We've been saying for a while that distribution automation and distribution management will be coming to the fore as smart metering plateaus. Perfect timing for Schneider Electric, which has now completed its year-long integration with Telvent and is poised to make a play.

If variety is the spice of life, this week's list of smart grid wins is zesty as they come. We go from rural Sweden to the Congo, from Thailand to Tennessee. We've got payment apps integrating with smart meters and software helping optimize Army microgrid command centers.

If you're just a bit weary of the slugfest over who will win the White House, enter our campaign-free zone where we're featuring wins of an entirely different sort - our latest list of smart grid wins. Click for details on S&C Electric's win in Brazil, an Opower win in Australia, a Telvent win in New Zealand and many others too.

Telvent has made upgrades to its Advanced Distribution Management System that the company says makes it the first system to seamlessly merge full-feature distribution management, outage management and SCADA solutions.

Telvent is making its first foray into the Australian smart grid market through partnerships with an electric utility and a gas utility to replace their existing SCADA systems with its multi-utility single platform. Click inside for more on this latest trend indicator.

Cities throughout the world, pressured by increasing populations and demand for services, are looking for ways to ensure efficient and sustainable communities. Meanwhile, leading smart grid companies - most recently Schneider Electric and Telvent - see smart city apps as a source of new growth. Click inside for details on this important trend.

This white paper from Schneider Electric and Telvent describes the Smart Water Network as the integration of state-of-the-art information technology (IT) systems, put to work to optimize the water utility’s capacity at a minimum capital expenditure.

This case study highlights Telvent's soluton for the Eugene (Oregon) Water and Electric Board, which sought an ESRI-based mapping solution that would serve both its water and electric GIS needs, and its outage management requirements. Due to increased utility costs for licensing, maintenance and use of its two legacy GIS applications, technology convergence became a central goal for the new system.

Watch out ABB, Alstom, General Electric and Siemens. With its just-announced purchase of distribution automation company Telvent, Schneider has put the Big Four on notice -- make room for a Big Fifth.

The PR machines are cranking overtime in San Diego, with a flurry of announcements from smart grid companies about new products and new partnerships. Click inside for today's DistribuTECH roundup.

Between reader nominations and a few of our own, we’ve got 37 contenders in the running for our 11 smart grid companies to watch in 2011. So now it's time to narrow the field. Click inside to vote for the one company you think most belongs on our list.

When we asked SGN readers to nominate smart grid companies that should be on our radar in 2011, we received some fascinating responses. In today's post we highlight our fifth installment of your 11 in 2011 nominations, along with observations on each of them from Jesse Berst.

This paper from Telvent provides an overview of advanced DMS software, including its diverse, complex portfolio of functionality, as well as its benefit to the distribution network owner and the energy consumer.

Telvent, the leading real-time IT solutions and information provider for a sustainable world, announced today that it will work with Microsoft as a globally managed independent software vendor (ISV) to create more efficient smart grid solutions for the utility industry. Telvent and Microsoft will work together to leverage key aspects of their respective technologies, resulting in more scalable solutions with higher performance and increased security at a lower cost for utilities throughout the world.

The Energy Services Network Association, a nonprofit composed of utilities, manufacturers and vendors, is backing the Open Smart Grid Protocol and intends to publish it as an open standard. The standard, pioneered by Echelon, would mean utilities can use interoperable meters and other smart grid gear from different vendors on the same network.