IBM Teams With eMeter For Smart Grid Technology Bundle

IBM Teams With eMeter For Smart Grid Technology Bundle

Package aimed at helping mid-sized utilities with smart grid deployments.

March 28, 2010
By 

D.H. Kass

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IBM Corp. said that its strategic relationship with eMeter Corp., a San Mateo, CA-based software developer, has yielded a customized technology bundle to help mid-sized utilities and municipalities implement smart grid projects.

The effort is noteworthy because smart grids, characterized by embedded sensing technology in utility meters that yields performance data useful in analyzing energy efficiency and allocation, are central to IBM’s Smarter Planet design.

The new offering, accomplished under a software licensing deal between the two companies, provides an out-of-the box solution for utility companies interesting in undertaking smart grid projects.

The end product, called the eMeter Smart Grid Appliance, combines IBM Tivoli Monitoring and WebSphere 7 Application Server software with the developer’s EnergyIP meter data management and Energy Engage home energy solutions, preloaded and optimized on IBM’s Power7 systems.

IBM and eMeter said that the Smart Grid Appliance can help utilities reduce the implementation and test cycle time from a year to as little as six months, and pare costs by 60 percent. It will be available by June this year.

IBM officials said that the vendor has invested upwards of $3 billion in Power7 systems development over the course of the last three and a half years, with its deployment in smart grid settings in mind.

Some $4.3 billion to build out smart grid projects is available in funding under the federal government’s stimulus package, prompting the interest of small- and mid-sized utility companies, some of which may not be fully equipped to carry out such endeavors on their own.

“By eMeter leveraging IBM technology, our utility clients will be able to streamline their Advance Metering Infrastructure projects and reduce implementation and operational costs associated with their smart grid programs," said Allan Schurr, vice president of strategy for IBM Energy & Utilities.

“This serves as another example of IBM and its partners working together to help transition the world toward smarter energy and ultimately a smarter planet.”

eMeter agreement shows off Smarter Planet plan

IBM believes that agreements such as the one with eMeter that yield concrete examples of smart grid technology give life to its Smarter Planet plan. The vendor said that last year it signed 500 similar software agreements with business partners worldwide, adding heft to the software group’s profit line, which reached $8 billion in 2009.

“Having worked with several utilities that have succeeded with large-scale Smart Grid rollouts, eMeter and IBM took on the responsibility of identifying the right set of hardware and software tools best suited for these critical projects,” said Bobby Napiltonia, eMeter senior vice president, sales and alliances.

“The Smart Grid Appliance delivers a solution for utilities looking to quickly and easily make the most of their Smart Grid investments.”

IBM suggested that additional arrangements such as the one with eMeter are certain to follow. The vendor’s strategy is to forge similar relationships in energy, healthcare, government, telecommunication and retail, grow its partner ecosystem, and increase possibilities for large-scale infrastructure improvements at local and global levels.

Charles King, an analyst at researcher Pund-IT Inc., said that “smaller companies, mid-market and municipal utilities tend to appreciate IT solutions that arrive fully formed and which require little in the way of customization or fiddling. This is the sweet spot which eMeter and IBM are aiming for with the Smart Grid Appliance.”

In praising the appliance, King said that the “new solution certainly benefits from eMeter’s utility software and tools background, but other key ingredients are IBM’s deep expertise in developing scalable workload-optimized systems and the thought leadership implicit in the company’s Smarter Planet initiative.”

Cisco Buys Stake In San Francisco Smart-Grid Company

By Andrew Morse, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)-Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) has bought a stake in a privately-held smart grid company, marking the networking giant's first investment in a technology it sees as being part of its future growth.

Cisco purchased a stake in Grid Net Inc., a San Francisco-based maker of software used to digitally manage the transmission of electricity over power grids. Grid Net also makes software used in smart meters, displays placed in homes that allow people to use electricity when it is cheapest.

The deal, which was concluded about a month ago, is expected to be announced as early as Thursday. Neither San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco nor Grid Net would comment on the size of the investment, but a person familiar with the situation indicated it was less than $10 million.

The investment comes as technology companies like Siemens AG (SI) and General Electric Co. (GE) stake claims in the growing smart grid market. Cisco has been particularly vocal about the prospects of the smart-grid market, which is estimated to be worth about $43 billion in the next few years.

The concept behind smart-grid technology is to modernize the electricity industry by using digital communications to help optimize the flow of electricity and ensure dependability. Many concepts are similar to those used in controlling the flow of information over communications networks, which automatically route around bottlenecks or disruptions.

"The idea that this will mirror how communications networking technology works is spot on," said Laura Ipsen, who runs Cisco's smart grid projects, in an email. "We believe that an (Internet Protocol)-based communications infrastructure will form the basis of the smart grid from generation to business and the home, much as it created the backbone of the Internet."

Ray Bell, Grid Net's chief executive officer and a Cisco alum, said the two companies would work together on new products that integrate both companies' technologies. He added that Cisco has an observer on Grid Net's board of directors.

Grid Net counts General Electric and Intel Corp. (INTC) among its partners.

Tollgrade Signs Interoperability and Co-marketing Agreement with Ambient Corporation

Tollgrade Signs Interoperability and Co-marketing Agreement with Ambient Corporation
 

Creating a Best-in-Class Remote Monitoring Solution for Electric Utilities

PITTSBURGH, March 22, 2010 -- Tollgrade Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLGD), a leading supplier of service assurance products and solutions, today announced that it has completed an interoperability and co-marketing agreement with Ambient Corporation (OTCBB: ABTG), a pioneering integrator of smart grid  communications platforms, headquartered in Newton, MA. The joint offering will empower electric power utilities with real-time grid intelligence via a robust communications network, enabling them to improve overall efficiency and reliability of energy delivery.

The companies have collaborated to integrate Tollgrade's LightHouse™ software agent and the Ambient Smart Grid® Node, enabling the LightHouse sensors to leverage the communications and remote management services available on the Node. Customers who purchase the joint solution can now deploy LightHouse sensors for outage notification, real-time fault detection and location, and continuous load monitoring and also have the ability to integrate other smart grid applications, such as AMR/AMI, distribution automation, and outage management systems. The Ambient Smart Grid® platform enables the building of an IP network utilizing a variety of standards based technologies to aggregate and transport data from all the smart grid applications.

"The integration of these two innovative products will enable electric power utilities to have the real-time intelligence they need to manage the distribution network and proactively identify and correct network troubles," said Joseph Ferrara, Tollgrade's President and CEO.

John J. Joyce, President and CEO, Ambient Corporation, added "In today's Smart Grid market, such collaborative efforts between companies such as Tollgrade and Ambient demonstrates what is required to form best-in-class solutions that will create opportunities for faster adoption of new technologies and realization of smart grid efficiencies."

For a discussion regarding the joint solution, which is available for deployment immediately, stop by the Verizon Wireless and Ambient shared booth 139 at DistribuTECH, March 23-25, Tampa FL.

Bloomberg: Smart-Grid Federal Grants Spared From U.S. Tax, Treasury Says

March 10, 2010, 5:39 PM EST

By Mark Drajem

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Companies that receive U.S. stimulus grants from a $3.4 billion smart-grid electricity project will not be taxed on those funds by the federal government, the Treasury Department said today.

The decision lets the Energy Department proceed with grant agreements in the coming weeks, according to a joint statement from the Treasury and Energy departments.

“By clarifying the tax treatment of Smart Grid Investment Grants, we are ensuring that their full impact is felt in the communities where these investments are being made,” Dan Tangherlini, Treasury’s assistant secretary for management, said in a statement

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