I think a lot about which companies that I’ve been covering for zillions of years will be around 10 years from now, as the Internet moves into its next phase of innovation around things like machine to machine communications, which is sort of personified in the smart grid. If you think Microsoft and IBM and Hewlett-Packard are invincible, pause a moment to memorialize Digital Equipment Corp.
via How deep can Intel get inside the smart grid? | GreenTech Pastures | ZDNet.com.
While Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm are starting a new joint venture to provide machine-to-machine (M2) wireless communications and smart services to a wide range of markets including utilities, the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) has hired an energy and environmental director to look at how the U.S. broadband/communications infrastructure and policies can support the nation’s energy and environmental goals.
These are just a couple of the recent developments in the world of smart grids.
The FCC has recently hired former venture capitalist Nick Sinai of Polaris Ventures as its energy and environmental director to create a National Broadband Task Force to evaluate the nation’s broadband/communications infrastructure and how it will enhance the smart grid, reports Fierce Telecom.
The biggest proponents for the smart grid are the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and the IEEE , which jointly developed the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Project P2030.
The FCC will develop rules and regulations for utility companies leveraging wireless spectrum and broadband access technologies, reports Fierce Telecom.
The Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm joint venture, yet to be named, will focus on smart services enabled by M2M capabilities. As an example, smart grid technology enables utilities to wirelessly connect to their grid assets such as circuit breakers, transformers and other sub-station equipment, allowing them to develop more interactive utility networks. Analysts peg the M2M market at more than 85 million connections globally by 2012, according to the companies.
Communications company Sprint (NYSE:S) announced that it is strengthening it technology portfolio to support smart grid initiatives.
The company said it will provide utilities with advanced telecommunications products, data services, secure IT solutions and partnerships that are needed to support a wide range of utility automation initiatives that will make up the so-called smart grid.
These initiatives include applications such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), SCADA, Demand-Response (DR) Distribution Management System (DMS) and M2M applications.
Sprint said it already supports utility automation, particularly in supplying embedded CDMA & iDEN based communication technologies for a variety of machine to machine (M2M) applications within the energy and water industries.
Sprint operates multiple digital networks delivering 2.5G, 3G, and 4G mobile broadband services. The companys said through its Converged Network Services group, it is able to design custom network solutions, extend coverage, and integrate complex network solutions to meet the demanding requirements of our customers for smart grid applications.
Smart grid – it’s where every major telecommunications provider wants to be nowadays, and Sprint is no exception.
AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and many other carriers are increasingly announcing partnerships and projects using their networks to link utilities to the floods of data coming from devices like smart meters, distribution monitors and grid control systems.
Sprint has a lot of smart grid projects and partnerships underway as well, but has so far stayed relatively quiet about them all. But that changed this week, as the company laid out its broad ambitions for expanding its already prominent line of business with utilities – not only on its well-used iDEN and CDMA networks, but for its next generation of wireless communications, WiMax.
That’s according to Robert Gustin, Sprint’s national program manager for utilities. About 20 percent of Sprint’s hundreds of existing utility customers are now involved with the company in some form of machine-to-machine smart grid project, he said Wednesday.
It can include things like serving as the backhaul, or wide area, network for smart meters or distribution automation equipment, he said – something wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon are doing as well (see Green Light posts here and here).
Sprint’s network will serve that purpose at utility smart grid deployments including a $200 million smart meter project planned by Florida Power & Light, Gustin said (see A Million Smart Meters for Miami).
Sprint’s smart grid work can also involve partnerships with top smart meter manufacturers and grid sensor and control device makers, he added. Companies developing devices to work on Sprint’s network include top smart meter makers GE, Elster, Landis+Gyr and Itron, he said.
It’s all part of the growing “machine-to-machine” business for wireless carriers, that is, linking devices that can “talk” to one another directly. While utilities aren’t the biggest customer for such products and services, they’re growing fast, Gustin said – after all, there are roughly 320 million electric, gas and water meters in the United States.
Beyond meters, one of Sprint’s utility clients – Gustin wouldn’t say which one – recently told him they’re expecting to install about 12 million smart grid devices over the coming decade that will need a communications network of some kind.
Of course, utilities have a broad array of options to link up those devices, from proprietary and open wireless or power line communications for local area networks to cellular, fiber optic or satellite communications for wide area, backhaul networks.
And while cellular remains a prevalent option for wide area networks, North American utilities have so far shied away from using it for the localized linking of smart meters and other devices.
Driven in part by the Obama Administration’s focus on energy independence and smart-grid initiatives, Sprint is now strengthening its portfolio to supply electric utilities with advanced telecommunications products, data services, secure IT solutions and partnerships that are needed to support a wide range of utility automation initiatives and the electric smart grid.
Sprint says it has been supporting utility automation for years, and is now focused on supporting its electric utility customers with their smart grid initiatives, including applications such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), SCADA, Demand-Response (DR) Distribution Management System (DMS) and M2M applications.
As a commercial carrier operating multiple digital networks and delivering 2.5G, 3G, and now 4G mobile broadband services, Sprint is working on utility initiatives that include advanced communications, information technology, distributed sensing and comprehensive data management. Through its Converged Network Services and Business Markets Group, Sprint says that it is able to design custom network solutions, extend coverage and integrate complex network solutions for both public and private utilities.
All you have to do to get a peek at the future of machine-to-machine (M2M) technology is take one look at the U.S. Department of Energy’s manifesto for reforming the nation’s electric grid.
Phrases like “integrated communications” and “killer apps” leap off the page as the department discusses the national initiative to make the electric grid “smart.” Among the five core technologies driving the effort: integrated communications that connect “components to open architecture for real-time information and control, allowing every part of the grid to both ‘talk’ and ‘listen.’”
Sound familiar?
M2M technology is positioned to play a key role in updating the nation’s inefficient, dangerously outdated electric grid. Under President Barack Obama’s Recovery Act, the Department of Energy will spend $4.5 billion as a down payment to “advance the development and deployment of a smart electricity grid that employs real-time, two-way digital communication technologies to allow users to connect directly with power suppliers.”
Thanks to the “Internet of machines” high-profile role improving the electric grid, the utilitarian technology is finally getting its day in the sun. The Department of Energy says that M2M technology will help monitor the grid, increasing its reliability, efficiency and security. Utility companies can get instant feedback on problems with the grid, like transformer outages.
M2M technology also will help utilities shift between energy sources, allowing them to integrate renewable energy like wind and solar into electricity generated from coal-burning power plants. In addition, the technology can help consumers save money by adjusting thermostats and appliances up or down in relation to the variable cost of power.
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