Smart Grid: $12B and Change - How the GridWise Interoperability Framework Can Save Time and Money - Smart Grid News

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$12B and Change - How the GridWise Interoperability Framework Can Save Time and Money
By Guest Editorial
Oct 21, 2008 - 12:18:57 PM

by Dave Hardin and Rik Drummond

Can we interest you in $12.6B per year?

We can’t write you a personal check. But we think interoperability done right can save the Smart Grid sector at least that much money on an annual basis. (See link below for the math.) It can also save us countless hours of delays, setbacks and frustration.

The key is to understand the elements of interoperability and the best ways to get there. Fortunately, there are many lessons to be learned from other industries and many signs of progress in the Smart Grid sector itself.

Coming to Grips with a Definition

Smart Grid interoperability means different things to different people. Some view it as a low-level technical topic. Others view it as a standard with an obscure name. Both are components of interoperability… but there are many other aspects.

The GridWise Interoperability Framework aids the discussion of those many aspects by breaking the problem into bite-sized pieces. This article is the first in a series that will explore each aspect in more detail. The goal is to clarify interoperability and to determine what needs to be agreed upon so that systems can play together with the least amount of effort and cost.

Wikipedia's definition of interoperability is: "the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together (inter-operate). It further states that "the IEEE defines interoperability as: the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged." It is interesting to note that Wikipedia says the term can be used technically or broadly in a way that takes into account “social, political, and organizational factors that impact system to system performance."

Anyone that has observed interoperability efforts in other industries can confirm that social, political and organizational factors have at least as much impact as purely technical issues! Past decades have witnessed interoperability conflicts over things such as Betamax vs. VHS, HD vs. Blu-Ray, systems-oriented architecture (SOA) and (just now beginning) iPhone vs. the Google mobile phone standard. For every battle that shows up in the headlines, there are dozens of others known only to insiders, but with similar consequences: delay, confusion, higher costs and higher risks for end users.

The Expanded GridWise Definition

The GridWise Interoperability Framework exists to minimize that kind of pain and delay. It adds to previous definitions of interoperability with the following characteristics:

An exchange of meaningful, actionable information between two or more systems across organizational boundaries
A shared understanding of the exchanged information
An agreed expectation for the response to the information exchange
A requisite quality of service: reliability, fidelity, and security.

There are many paths to interoperability. They range from expensive, custom integration projects to plug-and-play architectures. Scott Neumann describes this variability as the "distance to integrate." (See drawing.)

As an illustration, the flash drive in your pocket is a plug-and-play device. It conforms to the USB specification as a specific type of USB device, which is recognized by the operating system to have specific properties and behavior. If the flash drive does not conform to these specifications (or if the correct device driver is not installed in the operating system) then plug-and-play becomes plug-and-pray or plug-and-slay (as in urge to kill).

The Four Levels of Interoperability

Plug-and-play (at the bottom of the drawing) is usually reserved for interfaces in wide-spread, commodity use. Product interchangeability is supported by rigorous specifications and strenuous testing. The high cost of achieving this level of integration requires a large market to apportion the costs.

The next level (second from bottom) involves systems that use a common information model but with differing technical transports, transaction sequences and data encoding. Integrating such systems requires time and effort – but at least they are talking the same language. System design, software development and testing at the information level are still needed, as they are for the underlying technical transports and data encoding. As the GridWise Interoperability Framework reminds us, interoperability means all layers must work together from technical to informational to organizational.

At the next level up, some interfaces use different information models and the data must be mapped or translated before it can be used. Think about currency and exchange rate. If you know the exchange rate between the US and France then it's easy to map dollars to francs.

If such translations are not available, then you are at the top-most level and it's time to pull out the checkbook. The old adage applies: "Anything is possible with software, given enough time and money." There is a thriving systems integration market for providing custom (and costly) interoperability solutions. Money can either be spent each time an end-user attempts to integrate or on a one-time interoperability/conformance test at the product level. It typically costs much less to do a one-time interoperability/ conformance test at the product level.

Now that we understand the definition of interoperability and the distance to integrate, we can start marching towards specifics for the Smart Grid. The next article will cover system integration philosophy and the categories we need to agree on to achieve interoperability – and to save the $12.6B that is on the line.

In the meantime, please register to attend Grid-Interop in Atlanta, GA, November 11-13. This meeting follows the successful 2007 Grid-Interop meeting and incorporates a workshop lead by NIST to support their efforts to develop a framework for interoperability standards that support the emerging Smart Grid.

Dave Hardin PE, PMP, CSDP, MCAD works for Invensys Global Development in Foxboro, MA. Rik Drummond is the CEO of Drummond Group Inc., an interoperability software testing and consulting company, and the past Chair of the GridWise Architecture Council.

Email Dave Hardin and Rik Drummond

Grid-Interop Web site

SGN article on pricing the value of interoperability

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