Successful criminals know that all security systems have weak points and they set about the ‘job’ of locating and exploiting them. And they know this because most security systems are after-the-fact considerations, or add-ons. The security system wasn...

Knowledge management in complex utility organizations has become the sine qua non for continuing progress and profitability. Email communications contain so much information that they are ripe repositories for the expansion of knowledge – as well as the...

We on the Microsoft Worldwide Utilities Team have been putting form around the concept of the Smart Energy Ecosystem, a system where all participants take some role in the management, use and even the production of electricity on a connected grid that...

Just a couple of years many were nervous about talking too much about the cloud and its great possibilities for the utilities. But times have changed and when we read announcements like one out recently from OpenText it’s nice to see that our vision for...

  Late last year Jon and I traveled to Japan and met with a number of Utilities. A major challenge at the time was the uncertain future of Japan’s nuclear industry. Today marks one of the most significant milestones in Japan’s power industry: the...

Two releases on the wire today might catch your attention regarding cybersecurity for the grid. First, despite good intentions to shore up security on the electric grid over the last several years, there’s still some skepticism whether this is occurring...

Big data is all the rage these days and rightly so. The industry is steadily coming to appreciate the incredible value that can come from the geometric data multiplications occurring each day. The challenge, of course, is organizing the data so that it...

We’ve been writing for years about how the smart energy ecosystem of the future is transforming the work of the utility industry and created our Smart Energy Reference Architecture to directly address the issues that arise from one of those transformative...

Having attended several Power Industry Events as well and many recent utility user group meetings, it’s been very insightful to talk with Utility security leaders from around the world. Security is top-of-mind for Utilities worldwide as they tackle the...

Here’s a good article from ZDNet that provides more detail on our partnership with CarbonSystems . Take a look here . – Jon C. Arnold

Microsoft has been diligently reporting its carbon emissions, energy and now water use through the Carbon Disclosure Project for the last seven years. Our process for sourcing, gathering and analyzing data can be quite challenging as it often starts months...

The sales for Kinect have been amazing with over 18 million sold in the past year and we were honored to receive a Guinness World Record for the fastest selling consumer electronics device ever. As consumers, we may take devices like Kinect for granted...

Following up on my last blog: “ Releasing SQL Server 2012 to Help Customers Manage “Any Data, Any Size, Anywhere ”, I wanted to highlight two case studies that have recently been published which demonstrates the customer and partner momentum with SQL...

Throughout the Power & Utilities value chain we see data being generated faster than ever before. Whether it’s advanced plant analytics, operation data from the smart grid, smart metering, electric vehicles, or new views of the customer though behavioral...

DistribuTECH is always a great event as there is probably no place on earth where you get to see so many of the world’s smart grid leaders in one place. Last month’s DistribuTECH 2012 in San Antonio was no exception as it was a terrific event for meeting...

It’s no news that solutions for monitoring and providing early warning of equipment failure in assets such as power plants and petrochemical refineries can save these capital intensive industries millions of dollars annually in avoided lost production...

One of the keys to improving plant and asset performance is having the right information at your fingertips for better decision making. In the Utility context it’s about improving productivity, reliability, increasing operation efficiency and at the same...

We have written many times about our cloud momentum and how we have bet the company on the cloud and that most of the people who work on software at Microsoft are in some way working on cloud technologies and solutions. But real momentum comes from partners...

We just released our third Worldwide Utility Industry Survey for 2012 at the DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition . The survey, a collaboration between Microsoft Corp. and OSIsoft, polled Utility professionals from around the world and highlights...

Microsoft Is Creating a Real Impact for Our Partners and Customers with Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft and our partners offer enterprise-class data management solutions to help you lower your total cost of ownership and manage data with unparalleled confidence...

Ten years ago, Bill Gates sent an email to all Microsoft employees announcing the creation of the Trustworthy Computing (TwC) Initiative . In that memo, Bill defined the key aspects of Trustworthy Computing, and set the company on a path toward ensuring...

Just a reminder that we will be releasing the survey results on how Power and Utility companies are approaching smart grid initiatives in 2012.  You can register for the webinar by going here . We hope that you can join us. – Jon. C. Arnold

We are excited to be a premier Opal sponsor at DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas on January 24 – 26, 2012.  DistribuTECH 2012 is the utility industry's leading smart grid conference and exposition, covering automation...

We recently got to spend a few enlightening days with SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) owners and engineers from across the country at the Subnet User conference .  For those that are not familiar with Subnet , they are a Microsoft...

The march to realize the vision of the smart grid worldwide continues but the progress reflects differences in priorities and emphasis globally. To get a pulse on where smart grid efforts stand worldwide, Penn Energy Research Center has conducted an industry...