There are many people working hard both in front and behind the scenes on the Smart Grid Summit, which is now almost a month away.

 

There’s never enough time to get things done, but we are very pleased with the strides we’ve made since the first summit in September. We still have a lot of developments to work through, and you’ll be hearing about them shortly here on the portal. At this point, however, I’d like to share a number of things to give you a better idea about the program’s current state, and why we think this has become a must-do event for the smart grid space.

 

The program. We’re running 10 panel sessions over the 3 days, and most of the speakers have now been confirmed. The agenda covers a wide range of topics, and our speakers cover the gamut of very familiar names and not-so-familiar names. One of the strengths of the summit is our reach beyond the established smart grid community, and determination to bring new voices into the dialog to stimulate new ideas and solutions. You can review the roster here, and I urge you to check back in soon, as it’s being updated daily.

 

The keynotes. We have 4 keynotes scheduled, and others may follow. Three speakers are profiled now on the site, and the fourth will be added early next week. Of particular note is our opening keynote from Dr. Ronald M. Sega, who is with Colorado State University, and is a former astronaut and Space Shuttle veteran. You can read more about him in the press release which was issued yesterday. Press releases will coming next week about the other keynotes from Redline Communications (News - Alert), the Secure Smart Grid Association, and Fujitsu/HD-PLC.

 

Product of the Year Award. The Smart Grid POTY award program was launched this week, and is another way that we are adding value to this community. As the name implies, this program serves to recognize smart grid innovation, and based on our experience with telecom, we fully expect that many of the leading products and applications will come from outside this sector. I need to stress that this program is not restricted to Smart Grid Summit exhibitors, and is done on an application basis. You can read more about it here, and this link will get to the application form. The cut-off to apply is Dec. 31, so act now!

 

SIP Forum (News - Alert) Birds of a Feather Session. One of the initiatives we have been working on has recently led to the formation of the Smart Grid Working Group within the SIP Forum. As you may know, many of us in the IP communications space are strong advocates of SIP, and feel that SIP has an important role to play in the smart grid, particularly for Smart Home applications.

 

This topic will be part of the Standards and Interoperability Issues panel, but the BOF session will be a more informal forum to share ideas and make new connections. We’ll be hosting this on Thursday, after the panel sessions are over, and attendance is open to all Smart Grid Summit attendees. More details will be announced soon, and until then, you can learn more about this from an article we had prepared by Arjun Roychowdhury of Hughes (News - Alert) Systique. Arjun was a key player in getting this group in place, along my ICP Partner and Summit Co-Chair Shidan Gouran.

Smart Grid eNewsletter. Whether you plan to join us in Miami or not, I would encourage you to subscribe to our eNewsletter. Our portal continues to attract very strong traffic, with over 600,000 visitors last month. Aside from the ongoing streams of industry news and editorial coverage, we are trying to make the portal the best resource out there for thought leadership and new voices. Some recent examples would be the implications of the Copenhagen Summit on Smart Grid, guest authored by CURRENT Group’s Brendan Herron; or Shidan Gouran’s interview with Vito Savino of Lineage Power about enterprise energy management. This is typical of the thought leadership we’re bringing to the portal, and to stay up to the minute, please subscribe – it’s just a click or two away.

 

Finally, if you’re wondering what to do next – that’s simple – register for the Summit and make your travel plans!