Interactive and collaborative visual communications system of the future...without the flirting!

MSPowerUtilities — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:17:00 GMT

Interesting article in USA Today about Microsoft and Harrah's unveil high-tech interactive bar table (see: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-06-12-microsoft-harrahs-casino-table_N.htm)

Harrah’s Entertainment is using a high-tech interactive bar table to lets patrons order drinks, watch YouTube videos, play touch-screen games and even flirt with each other.

The bar table is composed of six rectangular tables with built-in 30-inch flat screens using Microsoft Surface technology. The surface technology was launched about a year ago (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html ) and is finding its way into commercial applications such as the one at Harrah’s.

As Utilities deal with the increasing complexities of running the power grid and managing their power plants as fleets we envision surface computing becoming a corner stone of an interactive and collaborative visual communications system supporting critical utility operations. Can you think of the use of surface computing for power grid situational awareness, increased automation of distribution systems or how mobile workforce management and outage management systems could leverage this kind of technology? We can. We believe that the Utility of the future will incorporate surface computing into their daily operations and see great opportunity for our partners and Utilities to capitalize on this disruptive technology and improve their business operations. - Jon

Geospatial Systems on Steroids

MSPowerUtilities — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:10:00 GMT

Utilities and other companies are no strangers to geographic information system technology as it is part of their resource management, asset management, environmental impact assessment and emergency planning and response operations. Utilities have been using geospatial systems for years and one of the first industries to adopt the technology.

As we look around at global utility industry trends we see many companies combining traditional utility GIS systems with new web based solutions that offer high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, dramatically faster response times, and easy integration with data sets. In some cases we are seeing very sophisticated “mashing up” of information from many different sources into new ways that leverage data visualization and location intelligence, all around composite applications.

Probably the best example is some of the work that IDV solutions (http://www.idvsolutions.com/) is doing using Virtual Earth and SharePoint in utilities and oil and gas. I strongly recommend your gaining a stronger understanding of this revolutionary technology by checking out our BP case study at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/mar07/03-07crisisresponse.mspx. Make sure you view the video. - Jon

Microsoft Power and Utilities Blog : collaborative visual communication systems

Interactive and collaborative visual communications system of the future...without the flirting!

Geospatial Systems on Steroids