Microsoft Power and Utilities Blog

Leveraging Big Data to improve Plant and Asset Performance

MSPowerUtilities — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:51:56 GMT

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 time reducing operations and maintenance costs. As we continue to inject more intelligence into the Utility asset base we are seeing the datasets grow large and having solutions and tools to manage this “Big Data” for business value is becoming a corporate priority.

A great example of a solution in action is the Accenture/Avanade Plant & Asset Performance solution. My team has worked with Accenture/Avanade for several years to evolve this solution to use the latest business intelligence technologies to help Power & Utility companies discover the most valuable data and present it in a way that is useable, meaningful and actionable. It’s a great solution for leveraging “Big Data” to improve plant and asset performance and you can check out a video describing the solution here. – Jon C. Arnold

OpenText Brings Business Process Solutions to Windows Azure

MSPowerUtilities — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:55:21 GMT

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 and customers working with us to leverage the cloud for business value.

Recently we described how our partner Bentley Systems bet on Azure-cloud-based services for sustaining infrastructure and how the cloud is helping ETSA Utilities in Australia light up their electricity network map.

Hot off the press our partner OpenText has announced an expansion of its global alliance agreement with us to include wider support for Microsoft cloud computing initiatives. OpenText will work with us to develop industry-specific applications tailored to business and user requirements in industries, such as financial services, oil and gas, Utilities and public sector. Also, it’s a great example of the “cloud on your terms” as this tighter alignment between the OpenText and Microsoft will give customers more flexibility in the way OpenText applications are deployed: fully in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of cloud and on-premise.

You can read the press release here. Congratulations to OpenText for having the vision and leadership to help their customers drive process efficiency through scalable cloud based service solutions. – Jon C. Arnold

Smart Grid Implementations Rises 25 Percent in the past year - but that’s not the full story

MSPowerUtilities — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:02:03 GMT

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 the challenges utilities face as they move from planning to actual smart grid implementation.

The headline is a 25 percent increase over last year in the number of utilities companies that have implemented smart grid technology. The survey shows that 10 percent have completed their smart grid deployments, 66 percent are either in the planning or adoption phase, but there is still 24 percent sitting on the sidelines in terms of adopting any smart grid technology.

Of course, we know that one’s POV concerning the smart grid can vary and our opinion is that the smart grid is a never-ending journey. At Microsoft, we talk about the smart energy ecosystem that encompasses the entire power value chain, from generation to inside the home of the customer. Segments such as smart metering and the integration of the renewables into the bulk power system are reasonably mature. However, other areas such as distribution management are just now taking on a full head of steam.

Elephant in the room

The elephant in the room is the challenges Utilities face as they move from planning to actual smart grid implementation. Nearly 20 percent of those surveyed said that technical issues kept them from moving forward, which was a larger group than in last year’s survey. What jumped out was that 72 percent of the respondents do not have an enterprise wide, technology scalable architecture in place to structure current and future smart grid deployments. Our view is that leveraging adaptable architectures will remove many of these issues. That’s why we created the Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA) to provide a detailed framework for existing technologies and the flexibility to incorporate new technologies and solutions as they become available.

BI Center stage

Business intelligence solutions help companies realize the vision of smart grid, as we know; it is a subject that is center stage with press, analysts as well as Utilities. This point came out loud and clear in the survey results: nearly one quarter of companies referenced the importance of business intelligence solutions to manage the avalanche of data created by the smart grid. The need for speed of analysis, volume, and real-time analysis were identified as the top three challenges. In addition, the time to learn the tools needed for “Big Data” analysis was cited as a major challenge for Utilities. To address this challenge, OSIsoft’s PI System, which is designed to absorb massive amounts of smart streaming data and events, works with Microsoft BI tools such as SQL Server, SharePoint and the Office suite of products. These tools are familiar and easy-to-use and put BI on every desktop, thereby putting more relevant data in the hands of information workers. This enables Utilities to make informed decisions that increase efficiencies, lower costs and build greater reliability into the electric power system. A good example of this in practice is Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) where they are saving millions of dollars through collaborative BI and making faster and better informed decisions. You can read the case study here.

Surprise, the Holy Grail of the smart grid!

One of the big surprises in this year’s survey was that consumer energy management systems sky rocketed to the top of the most important solutions for implementing tomorrow's smart grid. This category was rated dead last in the 2011 survey results. The consumer side has been a tough nut to crack, as I know only too well from my experience with Microsoft Hohm, but you can see that it’s still being viewed as a key ingredient for the smart grid of the future.

Impact of the smart grid on customer information systems

This is a big ticket item, a bet-your-career project if you undertake major changes to your customer information systems (CIS). Never the less, 45 percent of the Utilities responding expect major changes in their CIS due to the smart grid. As we move towards time of use pricing, interval billing, electric vehicles and consumer energy management, Utilities will see tremendous pressure on their legacy CIS systems. At Microsoft we are working with our partner Ferranti on solutions to replace legacy customer care and billing systems with solutions based on Dynamics AX. The Ferranti CIS solution, Mecoms, is more agile so Utilities can adapt quickly to change at a much lower price point. In addition, our partner Convergys has developed CRM solutions based on Dynamics CRM that can enhance existing customer systems and provide more flexibility and extensibility to Utilities to support the new customer requirements of the smart grid. Convergys’ experience in the competitive Telecom market makes them an option that every Utility should consider in enhancing their existing customer system.

I could go on and on as there is an amazing of amount of insight in the survey but I risk making this blog intolerably too long! You can read the press release here, and replay the webinar where Jon Peterson, Vice President Marketing OSIsoft and I discuss the survey results. Enjoy! – Jon C. Arnold

Join us at DistribuTECH for “Creating a Real Impact for Our Partners and Customers with Microsoft SQL Server”

MSPowerUtilities — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:47:17 GMT

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 and scalability. Visit Microsoft and our Partners at DistribuTECH to learn more:

Telvent at Booth #651
Itron at Booth #611
OSIsoft at Booth #695
SUBNET Solutions at Booth #1819

Microsoft and our partners will showcase solutions to demonstrate our innovation and leadership to enable the increased sophistication and automation of the smart grid, including Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA), a framework intended to help utilities address the implementation challenges for both the smart grid and the Smart Energy Ecosystem.

Schedule time to meet with Microsoft Power & Utilities industry leaders, to learn how Microsoft and our partners are meeting the needs of utilities worldwide – from cyber security to managing big data, and everything in between.

We look forward to seeing many of you DistribuTECH!

For more information about Microsoft Power & Utilities and Microsoft Partners – ALSTOM Grid, ARMOR, Bentley,EMC, Enspiria, General Dynamics – Itronix, Infosys, Itron, Logica, MobileDemand, OSIsoft, Schneider Electric, SUBNET Solutions, and Telvent at DistribuTECH, please visit www.microsoft.com/DistribuTECH.

Microsoft Highlights at DistribuTECH

OSIsoft and Microsoft Showcase: Business Analytics with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and PI System Data Using Microsoft PowerPivot and Power View
Tuesday, January 24 | 5 PM – 6 PM
DistribuTECH Expo Hall – OSIsoft Booth #695
Register to join the Showcase and meet with OSIsoft and Microsoft!

Microsoft and Telvent Reception
Tuesday, January 24 | 6:30PM – 8:30 PM
Register now for the event!

Florida Power and Light - Realizing Value from Their MDM Solution While Lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by Focusing on Performance Improvements and Savings in IT
Tuesday, January 24 | 3 PM – 4:30 PM
Room 214C

Connect with the Microsoft Power & Utilities team on the Power & Utilities Blog

Trustworthy computing at 10 Years => TwC Next

MSPowerUtilities — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:59:17 GMT

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 that every computer user’s experience was secure, private, and reliable.

Last week our Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Craig Mundie, sent a memo to all employees called “TwC Next,” the ensuing decade-plus of Trustworthy Computing, will focus on the new world of devices and services.

Certainly information and communications technology (ICT) underpins every aspect of our personal and professional lives and we must protect the security of the electrical power grid and the global financial system, and the telecommunications system, even as determined and persistent adversaries set their sights on these and other critical infrastructures.

I encourage you to read Craig’s memo and about the TwC Next initiative here. – Jon C. Arnold

Webinar this week - Smart Grid: Where Do We Stand? Thursday Jan 19th at 11:00AM EST.

MSPowerUtilities — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:57:19 GMT

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

Microsoft at DistribuTECH: January 24 - 26, 2012

MSPowerUtilities — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:33:21 GMT

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 and control systems, energy efficiency, demand response, renewable energy integration, advanced metering, T&D system operation and reliability, power delivery equipment and water utility technology.

As a sponsor for DistribuTECH, Microsoft will be hosting several Networking events, including the International Reception, Networking Reception, and the 5 o’clock somewhere event with our partners: Telvent, EMC, Infosys, and SUBNET. In addition to networking events, we have several sessions throughout the conference with our partners and our customers. Together with our partners – we will be discussing messages around SQL Server 2012, Big Data, BI, Windows 7, Windows 7 Devices, Cloud, and overall Industry leadership.

Microsoft highlights at DistribuTECH:

- OSIsoft and Microsoft Showcase - Business Analytics with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and PI System data Using Microsoft PowerPivot and Power View - Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 - 5:00pm – 6:00pm

DistribuTECH Expo Hall – OSIsoft Booth #695

- Microsoft and Telvent Reception - Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 - 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Microsoft and Telvent invite you to a special reception at the Hard Rock Café along San Antonio's famed River Walk

- Florida Power and Light - Realizing Value from Their MDM Solution While Lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by Focusing on Performance Improvements and Savings in IT - Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 - 3:00pm – 4:30pm

DistribuTECH Expo Hall – Room 214C

For more information please visit www.microsoft.com/Distributech. We look forward to seeing many of you at DistribuTECH 2012! – Veronica Cavazos and Jon C. Arnold

Making Utility Substations more Intelligent through Unified Grid Intelligence Solutions

MSPowerUtilities — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:51:39 GMT

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 partner and Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA) advisory council member that specializes in making Utility substations more intelligent through their unified grid intelligence solutions. Subnet has enjoyed tremendous success as of late as 9 of the 12 largest North American utilities listed by Fortune Magazine have implemented SUBNET’s NERC CIP technology

The hot discussion topics at the conference were the product enhancements that enable Subnet to remain an industry leader of substation security through access control and, security in general. Security as a topic always comes up when discussing SCADA as threats such as malware, hacking, access control continue to grow making it hard to know what a Utility can do given then need to keep operational SCADA functioning with limited budgets.

Compounding the security problem is the rapidly increasing amount of SCADA data as well as the increasing number of systems from which the data is being sent. While there are no silver bullets, especially to making legacy systems secure another key topic of discussion, there are some best practices emerging from the conference that offer hope.

Ameen Hamdon, President of Subnet opened the conference with a focus on security. Of particular interest was his point that the impact of growing connections of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED's) become a point of vulnerability that must be managed.

Their PowerSYSTEM Center solution enables IED Management, Password and Configuration Management that provides the potential to virtualize substation software. This solution eliminates the tiered complexities of older systems while gaining redundant/high availability architecture for the substation. Security, scalability, and the ability to better manage cyber assets are all accomplished.

· Michael Howard, Microsoft Cyber Security Architect for Microsoft provided a compelling argument for developing a robust solution beyond the firewalls that we so often rely on. Michael outlined how cyber threats are increasingly coming from software solutions being added to Utility operations in order to manage our more intelligent devices on the grid. Referring to Ameen’s keynote, Michael discussed how the interfaces between the software and platform can create vulnerabilities that are not apparent when testing the operating systems and software solutions separately.

In our view there are two immediate actions that Utilities can do to increase security in spite of this challenge:

1) Implement vulnerability testing starting with your most essential system. The testing needs to include testing from the point of view of the business. Many systems that are critical to a Utility might not be essential to grid reliability. Michael point out that there is a significant potential liability to ignoring cyber risks to the business. Vulnerability testing is an uncommon skill set in Utilities today but is of growing importance. A good place to start learning about vulnerability testing is through Microsoft’s Software Development Lifecycle.

2) Make sure that the developers of your software solutions follow Subnet’s lead and have in-depth knowledge of the platforms that they are developing on and have tested the interfaces. This is another reason why Subnet was able install their NERC CIP technology in 9 of the 12 largest North American Utilities listed by Fortune Magazine.

One of the major take aways from the conference is that, while it’s impossible to identify and eliminate all vulnerabilities, there are some very bright minds in our industry working to make today’s Utility operational systems more secure while still meeting the challenges discussed. – Jerry Thomas and Jon C. Arnold

Smart Grid: Where Do We Stand?

MSPowerUtilities — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:31:14 GMT

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 survey on how Power and Utility companies are approaching smart grid initiatives in 2012.

Please join us for this eye opening one hour webinar on January 19th at 11:00 AM EST when we will reveal the survey results with expert commentary and insights from Penn Energy Research Analyst Mak Udezue and two distinguished industry leaders: Jon Peterson, Vice President Marketing OSIsoft and yours truly Jon C. Arnold, Managing Director Power & Utilities, Microsoft Corporation.

You can register for the webinar by going here. We hope that you can join us. – Jon. C. Arnold

In the Field: Observations on the Power & Utilities Industry in Japan

MSPowerUtilities — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:59:29 GMT

Earlier this month the Microsoft Power & Utilities Team spent a week visiting customers and partners in Japan. It goes without saying that the Power & Utilities sector in Japan is in unrest due to the earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant.

As we traveled from Tokyo to Sendai we were able to observe first had the tremendous devastation that the tsunami at unleashed on the country side. But at the same time we were amazed on how much progress has been made in the clean-up and restoration effort. We flew out of Japan's Sendai airport and were treated to an amazing pictorial of the devastation and the remarkable recovery and restoration efforts. Japan's Sendai airport was washed over by the Tsunami and you can watch an amazing video of the tsunami surge washing across Sendai Airport's ramp and jet way areas here.

By last count only 11 of the country's 54 nuclear reactors are operating forcing the world's third-largest importer of oil and top importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to use even more of those fuels to generate power to plug the nuclear shortfall. This situation is putting enormous stress on the electric power system and all the Utilities are working with their customers to implement energy efficiency programs to reduce demand and internal cost reductions to make up for the high cost of burning oil and LNG. Diversification of the generation portfolio, improved operational information for better decision making and cost reductions where the themes repeated at each Utility we visited.

Historically, Japan has been a bit unique in terms of market structure and their adoption of international standards as many of the solutions used by Utilities in Japan have been either home grown or provided by the large local suppliers especially for Japanese Utility industry. But with the earthquake and tsunami disasters we see things starting to change as our conversations focused strong desire emerging for more standard solutions that can result in not only cost reductions but improve operational performance and customer centricity. This trend fits perfectly with our enterprise investments in four areas that we believe are fundamental to helping our customers run competitive, efficient organizations: the cloud, consumerization of IT, productivity and our investment with Utility industry solutions with our partners.

Much of the customer discussions centered on our smart energy reference architecture (SERA) and how it can be used apply standards to solve enterprise wide integration issues, create agility to free up data in disparate systems across the Utility value chain and provide solutions for the lowest total cost of ownership.

During the trip we were able to meet with global partners Accenture, OpenText, OSIsoft and local partner CTC. Our account teams are working actively with these partners to provide solutions to help optimize operations and information management, improve customer service and to reduce costs for the Japanese Utilities.

While the Utility industry in Japan is currently in a bit of turmoil, we see it entering into an era marked by new business initiatives and technology investments and we at Microsoft are delighted to be in a position to help. – Jon C. Arnold & Larry Cochrane

Convergys and Microsoft: Better Together

MSPowerUtilities — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:53:03 GMT

We have written in the past about the work we are doing with Convergys in Caring for Customers: A “Mashable Ecosystem” Model for Utilities and Driving Customer Success in the Smart Grid Era: Why the Time is Now for CRM. These blogs point to the unique features of Convergys CRM powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM and how it can enhance the ability of communications service providers and utilities companies to contend in a highly competitive and constantly evolving marketplace.

But one of the most important attributes from a strategic perspective is the partnership that we have with Convergys. Last week Convergys and Microsoft held a CRM Webinar titled “Better Together” which discusses our joint investments and work. The Webinar features Stephen Randall, Director of Product Marketing and Jin Suk, Lead Product Architect of Convergys Corporation as well as Girish Raja who is the Technical Product Manager for Dynamics CRM at Microsoft. It’s worth checking out and you can access the replay by going here. Enjoy! – Jon C. Arnold

Webcast Replay - The Future of Enterprise Utility Solutions

MSPowerUtilities — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:53:05 GMT

When we talk about the Future of Enterprise Utility Solutions, we cannot have the discussion without addressing Utility Asset Management and the importance of having a scalable and performance oriented architecture to support it. The underlying infrastructure and solutions must work together to allow Utilities to:

- Collect, organize, and exchange data easily

- Transform data into actionable information for faster, better decisions

- Get information in to and out of the field on any device at any time

- Disseminate knowledge where and when it is needed across enterprise boundaries

To make this vision a reality, we have teamed with our global alliance partner Telvent to provide integrated solutions that can help utilities meet these challenges and optimize the use of their assets. By working together to optimize the performance of Telvent’s solutions including the ArcFM Solution on Microsoft SQL Server, Telvent and Microsoft are addressing the most pressing needs of the smart grid age like scalability, response times, security, and total cost of solution ownership.

Our webcast earlier this week demonstrated how the Telvent – Microsoft strategic alliance delivers measurable benefits for Utilities by dramatically improving asset management and how Telvent’s adoption of SQL Server 2008 R2 allows them to offer Utilities solutions built on a comprehensive data platform that provides built-in security, high availability, and superior scalability coupled with robust business intelligence offerings.

We encourage you to view the webcast replay by going here and take a look at the benchmark testing results confirming the scalability, performance, and value of ArcFM Solution running on SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise for Utilities here! – Jon C. Arnold and Larry Kuhl

Great Place to Work

MSPowerUtilities — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:03:01 GMT

From time to time I take a break from my day job in this blog to talk about other experiences that are significant or have touched me in a special way. During this US Thanksgiving holiday I had a couple of things that came to mind.

One was Microsoft being named the top global company to work for, according to the Great Places to Work Institute. The Institute put together a list with the 25 best multinationals, and placed us at the top. As a company we are proud of the work our people get to do every day, and the impact we have on the world around us through our products and technologies.

But there’s more to it than just products and technologies. As a company, we are committed to serving communities and working responsibly. Through our partnerships, our technology innovations, our people and our resources we are proud to help solve societal challenges and create economic opportunities on both a global and a local scale. You can read more about this at our corporate citizenship site.

I have always been a subscriber to the talk is cheap let’s go play philosophy and I had a recent experience with our annual Employee Giving Campaign that really drove home the great work we do.

You hear a lot about the work that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does but few know that Microsoft employees gave $96 million to charity in 2010 with over almost 35,000 employees contributing money in the United States alone! This is a phenomenal accomplishment and I was fortunate enough to be one of the team members sponsoring the Microsoft Employee 2011 Giving Campaign which is held each October for employees in the US. Our work focused on sharing information to our employees about the campaign, educating them on the tools, resources and how they could make a difference.

In addition, we coordinated a Giving event with a number of national and local charities at our Redmond campus. I was the sponsor for KIVA which is an organization that allows people to lend money via the Internet to microfinance institutions in developing countries around the world which in turn lend the money to small businesses.

This years Giving Campaign was a rewarding and remarkable experience that I am delighted to share with you and is just one more reason why Microsoft is a Great Place to Work! – Jon C. Arnold

Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft partner for life cycle management of DSM programs

MSPowerUtilities — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:33:21 GMT

The world of Demand-side management (DSM) involves reducing electricity use through activities or programs that promote electric energy efficiency or conservation, or more efficient management of electric energy loads. DSM programs can help customers manage electric usage, keeps rates low, help improve the environment and can even help a Utility avoid building power plants.

DSM programs have been around for years and have been designed for things like promoting high efficiency building practices, the purchase of energy-efficient products, transition to compact fluorescent lighting, and Utility control of customer air conditioners. The actual management of these programs have typically been done with paper and spreadsheets.

However, with the collision of energy and the environment Utilities are now looking for next-generation demand-side management programs to incent the radical shift in energy consumption required to meet government mandates. What has become obvious is that Utilities just don’t have the right tools and processes in place and they are struggling with disparate business processes and technologies which hinder operational efficiency and high performance of these DSM programs.

For utilities seeking to manage their demand-side management programs portfolio, we have partnered with Accenture and Avanade to offer a modular, scalable and cost-effective solution built on Dynamics CRM. This DSM provides extensive capabilities for the support and management of the life cycle of energy efficiency and conservation and partial demand-response programs to help utilities better engage with customers, vendors and partners and succeed in the transforming utilities landscape. In a nut shell, this new solution allows Utilities to:

• More effectively engage with customers, vendors and partners

• Deliver verifiable, cost-effective and energy-efficient savings.

• Achieve rapid speed to market of new DSM programs while reducing total cost of ownership of the DSM system

• Effectively address regulatory reporting compliance requirements

• Manage DSM in a single system with streamlined/automated workflows and integrated reporting

• Accelerate program delivery via integration with Accenture’s High Performance Utility Model (HPUM)

• Enhanced for delivery in the cloud via Avanade Online Services for CRM–a complete, end-to-end software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform–or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

• Can be deployed in various modes and on the same code base: On-premises, hosted, SaaS or hybrid deployment model

• Able to transparently move between on- and off-premise

It’s a terrific solution to help Utilities to manage the life cycle of energy efficiency and conservation programs as well as support partial demand response program management and meet the regulatory reporting requirements. I encourage you to check it out here. – Jon C. Arnold

Join us for a Webcast on The Future of Enterprise Utility Solutions

MSPowerUtilities — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:02:47 GMT

Free Webcast
Wednesday, 11/30/11 | 1:00pm ET | Click to Register

Today's utilities face the challenges of tighter IT budgets, reduced in-house development staff,and the need to quickly deliver business benefits through applications. Utilities also need to adapt to the rapid changes in smart grid technology, the electricity distribution system of the future.

Telvent and Microsoft are working together to provide integrated solutions that can help utilities meet these challenges and better use their distribution assets for maintenance and growth. By working together to integrate key aspects of their solutions-including Telvent ArcFM Solution-Microsoft SQL Server, and Windows Server-Telvent and Microsoft address the most pressing needs of the smart grid age, including performance metrics, response times, and security.

In May and June 2011, Telvent, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, joined with Microsoft to conduct a series of benchmarking tests to verify the performance and scalability of ArcFM Solution 10.0.1 SP1, which included testing on two core elements - ArcFM and Responder, running on SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise. The results of the benchmark testing were impressive.

This webcast will detail the results of the benchmark testing as well as provide industry insights to help utility customers understand the value they can derive from Telvent and Microsoft's solutions both today and in the future.

Important Free Webcast | Click to Register

Speakers will share industry insights as well as Microsoft and Telvent's strategy and vision of the ArcFM solutions impact on strategic IT initiatives. This webcast event will give you the opportunity to learn how the partnership between Telvent and Microsoft is bringing game changing technology solutions to the utility industry.

Featured speakers will be:

Mary Ann Stewart
Senior Analyst

Sierra Energy Group, the research and analysis Division of Energy Central
Mary Ann Stewart is a licensed professional civil engineer with a diverse background in government, research, utility industry and consulting. She has worked in journalism, municipal works engineering, environmental regulatory policy and analysis, Federal research programs, utility IT management, independent power production, and management consulting. A frequent speaker and writer on utility business and IT topics, MS. Stewart is analyst on numerous Sierra Energy publications and research initiatives.

Jon C. Arnold
Managing Director, Worldwide Power & Utilities Industry
Microsoft Corporation
As Microsoft's senior executive for Power and Utilities his primary responsibility is to establish and drive Microsoft's industry strategy, which extends his leadership over sales, solutions development, partner activities, marketing, industry standards development, evangelism, industry, government and executive relations, as well as continuing the advancement of Microsoft's worldwide power and utilities team.

Jeffrey R. Meyers, P.E.
Smart Grid Executive

Telvent
Jeff Meyers is a second-generation electrical engineer, and former president of Telvent Miner & Miner. In his 30-year utility career, Meyers has designed electric substations and transmission lines, and developed system planning and protection studies. Since 1987, he has worked on more than 50 GIS development projects for a variety of gas, electric and other utilities, based on the developing and evolving technology of ESRI and Telvent. In 2008, he relinquished his role as head of Telvent M&M to focus exclusively on Smart Grid technology.

Make Plans Now to Attend This
Free Webcast - Click to Register

This complimentary webcast is brought to you by:

Integral Management of Public Space

MSPowerUtilities — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:20:23 GMT

Last week in London we held our annual EMEA industry solutions university (ISU) event. ISU provides Microsoft account teams with customized industry training and thought leadership from leading customers, partners and our own industry experts.

In the Power & Utilities track we had great sessions and presentations this year and it was probably our best ISU ever. There were many highlights but I did want to share one solution demonstration from our partner Logica that was very interesting in that it provides a glimpse of the future when it comes to managing infrastructure and assets.

It’s called the Logica IBOR (Integral Management of Public Space) and it enables cities and large industries to control and monitor their infrastructure. IBOR offers a high potential for energy savings – especially in the case of assets like street lighting as well as improved quality of life and increased safety. The innovative solution is built from the ground up using Silverlight, Surface, SQL Server, AppFabric and Windows Azure. To learn more about IBOR and how it works I would recommend checking out the YouTube video on IBOR here.

I would be interested in your thoughts on IBOR and the possible future scenarios that cloud based solutions like IBOR can address in Power & Utilities. Please don’t hesitate to comment on this blog. I look forward to hearing from you. – Jon C. Arnold

Partner Bentley Systems bets on Azure-cloud-based services for sustaining infrastructure

MSPowerUtilities — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:21:05 GMT

When I spoke last May at Bentley’s Be Together conference, I was extremely impressed with Bentley’s vision for changing the way companies go about designing, constructing and operating world’s infrastructure through software. Yesterday, Bentley announced that they are bringing a broad range of Azure-cloud-based services for sustaining infrastructure to architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) companies worldwide at an accelerated pace.

This is a great example of focusing on delivering applications at scale and not on the infrastructure which will help close the gap between deployment and real productivity. Congratulations to our partner Bentley for having the vision and strategy execution for driving business value for their customers. You can read about the details in the press release here. – Jon C. Arnold

Replay Now Available for Webinar: Driving Customer Success in the Smart Grid Era: Why the Time is Now for CRM

MSPowerUtilities — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:54:16 GMT

Thanks to everyone that joined us for our webinar: Driving Customer Success in the Smart Grid Era. We had a great turnout and we appreciate the terrific evaluations! For those that either missed or would like to listen again, a recording of the webinar replay can be accessed here.

In addition, you will want to download the Five Point Partners white paper outlining the findings from their Utility CIS/CRM survey. You can download the white paper by going here. Enjoy! – Jon C. Arnold

Enterprise Content Management program fundamentally changes the way Hydro One manages its content and documents

MSPowerUtilities — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:47:26 GMT

Utilities are faced with many challenges from an information management perspective. We often hear CIOs talk about the tsunami of data that comforts them in the smart Utility age. Stories are common place concerning the uncontrolled information growth; increasing IT costs; numerous disparate content repositories; no single source of truth and the need for a strong focus on compliance and records management.

A great example of how one Utility is dealing with these challenges comes from Hydro One which delivers electricity across the Canadian province of Ontario. Hydro One's goal was to put a governance infrastructure in place – leveraging the strong relationships between OpenText, Microsoft and SAP to help them meet their content management challenges. It’s definitely worth a minute to check out the case study and view the video where Norm Crook, Director, Business IT, at Hydro One talks about the difference this partnership is making. Check it out here. – Jon C. Arnold

Productivity Future Vision (2011)

MSPowerUtilities — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:27:49 GMT

Productivity Future Vision (2011)

When we at Microsoft think about the future we think about how people will get things done at work, at home and on the go. Five to ten years from now how will people create and share content; collaborate across teams, organizations and networks; and how we will gain contextually relevant and anticipative insights based on preferences and intent?

Our Office Labs team within Microsoft examines these questions by building prototypes and gathering usage data to inform ongoing and future research and development in the productivity space for both work and home. As an example of their work, I recommend that you watch their latest concept video to get a glimpse of the future of productivity. You can access the video by going here. Enjoy! – Jon C. Arnold

Azure based public system helps light up ETSA Utilities' electricity network map

MSPowerUtilities — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:26:19 GMT

“LURED by the potential to rapidly scale IT systems during times of peak customer demand, one South Australian company is taking its first steps into the world of public cloud computing”.

This is a quote from the article titled Public system helps light up ETSA Utilities' electricity network map from Dana Rankine, Acting IT Manager, ETSA Utilities (Australia) in an interview with Ian Grayson from The Australian.

We often talk about the cloud in this blog and for good reason as we have bet the future of the company around the cloud which includes the public, hybrid and private cloud environments. We often refer to this as the cloud on your terms, for your specific and unique business applications. For ETSA Utilities it means they were sold on the ability to rapidly scale IT systems during times of peak customer demand.

ETSA Utilities, which operates and maintains the South Australian electricity distribution network, is carrying out final testing of a public cloud-based system for street light outage reporting that it hopes will streamline the handling of many customer-reported faults.

As Dana Rankine says in the article: Rather than building the supporting infrastructure in-house, a decision was made to explore the potential of a public cloud platform; After reviewing a range of alternatives, a decision was taken earlier this year to use Microsoft's Azure public cloud offering; The Azure platform is a .NET environment and so it allows us to leverage the experience and expertise we have in house; During the next 18 months, there are plans to move other "customer interfacing projects" across to Azure; It is a cost efficient solution; it is important to get that high availability and be able to scale quickly during times of peak demand like power outages."

We are seeing more and more Utilities thinking like ESTA in their approach to applications that need to be highly scalable, consistent, and elastic. The story is definitely worth a read. – Jon C. Arnold

Driving Customer Success in the Smart Grid Era: Why the Time is Now for CRM

MSPowerUtilities — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:25:00 GMT

We are very pleased to announce a webinar with our Global Dynamics CRM partner Convergys and Five Point Partners’ Strategy, Research & Advisory (SRA) practice. Five Points will discuss the results of their recent Utility survey where 81 percent of responding utilities say that their existing customer information system cannot be made to support the business requirements of the smart grid without modification or outright replacement. In addition, 62 percent of Utilities responding to the survey indicated they plan to evaluate and install a CRM system in the near future. You can register for the webinar by going here and we look forward to having you join us! – Jon C. Arnold

Database as a Cloud Service

MSPowerUtilities — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:05:16 GMT

The cloud probably ranks right up there with the Smart Grid in terms of confusion to what it is and what it means for businesses and consumers. You hear about it on TV, radio and folks like me talking up the virtues of the cloud and how it transforms the way we think about speed to value as opposed to traditional methods of software development and services.

What made me think about this is the Webinar this week by our partner Scalability Experts with their sessions on the value of a database in a cloud environment: the issues of elasticity, governance, security and the difference between a public and private cloud. We think this is a Webinar that you will want to check out and gain insights for success as to how the Cloud can help your business. Scalability Experts is holding Webinars Oct 18th and Oct 19th on the subject. See the complete details below! - Jon C. Arnold

BTC Rolls Out First SERA Accelerator

MSPowerUtilities — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:25:28 GMT

The Smart Energy Reference Architecture Program includes the notion of creation of “accelerators” to speed solution deployment and realize SERA alignment values. SERA Accelerators also reduce partner and customer risk. The accelerator program derives off the formal definition of an accelerator used with BizTalk to describe an offering including bits (actual code), Users Guide, Installation Instructions, and any other reference material necessary for deployment. Typically this term is used for BizTalk adapters.

BTC jumped to the top of the SERA Accelerator list with their formal roll-out of the BTC CIM Accelerator at the October 4^th, 2011 SERA Advisory Council meeting, a gathering of partners and customers providing us with guidance on the next refinements to SERA.

BTC’s accelerator addresses one of the more complex challenges for integration within the Utility Operations and IT arena, namely the deployment of an Enterprise Service Bus in an Event Triggered Service Oriented Architecture using the IEC 61968/IEC 61970 Common Information Model. BTC rolled out a very elegant CIM Accelerator for joining Microsoft BizTalk 2010 and the CIM which has the promise of significantly reducing CIM ESB deployment time, cost, and risk.

The BTC CIM Accelerator includes a methodology and tooling for defining messages and automation of the process for creation of XML schema XSD so that tailored CIM compliant message definition can be created easily. One of the most elegant parts of the solution is the ability to mostly automate the creation of CIM compliant messages and attributes for conversion and connection to proprietary legacy applications reducing implementation risk and long term maintenance costs!

There was substantial interest at the SERA Advisory Council in the new offering because it addresses many of the more challenging and complex issues involved in CIM oriented deployments. The solution is elegant and complete – it even implements a CIM bus Business Activity Monitor for CIM traffic. BTC SERA Advisory Council member Till Luhmann of BTC surprised the attendees when he presented the overall BTC SERA Compliant CIM Accelerator multi-year program. Clearly this is a solution that has been lacking in the industry and BTC has made a substantial contribution to the SERA Accelerator Program and the industry with this new offering. The offering is available to partners and customers through BTC Oldenburg. For more information, contact BTC at cimaccelerator@btc-ag.com. - Larry Cochrane

Avanade and Ferranti Partner to Deliver Solutions for Utilities

MSPowerUtilities — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:14:00 GMT

Several weeks ago we wrote about the Ferranti-Microsoft Global Collaboration for Utilities. Last week our partners Avanade and Ferranti announced their partnership to deliver innovative enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, based on the Microsoft platform, to help Utility companies around the world cut the cost to serve and improve overall customer service.

The AX 2012 difference is an ERP solution that empowers people to anticipate and embrace change with agility made possible by a unified business process repository, model-driven architecture, and simplicity that comes from a familiar user experience and built-in collaboration tools. This makes for a better fit for the needs of the business, more value and a solution that users will love!

Of course, having a great solution is one thing but having capacity and scale to deliver globally is what customers need and this is precisely what the Avanade/Ferranti partnership will deliver. You can read the press release and listen to Avanade and Ferranti discuss their partnership in a video here.

We believe that with Ferranti‘s deep domain expertise together with Avanade‘s global reach and Cloud services will be a game changer for Utilities. - Jon C. Arnold.