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SmartGrid Transitions chronicles both the technological and professional transitions that will result from re-energizing the world.

Technology transitions are fascinating to observe as well as participate in. This site aggregates a number of sources relevant to SmartGrid technology. Suggestions and comments are always welcome.

Growing a massive new industry will involve significant professional transitions as well. An influx of newcomers such as myself will be needed to start new companies and do new jobs. We are all trying to learn this new space: New acronyms, new business models, new assumptions. Let's do it together!

Oracle on the move

Friday, May 29, 2009

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Oracle has recently announced that it will offer 'end-to-end' smart grid software. This has had the desired effect of making all of us thinking about small companies nervous. I did some digging, and Oracle has certainly been brewing this for a while. First, for those of use who only know (& 'love') their DB products, Oracle has been in the apps business for a while, most notably with the acquisition of PeopleSoft in 2004, and mostly through acquisitions.

There are a couple of acquisitions behind this announcement: SPL Worldgroup was acquired in 2006 and LodeStar in 2007. SPL is described as a billing management company, and LodeStart does advanced meter data managment. So those look like the pieces: more sophisticated, context sensitive billing based on more sophisticated meter data. The actual smart meters come from somebody else. Of course, all the data gets stored in big Oracle databases. All that's lacking is a big splashy demo like GE-Cisco's Miami Smart Grid.

With an identically worded announcement from Trilliant, it appears we can expect an behemoth newcomer vs nimble insider showdown in the near future.

Craig

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