There are a lot of “hot topics” in utilities these days and storage is certainly one of them. There are some very exciting things happening in the utilities industry with storage, from energy storage (which will allow us to capture, and later use, the energy produced by renewable energy sources) to the utilities’ need for IT storage to manage the massive amounts of data coming from new meters and devices.
You may have seen the recent announcement that Siemens is acquiring meter data management software company, eMeter (see official eMeter announcement here). This is big news! Siemens has traditionally been a provider of operational technology (OT) used by utilities, and this is another indication that OT and IT need to come together in order for utilities to realize the value of a more intelligent grid. eMeter’s meter data management (MDM) software provides the linkage between meter and device data, and a utilities’ back-office applications. MDM is likely to be the next big solution investment for utilities who have already rolled out smart meters and devices, plus the advanced metering infrastructure required to manage them.
But you don’t have to provide MDM applications to have value to the thousands of utilities out there. Most utilities are either already experiencing or planning for the growth of big data, and need to get their IT infrastructure ready for it. As some of our customers have seen, utilities are thinking about how to get their datacenters ready for growth, while at the same time addressing business continuity concerns, reducing storage costs and meeting regulatory requirements for their operational data.
Let us know how we can help you take advantage of these market opportunities!
