Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Mar. 7 announced rural electric co-ops in eight states will receive $201 million in federally guaranteed loans to install smart grid technology and make improvements to generation and transmission facilities. In less than one year, the USDA Rural Development Authority (RDA) is more than halfway to achieving the secretary’s goal of funding more than $250 million for smart grid technologies, according to a USDA press release.
RUS Announces $201 Million in Transmission and Smart Grid Loans
Posted by: Mike Boehne | March 16th, 2012 | No Comments »
Nearly 32% of U.S. Businesses Now Connected by Fiber
Posted by: Steve Senne | March 16th, 2012 | No Comments »
Optical fiber cables now connect 31.8% of U.S. commercial locations with 20 or more employees, according to the latest research from Vertical Systems Group. Buildings with direct fiber network connections provide tenants with multi-gigabit-per-second bandwidth, according to Boston-based Vertical Group’s ENS (Emerging Networks Service) Research Programs.
Report: More than 75% of US Electric Meters Converted to Smart Meters Come 2016
Posted by: Steve Senne | March 10th, 2012 | No Comments »
There are more than 3,000 separate electric utilities, local governments and private companies involved in running the US electric grid, indicative of the complexity and scale of the smart gird market and the challenges the smart grid industry faces. Nonetheless, new research from NPD In-Stat forecasts that more than 75% of US electric meters will be smart meters by 2016.
Hitachi, Silver Spring Networks Form Global Smart Grid Alliance
Posted by: Mike Boehne | February 23rd, 2012 | No Comments »
Japanese electronics giant Hitachi and U.S. smart grid system specialist Silver Springs Network today announced the formation of a strategic alliance which entails them offering integrated solutions to power utilities and consumers in the global smart grid sector. “The partners’ efforts will focus on improving efficiency in the power and information fields, leveraging the existing strengths and market leadership of both companies,” according to a press release.
ComEd, Silver Spring Networks Partner for Major SmartGrid Project
Posted by: Steve Senne | February 20th, 2012 | No Comments »
Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), a subsidiary of Exelon, yesterday announced it was expanding its smart grid business with Redwood City, CA-based Silver Spring Networks. ComEd and Silver Spring finalized agreements to deploy the smart grid technology provider’s Smart Energy Platform to network nearly 4 million homes, businesses and Distribution Automation devices.
OTT Video Players Now in 13% of U.S. Broadband Households
Posted by: Mike Boehne | February 17th, 2012 | No Comments »
Strong holiday season sales of digital video media receivers, including Apple TV and Roku, helped 2011 sales of the Over-the-Top (OTT) Internet video devices approach 13% of US broadband households, matching Parks Associates’ forecasts for the year. Parks expects that more than 14 million digital video media receivers will be sold in 2012, indicative of strong, growing demand for non-traditional video access.
Some 31% of US broadband households regularly watch TV programs or movies via Internet-connected TVs, according to a recently conducted survey included in Parks’ “Value of Video: Shifting Consumer Dollars.”
“In the 2011 holiday season, 4% of households bought one of these inexpensive, single-function devices, which enable households to view over-the-top (OTT) video from Internet-based services such as Amazon Prime Instant Video and Netflix,” said Kurt Scherf, VP, Parks Associate (LINK: http://www.parksassociates.com/index.php) principal analyst. “Nearly 20% of these holiday-season buyers are over 45 years of age, so these devices have achieved relatively broad appeal among multiple consumer segments.”
There were 2.8 million Apple TV units sold in its fiscal 2011 year, Apple reported recently, and another 1.4 are on the books for this past holiday quarter. Sales of Roku’s set-top video media players also were strong last year, with 1.5 million units sold, Scherf noted.
“While this trend does not yet frequently equate to canceling pay-TV services, it can mean shaving some premium channels for a set of households,” Scherf commented. “That is a risk that pay-TV providers must address and a trend that both manufacturers and content providers are following with eagle eyes and plans for defensive actions.”
Strong holiday season sales of digital video media receivers, including Apple TV and Roku, helped 2011 sales of the Over-the-Top (OTT) Internet video devices approach 13% of U.S. broadband households, matching Parks Associates’ forecasts for the year. Parks expects that more than 14 million digital video media receivers will be sold in 2012, indicative of strong, growing demand for non-traditional video access.
Finley Announces Upcoming Management Changes
Posted by: admin | February 7th, 2012 | No Comments »
Finley Engineering will be undergoing some key management changes after the announcement that Rod Christenson, president and CEO, will be retiring later in 2012. Mike Boehne, current vice president of Marketing and Business Development, will assume the roles of president and chief operating officer, with responsibility for managing the day-to-day operations of the company.
ITU Approves New Narrowband Powerline Communications Standard from Maxim
Posted by: Steve Senne | February 7th, 2012 | No Comments »
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) approved a new protocol for low-frequency, narrowband powerline communications standard developed by Maxim Integrated Products. Based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), Maxim’s new NB-PLC standard extends the use of OFDM to narrowband frequencies that make it suitable for powerline communications.
June 6th is ‘World IPv6 Launch’ Day
Posted by: Steve Senne | January 19th, 2012 | No Comments »
Internet Society’s Deploy360 Programme Designates June 6 “World IPv6 Launch” Day January 19, 2012 Andrew Burger for Telecompetitor
The Internet Society has designated June 6, 2012 its official “World IPv6 Launch” Day, part of its ongoing Deploy360 Programme, the aim of which is to assure the transition to IPv6 progresses as smoothly as possible.
Major Internet Service Providers (ISPs), home networking equipment manufacturers and Web companies around the world will participate, permanently enabling IPv6 for their products and services, according to the Internet Society.
Those interested interested in participating can register their websites, networks or home routers via a link on the Internet Society’s website. Deploy360 is also providing information resources on its IPv6 resources site.
The Internet Society has published initial lists of participants. Among ISPs, included are AT&T, Comcast, Free Telecom, Internode, Japan’s KDDI, Time Warner Cable and XS4ALL. Cisco and its D-Link subsidiary are participating as network equipment providers, while Facebook, Google, Microsoft Bing and Yahoo! are listed as initial content provider participants. Akamai and Limelight are the initial content delivery network (CDN) participants.
The Internet Society has designated June 6, 2012 its official “World IPv6 Launch” Day, part of its ongoing Deploy360 Programme, the aim of which is to assure the transition to IPv6 progresses as smoothly as possible.
Cisco and Itron Partner for SmartGrid
Posted by: Steve Senne | January 19th, 2012 | No Comments »
Cisco and Itron yesterday announced the launch of their next-generation smart grid platform. Designed to provide secure, scalable advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), the open standards platform “will help utilities accelerate adoption and simplify deployment of smart grid solutions, reduce the total cost of ownership of these systems, and unleash innovation for smart grid applications and technologies in the marketplace,” according to a joint press release.
Based on an open, multi-service IPv6 architecture, the AMI platform provides pervasive monitoring and control of energy distribution networks that enable the introduction of new smart grid and home network features for both utilities and customers, the partners explain. The platform’s key components include the Cisco 1000 Series Connected Grid Router (CGR), Cisco Network Management System (NMS), and Itron’s OpenWay Reporting System, IPv6-enabled meters and the OpenWay Collection Engine.
Worldwide smart grid systems and applications revenue totaled $16 billion in 2010, a figure that’s forecast to balloon to $155 billion by 2018, according to recent research and analysis from Memoori Business Intelligence.
Cisco and Itron have been working to develop an open yet secure, interoperable platform to support electricity grid modernization since forming a strategic alliance in September, 2010. The goal was to deliver an AMI platform capable of “delivering ‘plug and play’ interoperability of smart grid services and applications and devices, as well as freedom from vendor-specific, proprietary integration requirements.”
“Together, Itron and Cisco are setting the stage for the industry. We are transforming the traditional purpose-built, meter-centric AMI solution into an enterprise-class architecture featuring robust network management, standardized security and quality of service,” Philip Mezey, Itron president and COO of Energy. “It is with this technology that we are able to build the smartest grids in the world.”
Vancouver’s BC Hydro will be the first to put the Cisco-Itron AMI platform to use in a commercial, enterprise environment. Serving more than 1.8 million customers throughout British Columbia, installation of the platform is to begin in March. Cicso’s Connected Grid Router will be installed in the field to provide secure communications for routing of critical data from Itron’s IPv6 smart meters and other grid-connected devices over an IPv6 RF (Radio Frequency) mesh network.
BC Hydro expects that the smart grid system will enable it to keep a lid on customers’ utility bills by yielding savings of $1.6 billion over its expected 20-year life. “The ability to leverage our infrastructure with Itron’s smart grid solution and Cisco’s Connected Grid networking and security capabilities is a great stepping stone into smart grid. We will be able to leverage it for years to come,” said Gary Murphy, chief project officer for BC Hydro’s Smart Metering Program.
Cisco and Itron yesterday announced the launch of their next-generation smart grid platform. Designed to provide secure, scalable advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), the open standards platform “will help utilities accelerate adoption and simplify deployment of smart grid solutions, reduce the total cost of ownership of these systems, and unleash innovation for smart grid applications and technologies in the marketplace,” according to a joint press release.
