Part 3: Your nominations are in – smart grid companies to watch in 2011

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We’re made it to Day 3 in our look at the smart grid companies readers nominated as the ones to watch in 2011. (If you missed the first two installments, they are linked below.)

Here’s how our 11 in 2011 countdown works: You sent in your nominations. Our team reviewed all them and did a preliminary sort. Posted below is the third set of smart grid companies that made the cut. We’ll run the remaining ones all week so be sure to check back. Also, what you see below are abbreviated versions of the text provided by the person who nominated the company. Note we have not verified the information for accuracy. Typically we do that but in this case we wanted you to see what readers had to say. You'll see I've added my own comments – and of course we encourage you to add yours using the Talk Back comment form below.

After we're done running all of the 2011 contenders, you will have a chance to vote for the finalists.

Here is the third set of nominees in random order:

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Digi International. Digi is a leader in the smart grid/energy management space with more ZigBee smart energy gateways deployed than any other vendor.  Digi allows energy providers to improve the performance, load management and demand response capabilities of their smart grid investments, while providing iPhone and Android applications that allow consumers to monitor and control their thermostats and other energy devices in real-time.

[Note from Jesse: If you believe that ZigBee will cross the "tipping point" this year, then this is also the year that at least one ZigBee equipment maker will breakthrough.]

Grid Net delivers the first and only universal smart grid operating system for any device and any broadband technology. Grid Net's unique advantages include universal management, complete security,   instant communication, superb interoperability, massive scalability and lowest TCO.

[Note from Jesse: You already know that I think Cisco has ambitions to create the grid's first operating system. Yet in many ways, Grid Net is ahead of the Cisco, both in ambition and execution. This startup’s big disadvantage: It has a few tens of billions of dollars less in the bank account.]

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Lockheed Martin.  Although relatively still not well known, combining the energy businesses from three Lockheed divisions will give more depth to the offering, and put more resources into the smart grid and greentech industries.  Among the strongest technology companies in the world, with particular leadership in cyber security, a critical component for any grid activity or technology.

[Note from Jesse: Personally, I will be watching Lockheed for several reasons. First, to see if it is possible for large defense contractors to unlock their technologies and put them to work in other industries. Second, to see what happens as defense budgets shrink. Will defense contractors pull in their horns and focus only on the core essentials? Or will they push out aggressively into new markets such as energy?]

Power Tagging. Power Tagging's ability to send real-time, grid-aware signals bi-directionally on the distribution grid enables utility command and control including peak shaving CVR, grid mapping, fault isolation, and electric vehicle tagging. On-grid pilots have proved the technology is capable, effective, and consistent and allows cost saving for utilities without inconveniencing endpoint customers and without any additional parallel pieces of infrastructure.

[Note from Jesse: I've been tracking Power Tagging for a while now. I'm still not exactly clear what they do or how they do it. But I do know that many insiders are keeping an eye on it.]

Verdeeco. Verdeeco’s “Grid As A Service” platform enables utilities to manage the deluge of data coming to them from smart meters. Verdeeco is in later-stage beta testing of its platform with three utilities and is receiving rave reviews. It will soon have many customers.  The members of its management team are utility industry technology veterans and it has a very strong advisory board.

[Note from Jesse: All the major technology companies, from IBM to Microsoft or Cisco, want utilities to start migrating their back-office functions to the cloud – to let their applications run on cloud services maintained by others, rather than racking and stacking giant server farms of their own. This young startup wants the same thing.]

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