| | |  Technology News | October 2009 
Microsoft Goes After Smart Grid Market
 Stuart Corner - ITWire
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October 16, 2009
Smart grids - electricity networks with monitoring an control technologies distributed throughout are expected to become an enormous market and now Microsoft has thrown its hat into the ring with the announcement of a software architecture for 'Integrated Utility of the Future', following a similar announcement by Cisco last month.
Microsoft has announced its Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA), billed as its "first comprehensive reference architecture that addresses technology integration throughout the full scope of the smart energy ecosystem...[that] helps utilities by providing a method of testing the alignment of information technology with their business processes to create an integrated utility...[and] provides a road map for utilities to help identify and solve the integration issues facing grid and energy ecosystem advancement..[empowering] users to drive improvements in real time, as well as to accelerate continuous improvement over time."
According to Larry Cochrane, worldwide utilities industry technology strategist/architect at Microsoft, "The Microsoft SERA for the smart energy ecosystem will help create a world where thousands of smart devices can seamlessly plug into the grid thanks to common standards and interoperability frameworks, just as the plug-and-play model allows thousands of devices to seamlessly plug into PCs today."
SERA puts Microsoft in head-to-head competition in the smart grid market with arch rival Cisco which has identified smart grids as one of its 'emerging technologies' - new markets in which it expects to generate in excess of $US1 billion per year within five years.
Last month Cisco announced the launch of its 25 member smart grid ecosystem , the formation of a customer technical advisory board and the creation of a new smart grid business unit.
Microsoft claims that SERA has already been endorsed by a number of global solutions providers whose products and services span the entire energy ecosystem - from the power grid to the home. These include Accenture, Alstom Power, AREVA, ESRI, Itron and OSIsoft.
Microsoft says it has been working closely with key power industry partners to ensure that SERA addresses power utilities' IT infrastructure needs. "Alstom Power, for example, has demonstrated its commitment to Microsoft by fully embracing SERA and sees this move as the first step in providing solutions for the new challenge raised by smart grids."
According to Laurent Demortier, senior vice president of Alstom Power's Energy Management Business, "Alstom has established a long-term relationship with Microsoft in order to provide cost-efficient, scalable architectures for electrical producers like solar, hydro, wind, coal, steam or nuclear power plants. This Microsoft reference architecture accelerates solution development to enable developers to provide enhanced, more cost-effective, secure and scalable solutions."
It is the second utility offering to be released from Microsoft in four months, following the announcement of Microsoft Hohm, "an online application developed to enhance the experience of utilities' customers and provide further insight into the supply and demand of residential energy use."
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