Verizon
Pipeline: How is Verizon embracing smart grid?
Ernie Hayden, managing principle of Verizon’s Energy and Utility practice:
I believe we have a good game plan. As we see it, the “smart grid” is about overlaying the generation, transmission and distribution electricity system with a proven and reliable digital communications and control network. Modernizing the grid with digital technology enables utilities to operate more efficiently, spot outages more quickly or avoid them in the first place and to engage in two-way communications with customers and with distributed generation and storage systems.
Pipeline: How do you leverage your assets for smart grid?
EH: For our part, we leverage our wireless and wireline networks and know-how to provide utilities with solutions that support the deployment of smart meters, sensors and control systems. We’ve formed partnerships with companies like Ambient, Itron, Current and eMeter to provide turnkey solutions for advanced meters and SCADA enhancements. We’ve invested heavily to enhance our cloud computing services. We operate more than 200 data centers in 22 countries and recently acquired Terremark, an industry leader in cloud computing.
Our teams are engaged with the U.S. government’s efforts to address cybersecurity issues with for critical infrastructures and in the effort by NIST to develop smart grid standards. We offer cyber-security services, including device certification through ICSA Labs, professional and managed services and device sales.
We offer data management solutions for the flood of data that smart meters will generate. And we bring significant economies of scale to utilities. Not only can we connect smart electricity meters, but also gas and water meters using the same wireless infrastructure. To date we have more than a million smart grid end points in service with more than three dozen utilities in the U.S.
Verizon has a dedicated Global Energy & Utility practice that is expanding into in the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) market areas. Some of our U.S. utility clients for Smart Grid also have operations in other parts of the world. We expect a natural progression in terms of being able to offer our Smart Grid solutions to their non-U.S. Subsidiaries. We have approached, or been approached, by electric utilities in the UK, France, Germany and Spain and we have a strong relationship in these international markets with Vodafone, which is our joint venture partner in Verizon Wireless in the U.S.
Pipeline: Who is Verizon competing with to enable smart grid?
EH: Utilities have a lot of options to choose from as they modernize their systems. Verizon competes not only with other service providers, but also equipment makers, systems integrators and providers of Wi-Fi mesh technologies and so on.
Pipeline: What does the future look like?
EH: In short, we see attractive markets for our services in the growing demand for not only smart grid, but also smart homes and buildings, smart communities and transportation systems and so much more. The machine-to-machine communications that are essential to smart systems of all sorts is a growth market for us.
