Why Energy Bills Should Look Like Your Cell Phone Plan?

Telecom and smart grid alliances should team up with—or at least learn something from—the cell phone companies when it comes to billing.

Convergys’ Kit Hagen, director of utilities, thinks the Maryland and Baltimore Gas & Electric Company negotiation was a good moment for smart grids.

“There’s a lot of spin around smart meters, both positive and negative. People just don’t understand them,” he said.

To this end, Hagen thinks this shift looks like what the cable and telecommunication guys went through when they changed from an analog network of a few data points to digitization on the network.

Cell phone companies like AT&T and Sprint used to run on analog, but now they run in real time. The cell phone companies figured out how to bundle their services in terms of minutes. Utilities need to follow suit.

Lisa Alexander, principal of the Van Denburgh Consulting Group, said energy launches should bundle packages like cell phone plans -- and offer daytime, nighttime and weekend minutes.

In the cell phone industry, it’s all based on minutes. That’s certainly not how the cell phone industry calculates their bandwidth, Alexander said.

But they’ve figured out how to translate that currency in minutes. But when time of use (TOU) and critical peak pricing tariffs are introduced, will customers change their behavior?

And then of course, there is the other problem. Most utilities don’t have permission to implement time-of-use pricing. Any proposed pricing plans are thoroughly scrutinized for fairness, how they would impact customers and other issues. Whipping up a cell-phone-like billing system is like asking Fed Ex to start carrying freight with untested aircraft out of random airports. There are rules and circumstances far beyond the utilities' control.

The customers like seeing two bills through a trial period, so they aren’t worried about being overcharged.

The bundles need to be easy to understand, said Christine Hertzog, managing director of the Smart Grid Library. “If it doesn’t make sense to Joe and Jane Ratepayer, then they can’t identify what’s in it for them,” Hertzog said. How could the energy currency could play out? For instance, you get a certain number of minutes in electricity, plus you get certain devices that you could have in your office or building.

Whether this type of bundling would appeal to consumers is another question. CenterPoint, the large electricity distributor in Texas, conducted a smart grid test with powerline networking, a broadband standard that would have also allowed Centerpoint to sell internet services. After it learned that customers really didn’t want to get internet from them or didn’t care, the company dropped powerline and went with a less expensive mesh for its meters.

However, several Australian companies are bundling energy and telecom together. It's a work in progress. Consumer feedback, hopefully, will help provide an answer someday soon.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/why-energy-bills-should-look-like-your-cell-phone-plan/

My friends at GreenTechMedia have nailed it on the head with this article. This is it. Move from Analog to Digital. From Proprietary Non-IP RF Mesh to Full-IP Broadband. Enable the emergence of converged retail service providers (phone, wireless, video, internet, energy, security, others). Provide customers with real-time services in a currency that they understand ($$$ or Time). And Australia is setting the bar. And who is driving the broadband smart grid trends there? Hmmmmm…… Oh, yeah……GRID NET.

Extending Narrowband Smart Meter Networks to 4G Smart Grid Network Infrastructure

You guys got to read this....................And it applies to any broaband technology.

Extending Narrowband Smart Meter Networks to 4G Smart Grid Network Infrastructure
By TMCnet Special Guest
Eedo Lifshitz, Director of Business Development, Alvarion

The Network as the Enabler of Smart Grid
The objective of smart grid projects is to modernize the grid in order to improve its reliability while reducing gas emissions and costs. These projects involve a host of devices and associated applications that will be deployed across the next two decades.

The communication infrastructure has a key role in enabling smart grid deployments and should be carefully designed in order to avoid bottlenecks and other issues as discussed in this article.

The smart grid, in many ways, replicates processes that we have already experienced in the IT industry and can learn from:

-Migration from centralized computing (= generation) to distributed computing (= distributed renewal energy generation)

-Shift from stand-alone PC ( = off-net substations and devices) to a network of computers ( = on-net substations and distribution automation devices)

-Convergence (News - Alert) of proprietary network protocols (LAT, DECNET, SNA, NOVEL, DNP) to a standard protocol (TCP/IP)

-Shift from narrow band text applications ( = mechanical meters) to high bandwidth GUI applications (= digital smart meters and panels)

-Increase in network capacity from a few Kbits to dozens of Mbits

AMI – The Initial Smart Grid Network
Smart metering is known as the first smart grid application and has become so for a variety of reasons. It allows the utility to establish a dialog with its consumers and help shave the peak consumption, which is a source of multiple issues. Providing electricity during a period of peak consumption requires utilities to use expensive fuels or buy power at a high rate. It also creates outages, which has a negative impact on their SAIFI and SAIDI indexes, and may create operation issues that result in OPEX (News - Alert) expenses and loss of revenue.

During the past two decades, such outages have increased by 124 percent in North America -- up from 41 blackouts between 1991 and 1995, to 92 between 2001 and 2005, according to research at the University of Minnesota. In the most recently analyzed data available, utilities reported 36 such outages in 2006 alone.

Due to the compelling benefits of smart meter deployment and the ease of measuring its deployment progresses, governments around the world have mandated smart meter deployments and have provided stimulus funding to support this effort.

The market for AMI (Advanced Meter Infrastructure) is expected to grow in North America at a rate of 10 million smart meters a year, beyond the 16 million smart meters already installed by 26 utilities in 15 states.

AMI networks were designed to support smart meter connectivity requirements which are typically characterized by low bandwidth and high latency. Good enough for smart metering applications but not necessarily for the next smart grid applications that require a 4G wireless network that supports real-time, quality of service (QoS), broadband and mobility.

The New Smart Grid Applications
It is hard to predict what “new” smart grid applications we should expect in the next decade, in the same manner that it was almost impossible to predict that Google (News - Alert), Amazon or eBay would happen, back in the early 80’s when the Internet took a shape and form while the main applications were text email and FTP.

Yes, we already know that some grid automation applications require low-latency and QoS that is not available by most AMI solutions. We also understand that bandwidth is going to be a requirement to allow for video surveillance applications that will help protect the grid assets and provide visibility to issues before the line truck crews arrive to the scene. Broadband may also be required in emergency cyber security situations, when the utility needs to instantly update software to millions of devices.

It would be reasonable to assume that a new market of reach-GUI applications using the in-home smart grid panels as terminals will evolve. The question is how much bandwidth will these applications require and will the smart grid networks that are being deployed today be able to support it.

Smart grid network requirements
The network infrastructure has a key role in the success or the failure of the smart grid project. Imagine what would be the value of commercial internet applications if the network infrastructure supporting it would not be reliable or have enough bandwidth?

The same goes for the grid applications and the network supporting it. The network must be reliable and secured, with the necessary performance capabilities, interoperable and scalable for future requirements.

WiMAX (News - Alert) is the only commercially available 4G network that can support all four requirements of low latency, QoS, mobility and broadband, and has become a standard de-facto for smart grid WAN connectivity in North America.

Extending AMI to 4G Smart Grid WAN
The initial smart grid network is typically the AMI that covers the “last mile” and supports the smart metering project. The second phase of smart grid projects is typically grid automation which is spread across the distribution grid and requires a 4G WAN (Wide Area Network), often described as the “middle mile.”

The line that separates the last mile and the middle mile is drawn by the utility and is impacted by the smart grid applications. Grid automation applications that require low latency and QoS or high bandwidth, must fall into the 4G WAN middle mile, while some monitoring applications with no special latency and bandwidth requirements may be located as part of the AMI last mile network.

Another approach, lead by GE, that has been successfully deployed in Australia and is in pilot phase in North America is to combine the last mile and middle mile into a single 4G WiMAX network, eliminating the concern of network latency or bandwidth limitations.

When selecting the two tier approach, last mile and middle mile, it is imperative to ensure a unified management of the two networks and maintain the ability to “move” the line that separate the two networks, according to the utility smart grid application requirements.

Conclusion
As the smart grid market begins to mature, utilities realize that AMI networks cannot be extended to support grid automation applications, which is the typical second phase of smart grid projects. 4G WiMAX is gradually becoming a standard de-facto in North America for smart grid WAN, providing backhaul to the current AMI deployments and connectivity to grid automation applications that require low latency, QoS, high bandwidth and mobility.

http://smart-grid.tmcnet.com/topics/smart-grid-fa/articles/98901-extending-narrowband-smart-meter-networks-4g-smart-grid.htm

Proprietary Non-IP RF Mesh is DEAD !!!

Cisco and Itron Join Forces to Deliver Next-Generation Smart Grid Platform Cisco’s standards-based IP architecture to power Itron’s market-leading smart meter system Solution Will Create a Consolidated Network for Utilities, Make Possible More Reliable Delivery of Energy to Homes and Businesses

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash., and SAN JOSE, Calif. — September 1, 2010 — Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) and Cisco announced today a strategic alliance that will advance the transformation of the world’s energy infrastructure. Together, the two will deliver a definitive 21st century Internet Protocol (IP)-based communications platform to the smart grid market and help advance more consistent and reliable delivery of energy across the electric distribution system and into homes and businesses. Itron and Cisco—world leaders in smart metering and networking communications, respectively—will collaborate on solutions that will transition smart metering technology into an open and interoperable, enterprise-class network for utilities. Specifically, the two companies will develop a standards-based, highly secure technology for full IPv6 implementation of field area communications to support smart metering, intelligent distribution automation and interfaces to the customer premise. Such an approach will help ensure consistent and interoperable wired and wireless communications among the various components of the smart grid, enabling utilities to scale to meet the demands of increasingly empowered customers and highly distributed generation portfolios. “The alliance between Cisco and Itron represents a major step forward in the realization of a modern, more intelligent energy infrastructure. Together, we aim to enable standardization of the smart-grid architecture and help create an end-to-end communications platform. As a result, utilities will benefit from an energy grid that is more secure, scalable and reliable, as well as solutions that are easier to maintain and able to support future needs,” said Laura Ipsen, Cisco senior vice president and general manager for the Smart Grid business unit. When asked about the value of the alliance, Philip Mezey, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Itron North America, stated, “Our customers have reiterated that security, interoperability and open standards are critical to the success of their smart grid initiatives. We are creating the first enterprise-class utility networking solution to utilize the scalable, reliable, highly secure technology synonymous with the Cisco name around the world. At Itron, we are enthusiastic about this effort and its potential to enhance utility communication networks around the globe.” Terms of the Agreement Under terms of the agreement, Itron and Cisco will jointly develop the reference design that defines a standard for smart grid field area and smart metering network communications, utilizing the latest version of the Internet Protocol (IPv6). A key standard identified by the National Institute of Technology, IPv6 integrates network security into its framework; allows for simplified processing of data by routers and other network devices; and offers a wealth of extensibility options over the current and widely-used IPv4 implementation. Itron will license and embed Cisco IP technology within its OpenWay® meters as well as distribute Cisco networking equipment and software as part of its smart meter deployments. Itron will continue to provide the complete solution and maintain its customer relationships. “We want to respect the legacy systems that have been deployed thus far within smart grids while innovating for the future. Cisco believes that Itron’s current-generation OpenWay solution is an excellent candidate for future upgrades to a full IPv6 implementation,” said Paul De Martini, chief technology officer and vice president of strategy for the Smart Grid business unit at Cisco. “With a true smart meter platform providing full software upgradability, OpenWay will be a catalyst for launching this next-generation architecture.” “Itron designed OpenWay to be able to adapt to evolving market needs. The move to embed Cisco IP communications continues to deliver on our promise of interoperability and open standards for OpenWay,” said Philip Mezey, of Itron North America. “This enables an expanding set of smart grid applications into the future.”

Intel buys Infineon for $1.4B

Intel announced it will acquire Infineon Technologies' wireless division for $1.4 billion.

The acquisition, rumored for several weeks, is expected to help the computer chip giant compete in the smartphone market and make a run for the lead in the LTE baseband market. Intel is keen on getting chips into mobile devices as they outpace traditional CPUs that go into PCs. So far, Intel's low-power Atom chips have struggled to make their way into smartphones. Now it should have the resources to take on dominant player Qualcomm in the LTE baseband market.

Infineon's Wireless Solutions division makes 3G chips and baseband processors that are used in Apple's iPhone and the iPad, and Samsung's Galaxy S.

Landis+Gyr Announces Software Reseller Agreement with Grid Net

Landis+Gyr Announces Software Reseller Agreement with Grid Net
Grid Net Smart Grid Eco-system continues to grow with the addition of Landis+Gyr

Sydney, Australia and San Francisco, California — August 30, 2010 — Landis+Gyr, a global leader in energy management and advanced metering technology, today announced the signing of a software reseller agreement with Grid Net™, a leading global real-time, all-IP Smart Grid and Smart Home software platforms provider.

Under this agreement, Landis+Gyr will offer Grid Net’s PolicyNet SmartGrid NMS™ and SmartNOS™ software platforms, and PolicyNet SmartAgents™ as key software components of its open standards based, highly secure, Smart Grid Solution to Australian and New Zealand utility customers, with a worldwide distribution option.

The agreement includes Grid Net’s PolicyNet SmartGrid Network Management System™ (NMS) together with the Smart Network Operating System™ (SmartNOS) and PolicyNet SmartAgent™ firmware, which runs embedded on Landis+Gyr smart meter devices.

Steve Jeston, CEO of Landis+Gyr Australasia, said, “Signing this agreement with Grid Net is yet another significant next step in our delivery of open standards-based smart grid platform options to our customers. Adding Grid Net software to our suite of offerings further positions Landis+Gyr as one of the most scalable, open, secure and cost-effective solution providers in the region supporting 4G/WiMAX and other IP-based networks such as fibre to the home. We are proud to be contributing to a stronger Australia by bringing global and local expertise to important smart grid infrastructure projects, and I am excited about the prospect of announcing further ground-breaking projects using our many solutions in the near future.”

Ray Bell, Founder and CEO of Grid Net, said, “We are very excited about Landis+Gyr becoming our strategic partner and a reseller of our software products in the rapidly growing Australian and New Zealand market. Today’s emerging Smart Grid v2.0 deployments will generate a vast amount of energy distribution and consumption data, and will require a real-time, reliable, secure, open standards-based, carrier-grade communications infrastructure that enables utilities to deploy smart grids that optimize energy distribution, reduce distribution related losses, implement system-wide demand response programs, enhance overall customer satisfaction, and lower their carbon footprint. This agreement allows both firms to reinforce our leadership roles in delivering the future smart grid today.”

U.S. electricity blackouts skyrocketing

The 'Easy Button'

Carvallo jokes about the so-called "Easy Button" at Austin Energy. It's not really a big red button on the wall, but it is a mechanism that allows an operator to control tens of thousands of home thermostats.

"Austin is two to three years ahead of everybody else," said Carvallo, now chief strategy officer for the smart grid software firm Grid Net.

He points to a volunteer program that offers free thermostats to customers who allow the utility to remotely control their air conditioners during specific months and hours. This way, thousands of power-gulping air conditioners can be cycled off for a short time when electricity was needed elsewhere.

By summer's end, Austin expects to begin enabling its 700,000 streetlights to be turned "on and off with a flip of a switch," saving $340,000 in electricity each year, and eliminating 200 tons of carbon dioxide air pollution.

Replacing old-style electric meters with "smart meters" is often described as the first step in creating a smart grid. All 400,000 of Austin's meters are smart meters.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/08/09/smart.grid/#fbid=CvSJX9xl_92&wom=false

Andres Carvallo Speaks at Freescale Technology Forum 2010

I will be speaking on a smart grid panel about the industry current success and future outlook. As the father of the first smart grid in the US, I have a unique prospective on what works and does not to deliver a fully integrated smart grid.

What we bring at Grid Net to the industry is the very first and only real-time, all-IP smart grid and smart home software platform for any device and any broadband technology. Our partnership with Freescale enables devices from multiple companies to run our smart device software giving utilities total control of their electric assets under one single network management system.

Attend FTF to receive in-depth training on Freescale technologies from the engineers who created them, collaborate with industry peers, get hands-on experience with the latest innovations from Freescale and our ecosystem partners, and connect with key players and decision makers.

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?nodeId=052577903689DC

Freescale drives collaborative success through strategic partnerships and industry alliances, and has a strong, global, efficient ecosystem of embedded and application-level partners offering to drive fully integrated solutions on Freescale platforms.

HECO encountered "significant issues" with its first Sensus smart meter pilot

I congraqtulate the HECO team for sharing their lessons learned. I hope that their example can be followed by many others.

I have been talking about the fact that narrow band network solutions for the grid (e.g RF Mesh) are no able to do deliver real-time data needs, do not support 100% Internet Protocol, do not have performance management tools, are not built with open standards, and can not be integrated with complex systems (e.g. SCADA/EMS, solar PV panels, electric vehicles, electric charging equipment, and energy storage equipment).

The Greentech Media team always does a great job finding relevant stories and writing about them.

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As it appears on Greentech Media

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/heco-requests-second-pilot-of-sensus-meters

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HECO Requests Second Pilot of Sensus Meters

HECO encountered “significant issues” with its first Sensus smart meter pilot

The Hawaiian Electric Company is going back to the drawing board on their advanced metering deployment. HECO has requested a follow-up pilot on Oahu after they encountered communications problems with their first pilot of 9,400 Sensus meters.

HECO "encountered a number of significant issues," according to a document filed with the Hawaiian Public Utility Commission in May. "We have identified certain performance issues, including data anomalies, billing read performance, network performance and the ability of the technology to integrate with our future smart grid initiatives," said Darren P. Pai, the Senior Communications Consultant for HECO. "The purpose of this expanded pilot is to evaluate the technology and determine how well these issues can be addressed."

The utility reported that some problems were already fixed simply by using Sensus' latest technology. The next pilot, which is awaiting PUC approval, will include 5,000 meters and will "encompass the whole gamut of performance criteria using the latest vendor products," according to Pai. The second pilot will also include issues that were not prioritized in the first go-round, including security and demand response features.

However, not everyone is convinced that another pilot is the answer. The Hawaii Solar Energy Association filed a response to the request for a second pilot stating that HECO was "putting the cart before the horse."

Sensus has reportedly resolved the problems with some areas, such as meter demand reset, measurement anomalies, and radio frequency interference -- but HSEA is still concerned that even if this pilot is successful, the technology will become dated by the time pilot is complete. (HECO says that's the entire point of this second pilot: to make sure the technology is the right investment.)

And HSEA's criticism doesn't stop there. The organization also questions whether mesh is the right network choice and whether there needs to be a more detailed framework for AMI deployment and developing a smart grid before moving forward.

A successful deployment of smart meters will be critical if Hawaii is to meet its ambitious goal of 70 percent renewables by 2030. Hawaii has the highest electricity rates in the U.S., and nearly 90 percent of its energy is powered by imported oil. HSEA is both advocating that HECO take the time to map out a framework for a smart grid, but it is also calling for efforts to update the grid so that renewables can be brought online more quickly.

Some of HSEA's criticism is already being answered. HECO retained Accentor in December of last year to help develop a smart grid roadmap, which is still being completed. Integrating renewables, however, presents issues far beyond the meter. Hawaii's Clean Energy Initiative has a current proposal to build an undersea cable to bring wind power to Oahu, and if it does get built, Oahu's transmission grid will have to be updated to be able to carry the intermittent energy. Even without the wind project, the grid will need significant updates to accommodate 70 percent (or even 30 percent) renewables in the future.

But for now, HECO is just trying to figure out metering. If the proposal for a second pilot is denied by the PUC, it will certainly throw a pothole or two into the long-awaited roadmap. Stay tuned.

GRID Act Passes in the House of Representatives

HR 5026, the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense (GRID) Act, passed the House by unanimous voice vote on Wednesday, June 9, 2010. The act allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to bypass the NERC standards setting process of Section 215 of the Federal Power Act and issue orders directly concerning: 1) Vulnerabilities not addressed by current NERC CIP standards which remain in effect until FERC approves a NERC standards which covers the vulnerability; and 2) Imminent cyber threats as determined by the President. FERC jurisdictional authority is also extended to energy distribution facilities serving the Presidentially-designated top 100 defense facilities in all fifty United States and its territories. FERC is also directed to address mitigation measures for geomagnetic events (including solar flares and EMPs) and physical attacks.

The Act will now be referred to the Senate for consideration. With the clock winding down for this session of Congress and the calendar already full with other items, consideration by the full Senate is uncertain. Majority Leader Reid has made it known that he intends to consider only comprehensive cybersecurity legislation rather than sector-by-sector bills due to the lack of time.

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Good move by the House of Representatives in realizing the magnitude of the risk and importance.

In my humble opinion, Smart Grid security is paramount. Waiting is not an option. Waiting is a landmark mistake.

Andres Carvallo Named Top Ten Greentech Person by Internet Evolution

Internet Evolution has come up with their first-ever list of the top 100 most innovative and influential people in the Web 2.0 world. In the social networking category, Mark Zuckerberg, the Founder of Facebook, beat out Kevin Rose, the Founder of Digg. In the search category, the heads of Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! were named, but surprisingly Jason Calacanis of Mahalo was named, as well.

4) Greentech

1. Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy, DOE
2. Hal La Flash, Director of Emerging Clean Energy Technologies, PG&E
3. Guido Bartels, Managing Director, IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM); Chairman, GridWise Alliance Inc.
4. Elon Musk, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Tesla Motors
5. Chuck Powers, IT strategist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
6. Paul Maritz, CEO, VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW)
7. Joel Selanikio, software developer
8. Lisa Wood, Executive Director, Institute for Electric Efficiency
9. Andres Carvallo, EVP, Chief Strategy Officer, Grid Net
10. KR Sridhar, Co-Founder & CEO, Bloom Energy

http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=190304&page_number=5

Securing the Smart Grid

Recently, hype around the Smart Grid, smart homes and smart meters has reached a fever pitch. Yet, many consumers are still figuring out what the term, “smart grid” actually means. According to a March 2010 Harris Poll, “two-thirds of Americans have never heard of it (68%) and 63% have not heard of a “smart meter.” It’s actually a pretty simple concept, though enormously difficult to deliver and implement the reality. The electricity grid is the vast, diverse collection of devices and equipment that delivers electricity from utilities to consumers. The Smart Grid refers to connecting those devices and that equipment into a network that is monitored and managed by computing resources. How one interprets “computing resources” is pretty broad, but Grid Net’s objective is to enable the Smart Grid with a secure, reliable, real-time, all-IP, standards-based and scalable software platform that can run on any device and leverage any type of broadband communications resource.

My own experience implementing the first Smart Grid network in the U.S. at Austin Energy, and now at Grid Net working with utilities in their Smart Grid deployments, has given me a unique perspective on security, and I’m not the only one. Security is a huge area of concern for every utility executive that I know. At the 2009 Black Hat security conference, security consultancy IOActive reported that it was able to simulate a smart meter worm that infected about 15,000 home meters (out of 22,000 homes) and subjected the devices to the control of the worm’s designers. At the time, IOActive’s Mike Davis stated that, “the vast majority of smart meter systems use no encryption or authentication processes to prevent someone from uploading malicious software or turning meters on and off en masse."

Let’s be clear: any time that you connect devices into a network, you face security risks. But networking our nation’s electricity grids poses even greater security hazards, since most devices are located in physically unprotected / vulnerable locations and simply cannot be protected by the “four walls” of a data center or a physical plant.

But even worse: some Smart Grid vendors are offering technologies that are actually accelerating the threat of viruses and worms spreading the damage from a single device getting hacked.

For example, vendors that rely on radio-frequency (RF) mesh networks are peddling an architecture that relies on “peer-to-peer” networking – in this case, using the meter as a network link – and that thereby increases the risk of ‘man-in-the-middle’ and impersonation attacks. In the RF mesh scenario, smart meters are the first, and highly vulnerable, line of penetration for hackers and virus-spreaders. Think of mesh network infrastructure as a self-propagating home botnet that makes the threat of spreading malware very, very real. It’s a scary thought.

While open standards for RF mesh networks are beginning to emerge at the physical and media access control layers, the networking specifications still lack definition as to how they will implement the robust, proven security methods and technologies described in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) specifications. Lacking open standards and the pervasive, granular implementation of proven, broadly-adopted, leading security methods and technologies, RF mesh networks remain virtually defenseless against attacks.

In designing the smart grid, utilities should hold their vendors accountable for implementing a multi-faceted security approach to their offerings. This should include the following:

Security starts at the edge device - While smart meter hacks are inevitable, utilities can protect their smart grid from a massive network virus or worm by implementing granular security architectures. Embed unique, standards-based hardware and software security into every network node and device. That way, the device can be detected and isolated before it proliferates a virus.

Use only standards-based security, and use it everywhere - By incorporating security standards throughout the smart grid, utilities can leverage the collective best efforts of tens of thousands of engineers, universities, government agencies and white-hat hackers, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars of investments in the latest security technologies. Moreover, standards-based security ensures faster upgrades and “future-proofing,” an idea essential for utilities to stay ahead in the never-ending “hack-patch” cycle of cyber security.

Make security pervasive and granular - Data encryption and IP security schemes are necessary but, by themselves, nowhere near sufficient. Instead, utilities must require that vendors deliver pervasive, granular security architecture in their solution offerings by incorporating government-grade security into: smart meters and other distribution network edge devices, embedded applications, the smart grid communications network infrastructure, smart grid network operating systems, data being stored and transmitted, and utility enterprise systems.

Security is a marathon, not a 40-yard dash - Maintaining a safe, secure smart grid requires continuous vigilance and the stamina to sustain ongoing investments in security oversight, critical software patches, software upgrades and process improvements. That’s because security threats are never-ending: hackers enjoy a challenge, and they intend to keep at it.

It’s time for utilities and their vendors to start building security protocols into every aspect of the smart grid fabric. It’s also time for utilities to hold their vendors accountable for flawed architectures and vulnerable technologies. The risks are too great to take lightly.

Andres Carvallo Keynotes Smart Grid Update in San Diego

KEYNOTE SESSIONS

9:00 - 9:45 How to Evolve with the Changing Utility Business Models?

Hear how utilities intend to restructure their business models to incorporate game changers such as next-gen ICT, distributed generation and renewable sources of power. - Win over utilities that are migrating to participatory networks by revamping your solutions portfolio to include a complete services based package - Get a snapshot of outsourced utility activities to see which partnerships are proving successful and how you can ally your business alongside industry movers & shakers - Discuss the latest dynamic pricing and billing strategies employed by utilities to gauge end consumers’ tech preferences Andres Carvallo, Former Chief Information Officer, Austin Energy Chris Chen, Project Manager, Energy Efficiency, Sempra Utilities Michael Pesin, Strategic Technology Advisor, Seattle City Light Michael Ingram, Senior Manager, TVA

9:45 - 10:15 Austin Energy's Vision of the Smart Grid

Hear details of Austin’s technology set-up across the grid - from smart grid design, to smart appliances within the home space. - Hear straight from the CIO on technologies employed and further technology requirements to reinvent existing offerings - Understand the requirements of Austin’s existing assets and infrastructure to determine how new technologies and services need to adapt to integrate successfully - Get the low down on Austin’s future plans, next steps and pilot pipelines to aid them and other utilities to build a complete network of the future Andres Carvallo, Former Chief Information Officer, Austin Energy

http://www.smartgridupdate.com/smartgridtechnology/

Andres Carvallo Speaks at UTC Telecom 2010

http://www.utctelecom2010.utc.org/content/utc-telecom-2010

10:30 – 11:45 a.m.

The Future of Utility ICT: The View from the Executive Suite
Symposia: Enterprise IT Symposium
ROOM: 108

Utility information communications technology (ICT), the integration of traditional telecommunications networks with enterprise IT and data management function, is becoming increasingly essential to utilities’ core business objectives. Addressing everything from expansion of core control networks to managing massively increased amounts of data, this session will feature a discussion among utility chief information officers on how they see the this critical function evolving over the next five years.

Troy West, General Manager - Technology & Corporate Services, Cleco
Andres Carvallo, Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Grid Net

4:30 – 5:45 p.m.

Networks of Networks: What Is Needed to Get Smart Grids to Work—Get the Big Picture on Efficiency
Symposia: Smart Grid Symposium
ROOM: 109-110

Developments like decentralized and micro generation, along with wind farms, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and other renewable energy sources, are causing utilities to design and manage delivery in innovative ways. One is to create a Smart Utility Networks of Networks: an industry-wide, interconnected IP communications network. It will enable faster deployment of smart energy networks by supporting multiple applications, such as sharing of customer usage data, energy generation, and energy distribution. This is big!

Chistoph Inauen, Director, Business Development, Nokia Siemens Networks, LLC
Andres Carvallo, Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Grid Net

http://www.utctelecom2010.utc.org/content/program-glance

FERC, DOE and FCC Chairmen Push Broadband for Smart Grid at FCC Clean Energy Showcase

This was published by the UTC. It is such a break throught that I am re-posting it. The Governement experts are leading and saying to us to build the smart grid with broadband networks. In other words, stop using RF Mesh.

Did you hear that utilities? Regulators? Legislators? Citizens?

And take a look at the video below.

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At the FCC's "Clean Energy Showcase" this week, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, DOE Secretary Steven Chu and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski all emphasized a common message that broadband will promote smart grid. As reported in last week's UTC Intelligence, the showcase featured demonstrations by over 20 different technology providers and was hosted over three hours at the FCC's open commission meeting room. After the tour, FCC Chairman Genachowski commended the companies on their products and services and explained that the purpose of the showcase was to "shine a light on communications, broadband and smart grid" consistent with the FCC's National Broadband Plan. FERC Chairman Wellingholff emphasized the importance of customer access to smart grid data, and the need to promote consumer trust in the privacy of that information so companies can use it for their benefit. Finally, DOE Secretary Chu echoed Chairman Genachowski's call to promote smart grid through broadband and agreed with DOE Chairman Wellinghoff that the showcase is all about giving consumers the information they need to manage their electric consumption. The FCC has posted a You-Tube video of the showcase and excerpts from the remarks on its broadband web-blog at http://blog.broadband.gov/.

Andres Carvallo Speaks at the Networked Grid 2010

The electric power industry is rapidly moving beyond the smart meter to that of an information-rich networked grid. Information technology and advanced communication networks are enabling an intelligent grid infrastructure that is spawning the development and deployment of transformative applications for next-generation utility networks.

Between 2010 and 2020, power grids around the globe will be transformed through a series of stages driven by the availability of infrastructure technology and application market demand. Everything from improved power quality and reduction in peak demand to the integration of distributed renewable energy resources and PHEVs will influence the portfolio of smart grid technologies and applications to come.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/events/live/the-networked-grid-2010/

Power Forward: Grid Optimization and Distribution Automation

Overall grid optimization and, specifically, Distribution Automation is the highest priority application among North American utility smart grid decision makers, with 77% ranking it number one, according to a recent survey from GTM Research. Optimizing the power layer infrastructure for real-time distribution automation applications may not be as sexy an application as networked electric vehicles or snazzy home energy management systems, but it's a major issue for utilities and can provide a significant amount of efficiency from an internal operations perspective on the utility end of the spectrum. Embedding sensors that interact with the communications layer of smart grids is an important topic and providing an infrastructure that can support very low latency is critical for its success. This session explores grid optimization and distribution automation technologies and architectures in depth.

Witold Bik, Vice President, Automation Systems Division, S&C Electric

Stewart Kantor, CEO, Full Spectrum

Sanket Amberkar, Senior Manager, Smart Grid Marketing, Cisco

Andres Carvallo, Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, GridNet

Ken Geisler, Business Development Manager, Smart Grid, Siemens

Moderator: David Leeds, Smart Grid Analyst, Greentech Media

Andres Carvallo Speaks at UCLA Smart Grid Conference

Join UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center or SMERC (http://smartgrid.ucla.edu/) and UCLA WINMEC (http://winmec.ucla.edu/) for its fourth Smart Grid Leadership Forum. On May 17, 2010, this thought leadership forum will focus on Transmission and Distribution Electrical Power Grid in the United States and its modernization opportunity and accompanying innovations over the next 5 to 25 years into what is being now called the Smart Grid.

OPPORTUNITY - The Electric Utility Grid is approximately a hundred years old. The grid architecture is generally hierarchical with a smaller number of energy generation sources and a larger number of energy sinks or consumers. The electric grid was not primarily meant to incorporate stochastic and small renewable energy sources such solar energy from residential rooftops, nor was it meant to integrate demand response or to integrate smart devices or smart electric cars into the grid. Today, however, with the Obama administration having provided one of the largest grants totaling $3.4 billion earlier this year for modernization of the US electric grid, we have an unprecedented opportunity to define, architect and build this Smart Grid. This investment, coupled with industry match which is expected to be approximately $4.7 billion, will go into research, technology development, innovation, infrastructure, modernization, training, customer education, etc.

ARCHITECTURE AND MODEL - As a nation before we start to implement the Smart Grid, we need to define our vision of the Future Smart Grid. As part of this vision, we need to define an architecture for the Smart Grid. The "Smart" in "Smart Grid" needs to be understood and modeled as well. Is the "Smart" model like that of a Smart Phone, or the Internet, or even like a human being? For starters, we know that a Smart System is a closed loop system, incorporating concepts such as sensing, control, communications, information gathering and analysis. We also know that smart systems have the ability make decisions, to store information, to learn by experience, and, to self-adapt and self-heal. Moreover since we are dealing with energy as the essential entity that is being manipulated, its generation, movement, storage, control, consumption, reuse, routing, etc., are important considerations.

INNOVATION - The overwhelming excitement today in the energy transmission and distribution sectors is the innovation that can result from the investment and modernization of the grid creating a fundamentally new cyber-infrastructure. Other industries such as the mobile phone industry, telecommunications industry, computer industry and the music industry, have gone through a considerable and often unexpected technological and consumer change in the last 25 years. Twenty five years from now, the Electrical Power grid is expected to look very different, and a key question that is being raised is what type of innovative evolution will it follow - the iPhone from the mobile industry, or, Google from the Internet, or, perhaps an entirely new model? Also, what other entirely new innovations will it create or will it absorb some of the innovations from emerging sectors such as ZIgbee or RF-sensors from the wireless industry?

Registration
To register to attend - http://winmec.ucla.edu/smartgrid/2010-05/registration.asp

Austin Energy: First off the mark

First off the mark
By Stacey Sheppard

US Infrastructure speaks to Andres Carvallo about how Austin Energy’s aggressive pursuit of new smart grid technologies has put it at the forefront of the utility revolution.

“Consumers will see the data on their energy consumption the day after, or even on an hourly basis, rather than simply when they receive their monthly bill”
-Andres Carvallo

Modernizing the country's electrical grid has become an urgent national priority. Population growth and increased energy demand, growing concerns over energy security, an aging transmission infrastructure and the need to integrate new sources of renewable energy into the already overburdened national grid are all problems that demand an innovative new solution. Implementing new smart grid technologies will help to revolutionize the production, transmission, and consumption of energy in the United States, and increase the reliability, efficiency, and security of the country's electrical system.

While many utilities around the country have announced plans to deploy smart grid technology and are working towards this aim, Austin Energy has had its very own fully operational smart grid deployed since October 2009. The landmark project comprises the seamless integration of the electric grid; communications networks; and the hardware and software needed to monitor, control and manage the creation, delivery and energy consumption of all Austin Energy's customers. It took five years to deploy the full solution set at a cost of approximately $150 million.

As its competitors try to play catch up, the Texan energy giant is already forging ahead with a newer more aggressive phase of its smart grid plan. Named after its namesake Web 2.0, which is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the Internet, development of Smart Grid 2.0 is already in full swing.

For Carvallo, there is no doubt in his mind why Austin Energy is so far ahead of the pack. "We started in 2003 before anybody knew what it was. I would say that our closest competitors would be Oncore and Centerpoint in Texas, and they're supposed to be finished sometime in 2012 to 2014, and then in California the closest companies will be PG&E, Southern Cal Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric, and I think their timeframe is pretty similar, 2012 to 2014. So you could argue that we are 2-3 years ahead to 5 years ahead."

Back in 2003 when Austin Energy embarked on their smart grid development project, they started by deploying smart meters to one third of their service territory. This led on to a replacement and transformation of the infrastructure behind the utility and as Carvallo puts it, one thing led to another.

"We found ourselves basically working on intelligence on the grid at all levels. The company had a vision back then that the creative utility needed to go beyond the utility itself. Our vision of the Smart Grid has always been farther ahead than most in terms of the fact that it encompasses not just the utility infrastructure itself, but the buildings and the transportation sector," explains Carvallo.

"Aggressive" is how Carvallo describes Austin Energy's approach to their smart grid activities and he believes that what they are trying to do is much broader than the idea that most people have of what an intelligent grid is. "The Smart Grid is a combination of an electric network, a communications network plus a lot of hardware and software configured and deployed in a way that allows you uniquely to monitor, control and manage how you create, distribute, and consume energy," he says.

Traditionally the grid has been intelligent from the central power plant to the substation he says, but the grid has been blind from the substation to the premise (e.g. home, office, factory). The main focus is now about putting the intelligence from the substation to the premise, which essentially means putting sensors and actuators in the distribution infrastructure, around transformers, feeders, switches, capacitors, relays of all kinds and then installing a smart meter at the site of the premise. Inside the premise there will be smart appliances/devices, energy storage, electric vehicles, and distributed generation (e.g solar panels for your house).

"So the grid needs to become self-healing," he says. "Meaning no human interaction, lots of rules engines and correlation engines deployed on a hierarchical nested network infrastructure." Due to the increase in the magnitude of data and the amount of devices that the smart grid will necessitate it is no longer possible for a human to manage the grid.

"When we move towards smart grid we're adding half a million devices on top of the 5000 elements already in the grid. In order to manage half a million devices it is just not possible for a human being to sit in a control room and look at a screen and alarms coming from the 500,000 devices non-stop and be able to discern and make choices."

But this self-healing smart grid of the future will offer many advantages to utility customers. Like Web 2.0, the smart grid will be far more interactive and user-centered and will allow a two-way communication between the utility and the consumer. "For the first time it would be a platform that allows for the sharing of the information with the consumer at different timeframes," he says.

This means that the consumer can see the data on their energy consumption the day after, or even on an hourly basis, rather than simply when they receive their monthly bill. Smart grid will also provide the consumer with a variety of ways to access their data such as having the information pushed toward a messaging system on their iPhone or their Blackberry, or an in-home display of some sort either through the web or some hardware device. This should give the consumer a better understanding of how they are consuming energy and also how their infrastructure may be causing a waste of energy.

Carvallo explains how the smart grid should also foster stronger relationships between the utilities and both the consumers and their business customers, particularly in the realms of conservation and energy efficiency. Many schemes are already offering rebates enabling consumers and companies to upgrade their equipment, such as air conditioning units or pool pumps, in favour of more energy efficient alternatives. In the past, he says, there were no real ways to gage if such an investment had achieved the expected gains, but with smart grid and intelligent metering there is now a baseline of what occurs in your property which enables what Carvallo calls "a true verification of your investment".

However, the smart grid will; also provide benefits for the utilities themselves particularly in terms of operational efficiency, which should in turn translate to increased customer satisfaction. "Instead of waiting for customers to call us and tell us their power is out, we know the moment it is out. Even if customers are out and about, we can send an SMS message to their smart phone alerting them of outages and also letting them know once it had been fixed so it never actually has to impact them," he says.

"So the technology is going to move from being very reactive to being very proactive and it would change the whole customer experience. It would really make customers far more trusting of the utility and far more relaxed about the service they get from the utility. That in itself will be a huge benefit."

Another advantage for the utility is the fact that smart grid will allow a streamlining of operations because of its ability to be more prescriptive and precise about any system failures. As the utility will know immediately what is wrong, they will also know how to fix it and what equipment is required to do the job and who they should send to make the necessary repairs. "So the utility will be more efficient and more effective in how it uses resources and how it manages inventory and how it does maintenance of its equipment," explains Carvallo.

The benefits for both businesses and consumers are clear but smart grid also plays an important role in helping to meet our renewable energy targets. "The Smart Grid is an enabler. Without it there's no way that you can reach any significant energy efficiency and any significant penetration of renewable energy," says Carvallo.

"The smart grid is a conduit to enabling and accelerating more energy efficiency and accelerating renewable energy at the central power plant level, but also more importantly at the distribution level, meaning distributed generation, solar rooftops and micro wind turbines in homes. You need the smart grid for all that to come together."

Smart grid, it would appear, will revolutionize not only the way we consume energy but also the way that utilities interact with their customers. The industry is making good progress and in the next few years we should expect to see smart grid technology being deployed throughout the country. And if Austin Energy's vision of the smart grid of the future is fully realized we will see the impacts not only affecting our homes and our businesses by also our means of transport. And if the other utilities are to keep up, Carvallo suggests that they may need to look beyond the parameters of smart grid 1.0.

"The thing that is really going to drive the point home about the need for this market will be the proliferation of electric vehicles and solar rooftops," he says. "As electric vehicles become a reality ­- and they seem to be coming at us fast and furious - the electric utilities across the globe are going to have to make an investment in smart grid technology, because if these vehicles show up in their service territory and they don't have the intelligence to deal with it, they will have some serious reliability problems."


Streets ahead

In December 2008, Austin Energy embarked on an initiative called the Pecan Street Project. In anticipation of completing its smart grid 1.0 in 2009, Austin Energy reached out to the city of Austin, the University of Texas, the Chamber of Commerce, and teamed up to create Austin's next generation smart grid implementation.

Other companies also partnered Austin Energy in this ambitious project to explore smart grid 2.0, including Applied Materials, Cisco, Comverge, Dell, Freescale Semiconductor, GE, Heliovolt, IBM, Intel, Landis+Gyr, Microsoft, Oracle, the SEMATECH consortium and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Austin Energy's goal in creating the Pecan Street Project is to transform into the urban power system of the future while making the City of Austin and its local partners a model clean energy laboratory and hub for the world's emerging clean tech sector. In doing so, Austin Energy is seeking to prove that it is possible to transform the way we traditionally produce, use, store and trade energy.

For the project, Austin Energy has targeted a specific neighborhood, some 700 acres in the east side of town where 1000 homes and 75 businesses are being built. The area will be turned into a state of the art Smart Grid 2.0 where every property will have solar rooftop, energy storage, smart appliances, and electric vehicles all connected on to the Smart Grid.

The project has a timeframe of five years and will be used to explore a lot of things that haven't yet been achieved or tested with smart grid 1.0; real time pricing, time of use pricing, demand response programs and energy rebates. As the results of these different pilots and programs come to bear success, they will then be translated into the rest of the service territory. Basically if a project is successful then it could be rolled out within 90 days to six months of finishing the pilot.

http://www.americainfra.com/article/First-off-the-mark/

WiMax ships 1 million chips per quarter and growing - Beceem files for $100 million IPO.

I am sure that you have heard all kinds of things about the performance, future and viability of WiMax.

http://www.wimax.com/

http://www.wimaxforum.org/

Here are the latest developments:

Beceem announced it is shipping more than 1 million mobile WiMAX chipsets in per quarter, an indication that WiMAX devices are ramping up.

Beceem Communications filed for an initial public offering of up to $100 million. The WiMAX chipset vendor said the move is an attempt to capitalize on the continued growth of mobile broadband. The company, which counts Clearwire as a major customer, said it plans to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol "BECM." One major strategic investor is Intel, with a 20.3 percent stake. Intel is also an investor in Clearwire, and supplies chips for laptops with built-in WiMAX modems.

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Clearwire Extends 4G leadership in the US. Will cover 120 million US subscribers by 2010. To offer service in Los Angeles, Miami, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, in addition to already offering services in New York City, Houston, Boston, Washington DC, Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis, and San Francisco.

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Clearwire to Launch Services in Malaga, Spain.

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Clearwire Launches Services in Baltimore, Portland, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Honolulu and Maui. Plans to cover 120 million subscribers by 2010.

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Beceem Communications, the leading provider of 4G chip solutions, announced today the launch of "4G Turbo," a number of Uplink performance improvements to the company's industry-leading 4G - WiMAX chips. The 4G Turbo improvements further extend the performance of Beceem's chips, and the features can be used in any WiMAX network as they work with every Wave 2-compliant 4G - WiMAX base station.

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Japan's UQ Communications said it will launch its mobile WiMAX network in Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki by the end of this month. The company began a soft launch this week and is recruiting friendly customers. UQ Communications is offering the service at a flat-rate price of $50 per month, although the service will be free until July.

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WiMAX chip vendor Beceem Communications announced an integrated LTE/WiMAX chip--the BCS500--the company said will support up to 150 Mbps downlink speeds. Beceem, which has always been a staunch advocate for WiMAX technology, said it is building the chip so that devices will able to seamlessly roam between LTE and WiMAX and between time division duplex and frequency division duplex configurations.

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In a move to ensure the widespread adoption of mobile WiMAX, Intel announced an agreement with the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to jointly establish a development center for Moblin, a software platform for building applications that run on devices based on Intel Atom processor technology.

Andres Carvallo Keynotes Smart Electricity World Asia in Singapore

Over 400 utility leaders and leading technology experts will gather at Smart Electricity World Asia to discuss tested strategies, best practices and innovations in elevating the electricity industry in Asia to a whole new paradigm.

Over 4 days, this event is designed to give stakeholders across the entire electricity value chain a deeper insight into different strategic, technical and operational issues surrounding smart electricity adoption and implementation.

Encompassing a high-level strategic conference with multiple streams, a technical symposium, multiple workshops, a technology showcase and an inaugural Smart Electricity Initiative Awards, this event is designed for all different stakeholders and different job functions in the entire electricity sector. Whether you are a CEO, a technical expert or an operation manager, we have something for you.

http://www.terrapinn.com/2010/smartasia/

Andres Carvallo Keynotes Australian National Smart Grid Forum

With the Australian Federal Government's $100 million National Energy Efficiency Initiative: Smart Grid, Smart City, which will accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy by encouraging innovative smart grid technology, the Energy Industry is gearing up for its biggest transformation in over 100 years.

While collaboration will be key to establishing a national framework, there are however still questions to be answered when it comes to the realities of Australia’s national smart grid adoption and the impact of this significant industry transformation on business models.

The National Smart Grid Forum 2010 has been designed to bring together Senior Level representatives from the entire value chain to discuss key challenges and formulate solutions to truly transform Australia’s Energy Grid into an Intelligent Network.

Make the most of this opportunity to share ideas and network with colleagues who share common challenges and who, like you, are eager to develop innovative strategies to align quality and cost to transition their business into the next generation of electricity management.

http://www.smartgridsevent.com.au/Event.aspx?id=246228

Andres Carvallo Speaks at IDC Intelligent Economy Panel

As the world slowly recovers from a severe recession, economic conditions have exposed massive inefficiency, dangerously poor visibility and transparency, and painfully slow ability to innovate and adapt. It's no surprise that almost every industry is poised for significant - and, in many cases, long overdue - restructuring and transformation. A common element of such transformation and revitalization is the deeper embedding and leverage of technology to foster an intelligent economy, greatly improve growth and efficiency, and stave off future crises.

The IT-driven revitalization of industries and markets puts the ICT industry in a unique position for strong, sustained growth over the next decade. Given the sea changes in the global economy, simply returning to "business as usual" will be a very poor strategic choice.

Join IDC's leading analysts for Directions 2010. Throughout the presentations, networking, and one-to-one meetings, IDC and Insights analysts will share their research and perspectives about this next wave of opportunities for the ICT industry and the changing strategies that will be required to capture them.

http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=IDC_P19546