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Jesse’s Picks: 14 Smart Grid Companies to be Thankful For By Jesse Berst Nov 24, 2009 - 11:00:25 AM
Smart Grid News started years back with help from a grant from the Department of Energy. In the time since, we’ve grown to be the oldest, the largest and the top-ranked Smart Grid site with a feature set that includes daily news analysis, hands-on reviews of products, videos, the Web’s largest Smart Grid stimulus channel and more.
All of that, of course, takes a lot of effort and resources. I’m grateful that the private sector has stepped up to support our free offerings for utility professionals. Today I’m taking a moment to express thanks for our partners and the things they’ve done to keep Smart Grid News –and the industry – moving forward.
Below I’ll briefly introduce some of our partners with a few sentences from their own Web sites. I’ll also link you to one of the channels they sponsor. Each channel is a collection of valuable information on a specific topic, made possible only by the financial support of these firms. I’ll follow with my own thoughts on what makes their contributions particularly meaningful.
As long as I’m sharing my list, why don’t you post a Talk Back to let us know which Smart Grid vendors, suppliers or organizations you’re most thankful for? Next week we can all go back to being our usual cranky, curmudgeonly selves, but surely it can’t hurt to show some gratitude once a year. I hope you’ll post comments in the same spirit.
Jesse Berst, Founding Editor
Smart Grid News
ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and
It wasn’t that long ago that ABB was taking a conservative approach to the Smart Grid. Now they’ve stepped up to become a leader. Since ABB technologies are deeply embedded in legacy systems all over the world, they have an essential role in merging the old and the new into a single seamless system.
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing
Accenture brings deep business management expertise to the utility industry. Yes, they have technology skills, but they also understand how vitally important people and organizational structures are. Plus, they’ve worked on at least 30 Smart Grid projects around the world, which means they bring real-world lessons to the table.
As a world leader, AREVA T&D’s teams provide reliable, efficient and environmentally
As we build out a smarter grid we’ll be sucking in more and more data. We’ll need better ways to make sense of that data and better systems to signal operators about exceptions, problems and issues. Areva T&D has been investing in R&D to build next-generation visualization and control room systems.
Balance Energy is an end-to-end provider of resilient DG solutions for utilities,
Balance Energy is a strategic initiative of BAE Systems, the giant defense and aerospace contractor. Even though it’s a nimble startup, it bases its work on the rock-solid enterprise architectures developed for military applications – exactly the kind of grownup systems the electric power industry needs as we move into the Smart Grid era.
Comverge is a leading clean energy company that provides innovative solutions to
One of the pioneers in demand response, Comverge was one of the first Smart Grid companies to go public and give us all hope that the Smart Grid could produce high-growth entrepreneurial opportunities. I also appreciate Comverge’s work to go beyond commercial and industrial solutions to take demand response to the residential sector, which is in many ways much harder but also essential for the country’s long-term energy future.
Control4 Energy Systems is dedicated to offering home area network (HAN) solutions
If we want to turn consumers into fans of the Smart Grid, we’ve got to give them products they will welcome into their homes. Control4 is drawing from its consumer electronics roots to create slick, in-home systems that are appealing and easy to use.
EnerNex Corporation is an engineering and consulting firm specializing in the
From the very first Smart Grid discussions years ago, EnerNex has been at the center of efforts to develop common architectures and standards. We’d be years behind had it not been for their early leadership.
Horizon Energy Group LLC is a small company created to provide meaningful, value-
Horizon principals Steve Pullins and Joe Miller led the seminal Modern Grid Initiative at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. The principles they helped to develop are fundamental to many of the country’s pioneering Smart Grid projects.
Utilities are a critical link to improving energy efficiency, integrating renewable sources
IBM doesn’t get enough credit for how early it was to this market. IBM researchers like Ron Ambrosio and others were working this issue at the turn of the century (if not earlier). They made a big investment and they continue to give back to the industry through activities such as their support of the GridWise Alliance and their own Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition.
As the largest provider of IT solutions for the federal government, Lockheed Martin is
Lockheed Martin, with its extensive defense credentials, has a lot of value to bring to the Smart Grid, particularly in security and in systems integration. The latter is a difficult and under-appreciated task, requiring coordination of hundreds of technologies, vendors, users, partners – and getting it done on time and on budget.
PCN designs, develops and commercializes Grid MicroCircuits™ which are complete
PCN developed innovative technologies in an adjacent industry and is now bringing them to the Smart Grid world. We can’t afford to reinvent every wheel and we should be thankful for companies that take the time, effort and money to learn our industry and adapt their products and services.
As a leading provider of networking and advanced metering solutions for the electric
Some of the traditional, old-line T&D vendors tend to be conservative and complacent. Silver Spring Networks brings a Silicon Valley mindset instead – a healthy dose of urgency, inventiveness, and competitive drive.
Telvent, a global IT solutions and business services provider, is committed to helping
Telvent is an IT supplier for a number of big industries. It brings not only Smart Grid-specific expertise, but also scalable, repeatable, enterprise-class solutions.
Tropos Networks is the worldwide market leader in intelligent wireless IP broadband
Tropos builds communications solutions for municipalities that can cover multiple applications, for instance wi fi, emergency response and other city services. That’s huge. When the Smart Grid can share some of the infrastructure with other resources it becomes less expensive for everybody – so I’m thankful for the insight and expertise Tropos brings to our industry.
Now it’s your turn. Use the Talk Back form at the very bottom to tell us which organizations have earned your gratitude.
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Smart Grid Newsletter (SGN) is the insider's guide to the Smart Grid revolution. It consists of a FREE bi-monthly email summary, along with a companion Web site that contains the full stories and other helpful materials. Benefits of subscribing: SGN is the only central source for all of the news, trends, research and marketplace information relevant to grid automation. In it, you will read about cutting edge technologies; successful pioneers and how they got ahead; regulatory changes that could unleash new markets; the latest research; and new opportunities for sales of grid-related products and services. © Copyright 2009 SmartGridNews.com |
