Collision ahead – yet another smart grid "platform" emerges from stealth mode

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Quick Take: Companies are popping up right and left to offer a single platform for integrating multiple energy services such as demand response, electric vehicles, meter data management and more. See below for the latest one to hit my radar.

When it comes to the operations side – power engineering, distribution automation, substation automation – Silicon Valley-style tech companies don't have a lot to offer. But when it comes to the place where operations meets IT, they have a wealth of techniques to bring from the worlds of network management and enterprise computing. Watch for a convergence in this space next year, as the startups collide with the systems integrators and with the traditional control room software firms and with the SCADA companies – and with Cisco, Juniper and the network management crowd. – Jesse Berst

Vancouver, B.C smart energy software company Bit Stew Systems has launched its Grid Director 2.0 Platform, a multi-faceted suite of modules that addresses AMI deployment and management, demand response 3.0, home energy management and revenue protection.

Grid Director 2.0, delivered as software as a service, offers real-time interactive event mapping, user defined analytics and a completely integrated event-driven calendar. The core platform also has the capabilities for rapid implementation and simple connections to other utility applications, including legacy, enterprise resource planning, meter data management and other operating systems typically used by major utilities.

Kevin Collins, Bit Stew founder and CEO, said Grid Director has won positive feedback and that the real-time event map, in combination with the real-time analytics feature, has attracted a lot of attention. Alex Clark, Bit Stew founder and CTO, commented "The key from a technology perspective is that everything is real-time and we easily connect to the existing utility environment. Our ability to quickly integrate with operational and information technology systems and to interact with the smart grid in real-time has given our customers unparalleled access to information and new capabilities that were simply unavailable before."

Grid Director 2.0 has been picked for deployment by one major North American utility and is in the pilot stage at two others. The modules can be bought individually or as a package.

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