ability to store and transfer information more effectively now," he said.
"It allows customers who have a mixed fleet or are in the process of transitioning from one manufacturer to another, to have their data seamlessly connect.
"The data environment is becoming much more open, allowing manufacturers to collaborate, which is ultimately what our customers are looking for."
Mr Kelly said phase one of DataConnect would allow producers operating John Deere, Claas, New Holland, Case IH or Steyr branded farm equipment to share fleet data, including current and historical machine location, current fuel tank level, working status and forward speed.
Operators would be able to choose which platform they use to access the data, with the initial roll-out including John Deere Operations Center, AFS Connect, MyPLM Connect, C Telematics or 365FarmNet portals.
"Practically that means an operator can see where all their machines are at one point of time, which machines require fuel or where machines need to move next," he said.
Mr Kelly said connectivity was still a limiting factor in the adoption of new technologies.
"There are a lot of people working on solutions to overcome that, both government and commercial," he said.
"This technology requires certain levels of connectivity to work effectively so it is important as an industry we are focused on solving connectivity challenges in rural areas."
Mr Kelly said interested equipment manufacturers, software providers and associations were welcome to help develop and participate in the interface, with roll-out by the initial manufacturers expected next year.
"For a long time it's been a challenge for customers to get multiple data-sets together, this is a positive step for customers and manufacturers," he said.
Mr Kelly said the four founding companies were all members of the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation, the independent body in charge of implementing electronic standards such as ISOBUS.