Grid Net and Sprint Enable First 4G Smart Grid and Smart Home Solutions for Utilities

Grid Net and Sprint Enable First 4G Smart Grid and Smart Home Solutions for Utilities

Utilities can now offer truly secure, scalable, reliable, and standards-based Smart Grid Solutions

San Francisco, California — September 13, 2010 — Grid Net, a global leading provider of real-time, all-IP Smart Grid and Smart Home software platforms for any device and any broadband technology, today announced it is collaborating with Sprint to deliver a Smart Grid solution that leverages Grid Net’s software platforms to connect smart meters and smart grid routers via the Sprint 4G network.

Grid Net software platforms are designed to integrate substation automation, distribution automation, smart meters, demand response, and load management with electric vehicles, buildings, and homes to increase grid reliability, energy efficiency, renewable energy use, and customer satisfaction while reducing capital and operating costs.

Sprint, the first and only national wireless carrier to launch and market a 4G network in the U.S., will explore embedded WiMAX connectivity into Smart Meters and Smart Grid Routers with Grid Net. WiMAX, a secure, open IEEE standard, provides a low-cost yet robust and safe solution to wirelessly connect smart meters to the Smart Grid. The combined solution delivers outstanding security, powerful capabilities and compelling economics for utilities and their customers today. Also, WiMAX standards allow utilities to assign different class of services and set priorities in critical infrastructure applications assuring the quality of service for critical infrastructure.

“This collaboration with Grid Net underscores our commitment to developing the smart grid,” said Wayne Ward, vice president of the Emerging Solutions Group, Sprint. “Sprint offers cost effective and flexible IP network solutions for utilities and application developers in support of advanced meter reading, as well as the scalability of 4G network bandwidth and QoS capabilities, to meet today’s utilities needs and tomorrow’s demands. Sprint invests in technologies and processes that enable developers like Grid Net to have access to important capabilities unique to our network, such as location and presence, to enrich their applications.”

Grid Net provides an integrated suite of policy-based software products. The cornerstone of this suite is the PolicyNet SmartGrid Network Management System™ (NMS) that provides an intelligent, reliable, real-time, all-IP, cost-effective, secure, policy based network management system software platform, operated within the utility’s network operations center, that provides complete lifecycle management services for millions of Smart Grid devices. In conjunction with the PolicyNet SmartGrid NMS, the Smart Network Operating System™ (SmartNOS) and PolicyNet SmartAgent™ firmware, which runs embedded on smart meter devices, provides secure, policy-based intelligence, monitoring, reporting, and control for real-time, advanced smart grid management. The SmartNOS™ firmware has the ability to run single or multiple PolicyNet SmartAgents™ for the localized operation and enforcement of distribution automation, smart metering, demand response, home area management, electric vehicle management, distributed generation management, and energy storage management functions on any smart grid device on the network. All Grid Net products have been certified for the Sprint 4G network and are immediately available in the U.S. market.


Grid Net’s unique advantages include:

· Universal Management — first Utility NOC Network Management System to manage all electric devices (supports Ethernet, Fibre, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and HomePlug)

· Massive Scalability — able to manage 10s of millions of devices from a single deployment of the PolicyNet SmartGrid NMS platform

· Complete Security — end-to-end security (from Utility NOC to Smart Devices) that is based on and is compliant with the US NIST, NERC CIP, and FIPS requirements and standards

· Instant Communication — real-time speeds (<100 milliseconds), or any interval, and 100% Internet Protocol support

· Open Standards-based Interoperability — support for multiple, heterogeneous devices (e.g. transformers, fault monitors, switches, volt/VAR controllers, meters, inverters, etc.) from multiple vendors

· Lowest Total Cost of Ownership — ten year TCO of a full smart grid powered by Grid Net software and smart device technology is cheaper than a dedicated multi-network implementation

“We are delighted to collaborate with Sprint, as it will accelerate the availability of truly secure, scalable, reliable, standards-based Smart Grid and Smart Home solutions for utilities and end-customers,” said Ray Bell, Founder and CEO at Grid Net. “Sprint is a key partner in our ecosystem of partners who are committed to delivering best-in-class Smart Grid and Smart Home technologies built using open standards to utilities and their customers across the US and the rest of the world.”

Sprint’s 4G network has been serving customers since 2008 and is available today to customers in more than 50 markets in cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Seattle.