It’s good to be back and I look forward to talking again about application architectures, programming models, and line of business systems. Once I get settled in and get an idea what’s fair game to talk about, I’ll start writing again. It’s been too long.

For what it’s worth, the rest of Hohm is intact and working on a bunch of new stuff. I ended up moving out of the team primarily because WEB architects are a shared resource. Anyway, hope everyone’s enjoying the new year. I’ll try to post a bit more as I can.

You see, I spent a lot of time in my grandfather’s garage either just hanging out or learning how to repair damned near anything that could be repaired. Most of this stuff was cars or trucks that needed some love, or small engines that had just been beat to hell by their owners. Either way, there was always that smell, most of the time mixed with some flavor of welding equipment off-gassing. But, the one thing that brings it all back is the smell of cigarette smoke.

I hated the smell and still do. I remember coughing in restaurants, coughing in the back seat of my grandparents car, sniffling or coughing in the cabin at the lake. But, the one place I didn’t cough was the garage. Why? Hell, I don’t know. Same smell, closed area, a few packs per day.

Anyway, that same smell that I hated and that made me feel ill, now brings back memories of some really great times. I don’t remember the exact day my grandmother died, it was 25 years ago now, but it’s coming up very soon. I do remember the day my grandfather died, but that only 15 years ago. I miss them both and that crazy ass garage smell reminds me of them every day.

Well, the lack of sleep thing isn’t much fun, but the end result is amazing.

Today the Microsoft Hohm team is launching a significant update that changes how consumers look at energy efficiency. As of now, over 60 million homes in the U.S. will have a Hohm Score, an estimate for a home’s energy efficiency. The Hohm Score makes it easier for people to understand if they are “energy hogs or energy misers”, helping consumers easily save energy and money using our product.

Just by entering your address, you can see your Hohm Score and compare it to regional averages and to other addresses in the U.S. The Hohm team developed its own sophisticated algorithms to utilize public record information and advanced analytics licensed from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy to give users an engaging, personalized experience.

There is nothing like this today, and it gives people a tangible way to see the impact they’re having on the environment by changing a few simple habits and/or investing in energy efficient solutions. As one reporter concluded during a pre-briefing yesterday, “I love this stuff! Microsoft has a very cool product in Hohm”. 

Please help us make this release a success by a couple quick steps:
1.    Checking your own Hohm score
2.    Friend Hohm on Facebook, follow on Twitter
3.    Share your Hohm score on FB and Twitter
4.    Send emails to friends and families to check their scores
5.    If you blog, share this on your blog

This effort has been a stellar example of cross group collaboration and creativity. The engineering, PM, testing, marketing, ops, design, biz dev and legal groups all demonstrated smart thinking, perseverance and exceptional teamwork to make this Hohm Score release happen. Congratulations to the team.

The release today follows the announcement with Ford Motor Company a few weeks ago to help better manage the energy consumption of the upcoming electric vehicles. Hohm is on an exciting journey towards becoming the solution that provides everyone with clear insight about any of their energy use as well as easy and convenient tools to manage and reduce energy usage.  Hohm is leveraging technology to address one of society’s biggest problems – core to the SBG mission.

Watch for a lot more news around this in the coming months. And, if you haven’t checked out Hohm yet, give it a try.

Well, that’s just the wrong thing to call them. These are protocol specifications only. The first “SDK” (on MSDN) is a set of WSDL and XSD that describes what the interaction between a utility company and Microsoft Hohm looks like. For what it’s worth, it was actually internally tested by building a Glassfish implementation of the utility side. That’s right, we built the sample utility in java. There’s nothing specifically Microsoft about it. Anyone on any platform can implement the protocol.

Same thing goes for the Device Platform that was announced a month or so ago. Its current incarnation is a PDF file that describes the REST protocol, authentication scheme, and entity schemas. That’s it. Nothing particularly Microsoft about that one either. Again, this specification was developed and tested using a 16-bit embedded controller on a small development board.

So, if our poor choice of terminology is scaring you off, don’t let it. Integrating with Hohm is simple and has no proprietary technology ties. So, get the Integration Protocol Specification (which is what I think I’ll call it from now on) and have a look. You’ll need to wait a little longer before the Device Platform Specification is publically released, but if you ask hohmutil@microsoft.com nicely, we might be able to get the document to you.

The integration SDK is used for linking customer energy consumption data (gas, electricity, water, oil, propane), customer invoices, and pricing information with the specific customer account in Hohm. The SDK is standards-based, secure by design, and utility-friendly. The following is a stripped down but extended version of a presentation that I do for our utility partners. This is public information that can be found on MSDN, but with additional clarification and details.

One thing that needs to be stated up front though: “SDK” is a bad name because it implies technology requirements. This SDK is a collection of protocol specifications in WSDL and XSD. That’s it. Nothing more. No reason to buy anything from Microsoft to make it work (well, if you want to read the pretty documentation which is in CHM format you need something like Windows).

Overview

Secure customer data transfer authorization

Data transfer authorization is performed over a secure web services channel.

Utility-controlled transfer authorization

The utility is ulitately responsible for customer authentication and authorization. Hohm simply collects the information and forwards a request to the utility.

Utility-controlled customer de-authorization

At any time the utility can stop data transfer for an opted-in customer.

One-stop shopping for user access to data and connections

Hohm provides a single interface and experience for connecting to all of a customer's utilities. If the utility integrates with Hohm, the customer can manage that connection without leaving the experience. This is important for those cases where a customer has multiple service points to manage: different energy providers, different homes, etc.

User-controlled opt-in and opt-out

The user is responsible for opt-in. Hohm can't opt-in a customer. The utility can't opt-in a customer. The decision is in the customer's hands where it belongs.

More stuff on the horizon

We're actively extending the classes of data we accept for integration. Watch this space for announcements about new types.

Design goals

Integration independent of time and location

The overall integration pattern, and a core design in the application, is that everything is asynchronous. That is, each web service interaction is assumed to be a long-running transaction punctuated by short request / response messages. There will never be a time when the user interface is blocked waiting for something to happen over the integration channel, nor will there be a time where Hohm reaches into a utility back office system for information.

Standards-based

• We bet heavily on WS-* for our core integration stack. It's proven over time. It's mature. Tooling is available. Utility IT departments have bet on it too.
• SOAP 1.2 is the core of our message-passing architecture.
• X.509 certificate-based authentication is used to identify both parties in a conversation. No special key or username / password pair is ever needed or stored.
• HTTPS transport is used for the message channel and for moving the customer data.
• No dependencies on specific technology or platform.

Scalable to many partners

Because of the asynchronous nature of the protocol, and the decision to separate message passing from API from data transfer, Hohm can easily scale to support all of our partners.

Version-safe and extensible

The request / response structure is distinct from the API and the data transfer formats are separate from both. We can release new messages over the same API and add file formats without affecting existing partners. Partners can migrate over time to handle new messages.

Lightweight

There are only three "methods" to implement and the request structure is shallow and easily understood.

Secure by design

we've been accused of taking a "belt and suspenders" approach to security for the integration, but can you be "too secure" with customer data? We didn't think so.

Security overview

Identity management

LiveId authentication of user at Hohm application.

Partner authentication

X.509 certificates (both ends of all connections are secured).

Customer authentication

Owned by the utility, not by Microsoft.

Data security – HTTPS, encryption

All file data is sent encrypted and signed in a channel distinct from that used for message passing.

Web services security – HTTPS, WS-Security

All traffic is sent over (bidirectional SSL) HTTPS and all requests are authenticated using certificates.

Privacy concerns

No PII is required.
The CustomerId is defined by the Utility and isn't convertable to PII.
Hohm will ignore all data for unknown customers.

SDK contents and availability

Publicly available on MSDN

Sample client and service implementations

• Windows Communication Foundation (C#)
• Metro / WSIT for java (Glassfish V2, V3, and Websphere)
• Sample encryption / compression implementation in java and C#
• Sample schema validation implementation in java and C#

WSDL for both web service endpoints

XML schema definitions for file formats

Additional documentation

.NET-based test and development tool

 

In addition to the home profile questionnaire update, we’ve also provided detailed energy consumption breakdown information. That is, we take a shot at telling you where you’re spending those hard earned dollars on your energy. Where we used to provide 6 high level areas, we now expand each of those areas into a dozen of so components. Check it out.

Let me know what you think. I’ll be more than happy to send requests to the PM team.