The Insider's Guide to Business and IT Agility
04/11/2007
Today, IBM announced that it has begun a new coalition to accelerate the adoption of Intelligent Utility Network (IUN) technologies and solutions on a global basis. CenterPoint Energy, Inc.'s (NYSE: CNP) electric transmission and distribution subsidiary, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC, is the founding member of a group of utility companies working with IBM on this initiative.
ebizQ received the following:
The Intelligent Utility Network Coalition is being launched and developed by IBM to help accelerate the adoption of IUN technologies and solutions on a global basis. This effort will include: establishing an industry community for collaboration, knowledge sharing, education and innovation; working with energy industry and standards groups, and the development and deployment of IUN strategic solutions and technologies. The CenterPoint Energy IUN is based on a service oriented architecture and is built using IBM WebSphere Modeler software, an IBM DB2 database, and IBM WebSphere Portal software. Utilities and related companies based in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific are expected to join CenterPoint Energy in the initiative over the next several months.
"We're excited to be the founding member of this coalition. We expect that the Intelligent Grid will improve electric power line grid planning, operations, and maintenance, enabling us to deliver power more efficiently. We also expect the technology to contribute to fewer and shorter outages and higher productivity while maintaining our high level of data security," said Tom Standish, CenterPoint Energy Group President, Regulated Operations. "This innovative technology will provide on-demand data and information that will create a platform for exciting new products and better service for our customers."
IBM and CenterPoint Energy are engaged in a strategic effort to develop and deploy IUN solutions designed to enhance the efficiency and reliability of utility operations at CenterPoint Energy and to increase the ability of customers to manage and use energy in a more cost-effective and energy-efficient way.
IBM and CenterPoint Energy have been collaborating on several projects including the initial limited deployment of an Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI), which allows remote connection and disconnection of service and automated meter reads for customers in the Greater Houston area. In the future, this technology is designed to allow Retail Electric Providers (REPs) in the competitive Texas electric market the opportunity to offer customers enhanced products and services, and to facilitate movement by customers between electric providers. The new technology is also expected to give customers the ability to better manage their energy usage using real time price signals and the ability to remotely control appliances to reduce consumption.
In conjunction with the AMI project, IBM and CenterPoint Energy are implementing components of a "self-healing grid," which will provide grid data, information and analytics to improve outage detection and outage restoration times, grid planning, and ongoing operations. This limited deployment provides the field trials that will enable CenterPoint Energy to have an automated and proactive capability to anticipate problems, find solutions and optimize the performance of its power delivery system. For customers, that would mean improved electric service reliability, as well as better and quicker responses to outages. IBM Global Services is collaborating with CenterPoint Energy on the implementation and deployment of the telecommunications network required to support IUN initiatives, including the design and implementation support for the Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) technology used as a component of the overall communication infrastructure.
An Intelligent Utility Network, or IUN, is an information architecture and infrastructure that enables the continuous automated monitoring of a utility's assets and operations as well as customer electricity usage, and uses this ¡§on demand¡¨ information to improve service, reliability and efficiency. This includes a combination of "smart" technologies and analytics, which connect and facilitate information flows and remote monitoring and control among utility equipment installed in the field and computers in central offices, providing real-time access to operations and business data.
ROUNDTABLE: Stretch Your Budget with smart SOA Governance-A Look at Successful Case Studies
ROUNDTABLE: Open Source Market Update
Insurance: Explore how SOA & BPM are driving down expenses and improving ROI
BPM VIEWPOINT: How Do You Look at BPM? 
Collaborative BI: Expanding the Reach of Analytics
Panorama Software has SaaS BI Ambitions
Picking the Right Vendor With the Right RFP Review Process
Business Intelligence for the Small to Medium-Sized Business
ebizQ is very interested in what you have to say. To contribute an article, an opinion, or to become a blogger, please contact Peter Schooff.
June 3, 2009
One of the most compelling trends in the enterprise business technology space over the past year has been the emergence of cloud computing. In ebizQ’s upcoming Qcamp virtual un-conference, leading industry experts and practitioners will explore the role of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM) in supporting cloud-computing initiatives. Additionally, the new skills that developers and IT managers need for successful cloud development will be discussed.Register
Date: Aug 26, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date: Sep 30, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date:Aug 26, 2009
Time:12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date:Sep 30, 2009
Time:12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Learn how Sun GlassFish ESB offers a “fit-to-purpose” mix of features, functionality, extensibility, and support at the best cost possible, with...
Download Now
In part two of Joe McKendrick's recent podcast with Miko Matsumura, chief strategist for Software AG, they talk about how SOA and IT systems need to change and grow and adapt with the organization around it.
Listen Now
Phil Wainewright interviews David Vap, VP of products at RightNow Technologies, and finds out how sharing best practices can help businesses understand how best to engage with online communities.
Listen Now
Scott Hebner, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for IBM Rational, discusses a topic on the top of every company's mind today: getting the most from IT investments.
Listen Now
In BI, this tough economy and the increasing role of Web 2.0 and MDM are certainly topics on people's minds today. WiseAnalytics' Lyndsay Wise addresses each of them in this informative podcast.
Listen Now
Deepak Singh, President and CTO of Adeptia, joins ebizQ's Dennis Byron in a podcast that gets its hand around the trend of industry-specific BPM.
Listen NowFrom Dennis Byron: For BPM to fit at the top of the stack, it can't merely support workflow or integration. It needs to integrate the BI aspects of the stack, too. Learn More
In the insurance industry, companies have accepted that systems, strategies and data all developed in silos are making it difficult for them to grow and adjust to today’s market demands. The obstacles imposed by siloed approaches are painfully obvious to companies as they try to gain a better understanding of their customers and meet the growing constraints imposed by compliance and regulatory requirements. Leveraging industry standards with full data integration is one was to tackle this challenge. Learn More
From Dennis Byron: Is it better to choose one strain of BPM over another? The answer is unique to your organization. Learn More
Can decision management really deliver costs savings, agility and happy customers on a consistent basis? Learn More
From Dennis Byron: BPM products optimized for case management might be the products that bridge the extremes in my view of the BPM spectrum. Learn More
Integrating BPM and CEP gives you intelligent business processes that can react to rapidly changing business conditions with continuous visibility. Learn More
Insurers need to think about creating "true linkage," which means linking business strategy to process to IT investments and thereby setting the foundation for true change. Learn More
To be effective, business intelligence technology must work behind the scenes to deliver relevant information when, where, and how it's needed. Learn More
A lot of people are talking about Enterprise 2.0 as being the business application of Web 2.0 technology. However, there's still some debate on exactly what this technology entails, how it applies to today's business models, and which components bring true value. Some use the term Enterprise 2.0 exclusively to describe the use of social networking technologies in the enterprise, while others use it to describe a web economy platform, or the technological framework behind such a platform. Still others say that Enterprise 2.0 is all of these things. Learn More
Smart event processing can help your company run smarter and faster. This comprehensive guide helps you research the basics of complex event processing (CEP) and learn how to get started on the right foot with your CEP project using EDA, RFID, SOA, SCADA and other relevant technologies. Learn More
To Michael: To select what has to be improved (e.g. automated), a...
Hi Johan,
thank you for such prompt response.
I...
Phil,
It appears that Google is looking at the world...
I believe work has been done in this area privately for some time....
I wonder if BPM has become more popular because many solutions...
We are looking for a FileNET admin/developer in Houston, TX. The...
As we see more companies consider the cloud we should be...
Scott,
I agree that process management is good way for...
|
|
|
|
Print this article
Email this article
Talk Back!
Write to Editor
