Google bypasses Utility for Smart Meters

gigaom posts on google’s latest power meter efforts.

Why Google’s PowerMeter Gadget Partnership Is a Big Power Play

By Katie Fehrenbacher | Tuesday, October 6, 2009 | 11:53 AM PT | 1 comment

With Google’s endless projects — from book search to a browser killer to Blogger — you’re probably wondering why I’m so excited about a new partnership deal for the company’s PowerMeter energy management tool. Well, here’s why: For the first time, consumers can now access PowerMeter via a gadget called the TED-5000, made by startup Energy Inc., and users don’t need to go through their utility or have a smart meter (a digital two-way electricity meter) installed to access it. In other words, Google has finally bypassed the utility with PowerMeter, which is an important step for both bringing consumer energy management products to the mainstream, and pushing utilities to more quickly embrace information technology networks and broadband.

Smart meters are great, but the problem is that just a little over 6 percent of households in the U.S. currently have them. While that percentage will grow dramatically in the coming years, it will take time, and PowerMeter’s former smart grid strategy would have meant the tool was only available to a small portion of the population for quite some time. The other drawback to the smart meter architecture is that utilities are installing smart meters attached to networks that aren’t exactly the most robust. Utilities commonly build networks that can significantly delay the time it takes the energy information to reach the customer — smart meters will often grab energy info every 15 minutes to an hour, but then the utility network will bring that data to the data center and display it back to the customer in a 24-hour period.

I wonder if this will bleed into corporate and commercial environments?

One point mentioned.

Utilities haven’t traditionally been very good at IT — they haven’t had to be — but that’s all changing, and next-generation utilities will need to be as proficient in running data networks as they are at managing power networks. Some forward-thinking utilities like San Diego Gas & Electric know that and are building multimillion-dollar wireless networks to manage their smart grid deployments. PowerMeter and the TED-5000 are just a small piece of that equation, but they’re an important first step in giving consumers easy access, and ownership over, their energy information.

Read more

Amazon and Google Rule The Cloud, says Study

As if we needed a study to tell us Amazon and Google rule cloud services.  Well, I guess someone didn’t know as they paid for research.  news.com has the post.

Study: Amazon and Google rule the cloud

by Dave Rosenberg

If recent research is any indication, Amazon.com and Google are winning the cloud game.

Evans Data on Tuesday released a report (registration required) on how developers perceive cloud service providers related to cloud services offerings, including their completeness and the companies' ability to execute on the vision.

Janel Garvin, the founder of Evans Data and the author of the report, provides excellent insight into the current state of the market and how quickly things could change, if certain large vendors (notably AT&T and Microsoft) got their acts together more quickly.

Given their robust services, it isn't surprising that Amazon and Google top the list. And although IBM, VMware, and Microsoft trail, each offers important components of cloud infrastructure.

Cloud leaders

Cloud leaders

(Credit: Screenshot by Dave Rosenberg/CNET

An interesting perspective in the article.

Google got the top nod from developers for scalability, reliability, uptime, and best value, and Garvin states that Google "shows more strength in both perceived capabilities and perceived ability to execute, and the adoption patterns for Google are stronger, going into the future." However, Google's offering via AppEngine is nowhere near as robust as Amazon's Web Services capabilities.

The big vendor that continues to be late to the cloud game is Microsoft, which, despite an army of developers interested in Azure and other cloud services, has yet to offer a production-ready product. Says Garvin:

The two companies that truly straddle the cloud worlds, AT&T and Microsoft, both have excellent potential: through existing physical infrastructure in the case of AT&T or as in the case of Microsoft, by virtue of a prodigious developer network and well-known software capabilities. But, both are late to the party. And, in a market that's evolving as quickly as this one, that's a significant handicap.

Read more

Stock Analyst Upgrades AAPL speculating online services

WSJ.com has post on a UBS analyst upgrading Apple inc (AAPL).

UPDATE: Apple Upgraded On Hopes For New Service Platform

   By Dan Gallagher

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was upgraded to a buy rating by UBS on Friday morning on higher expectations for the company's popular iPhone, as well as speculation for a services platform the company may be developing.

In a note to clients, analyst Maynard Um said he believes Apple may be working on building a service "to provide seamless access and mobility of digital content across all its products." Such a service, he argues, may act as a "halo" that drives future product sales.

"We envision a service that seamlessly allows access to media-focused content of iTunes and user-generated content of MobileMe (pictures/videos/email/calendar) as well as social networking integration from any existing Apple product," he wrote in a note to clients.

Um raised his rating on Apple to buy and boosted his price target on the stock to $265 from $170. Apple shares were trading up 2.2% at $184.87 in recent late-morning activity.

"We are less concerned with regard to margin pressure as demand does not appear to be shifting to the $99 iPhone 3G and a lower end 3GS does not appear to be forthcoming, as we had originally feared," he wrote.


The Data Center part is here.

He also cited data pointing to an increase in capital spending on infrastructure and corporate facilities. He believes this is part of a plan to build out data center system, "which we hypothesize will be the foundation for a service that provides seamless access and mobility of digital content across all its products, at any time, and from any place."

Read more

Green Grid Rings NYSE Closing Bell

Green Grid rang the closing bell on Oct 2 2009 at the NYSE.

NYSE Hosts "The Green Grid" Industry Forum on Data Center Efficiency

10/02/2009

The NYSE highlights data center efficiency worldwide by hosting exclusive panel discussions led by The Green Grid, featuring leaders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, global business leaders and the New York Stock Exchange. In honor of the occasion, The Green Grid Directors ring The Closing Bell®.

The NYSE will highlight data center efficiency worldwide by hosting exclusive panel discussions led by The Green Grid, featuring leaders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, global business leaders and the New York Stock Exchange.

The panel discussions serve as a call to action for data center efficiency by fostering conversation about the economic impact of data center energy efficiency worldwide. The Green Grid will conclude the event with the ringing of the NYSE closing bell.

Read more

Taking a Short Blogging Break

I am off to Texas for my cousin’s wedding, so I wrote 8 blog entries in 24 hours while still getting my real job done. 

Promised the family I wouldn’t take my computer so for the next 96 hours no more blog posts. 

I’ll have my iPhone, so I could twitter and blog from it, but that’s too painful, and I am not going to blog pictures of my kids in the wedding. :-)

Read more