Grid Net: Banking on WiMax Acceptance

 

www.grid-net.com   Established:  2006 Headquarters:  San Francisco Pres, CEO, Founder:  Ray Bell Employees:  40 Ownership:  Privately funded including: Intel Capital, GE Energy Financial Services, Catamount Ventures   Products ·  PolicyNet Smart Grid NMS™ In the Field ·  Grid Net licensed its WiMAX smart meter design to GE Energy, for use in GE’s advanced meter product family based on the PolicyNet software - 2008 ·  Pilot Programs being planned with GE smart meters: —   EnergyAustralia —   SP AusNet —   American Electric Power —   Consumers Energy   Read more Grid Net News Grid Net Collaborates with GE Energy and Intel to deliver Industry-Leading Smart Grid Solutions for Utilities   earth2tech Grid Net:  Intel’s Smart Grid Play   Fortune A Smarter, Greener Grid

In Brief: Grid Net

 

Grid Net’s singular product is enterprise software and telecommunications networking for the Smart Grid that uses an open, interoperable, policy-based network design.  The software offers secure, scalable delivery.

 

So far, there’s been one application built on the software – GE’s WiMAX-based smart meter.  The network management system works on the IEEE 802.16.e WiMAX wireless network platform.

 

Strengths

 

Ray Bell, founder and CEO, has a lot of experience.  After helping Cisco build its network management systems, he was CEO of Silver Spring Networks, also a network systems company.

 

Partnering with GE and Intel gives Grid Net credibility and financial backing.  Name brands are more comfortable for the utilities.  Utility employees are less likely to be criticized for choosing a name like GE. 

 

PolicyNet’s open architecture allows utilities to incorporate future technologies without being locked out by proprietary solutions.

 

Bell predicts WiMAX chip sets (now $36) will drop 67% in the next year, and perhaps be $6 to $8 in 18 months.  He thinks the GE/Grid Net meters will undercut any of the meters on the market that use proprietary technology within that same time frame.

 

The open standard format on Grid Net’s software offers potential for integration with other products beyond GE Smart Meters.

 

Clearwire is developing the WiMAX network nationwide with support from cable firms, Google, Motorola, and Samsung.  WiMAX uses the licensed wireless spectrum. It’s considered more reliable and secure than unlicensed spectrum, but the licenses adds costs.

 

Challenges

 

Grid Net’s software requires that WiMAX finds acceptance.  First measurements may come from how quickly consumers sign up to use it with their laptops and other mobile devices; Intel has a new WiMAX chip.  If adoption is slow, it may affect WiMAX build-out.  Nokia has dubbed it the “wireless Betamax” implying it’s already dead.

 

Grid Net plans for broader use of the smart meter, like a router that can incorporate delivery of other services to the home.  Smart meters may not have the muscle needed for the job.

 

Smart Grid networks may not need the capacity of WiMAX - cellular-type solutions may be adequate.  Allies are also competitors.  Cisco, Oracle, and GE are working with Silver Spring Networks, a startup similar to Grid Net.  This leaves Bell competing with a company he headed for two years, which happens to be a GE partner as well.

 

Our View

 

With the recent GE / Silver Spring collaboration on the Florida Power and Light’s smart meter implementation, it’s apparent GE plans to be a player, no matter which team it’s on.  Good strategy for GE, but it must feel like a setback to Grid Net.

 

Should WiMAX become the standard for Smart Grid systems, Grid Net could be a prominent leader.  If the big players like GE, Intel, Cisco, and Google, who are hedging their bets in multiple directions, start to get traction with other players, Grid Net may need another plan.