Some people may have noticed the Microsoft product flags at half-mast on Monday. This is in memory of my great friend and Managing Director of Worldwide Power and Utilities, Mr. Jon Arnold. Jon passed away Thursday, May 14, 2015 and services were held Sunday, May 17. Jon Arnold was a tremendous person with a huge heart. He was a dedicated, caring father and a family man. Jon is survived by his wife Magelda, daughter Sierra, son Brice (and Andrea, former wife).   

Jon was a close friend, to me and many, many others. He has been a friend, a mentor and more for all of us. He touched so very many people. One of my favorite memories was calling Jon from Kala Patar by Mount Everest Base Camp. It was 3am! Jon took the call and celebrated my accomplishment of summiting the 18, 500ft peak. That was the way he was.   

Jon was also a thought leader in the industry.  He was genuine, caring, energetic, ethical, and hard-working. He was a fantastic Microsoft ambassador. Jon was a featured speaker at government hearings and industry conferences, and during his career he testified on behalf of the industry before Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the White House Y2K Power Group on utility technology issues. Jon has been featured in media interviews with The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, MSNBC, FOX, Voice of America and many worldwide utility trade and technology magazines. Jon loved being in the limelight and enjoyed speaking at the National Press Club, as well as appearing on local, national, and international radio/television. Jon was even named as one of Greentech Media’s top influencers in the Smart Grid market. Jon was a prolific blogger, authoring over 330 Microsoft Power and Utilities blogs in the past few years.   

Jon mastered his media skills at McGraw Hill where he was editor-in-chief for the energy magazines. Jon ran the EnergyIT and Energy Business & Technology magazines which were published nine times a year by Platts. This was the most widely read trade magazine in the energy utility industry, with a controlled circulation of over 38,000.   

Jon was also CIO for the Edison Electric Institute for 10 years prior to joining Microsoft. Jon was responsible for IT at the Washington, DC-based Edison Electric Institute, including design, implementation, purchasing, recruitment and customer communications. Visiting EEI with Jon was nothing short of a class reunion!   

Jon started up and ran the Power and Utilities industry team at Microsoft for 10 years. I was lucky enough to work with him for the past eight. He was great at things which were not my forte, and vice versa. He supported partners from new innovative startups, to the most influential in the industry. He was an unending advocate for not only large corporations, but small companies as well. He loved what he did.  He did everything with passion, energy and put a lot of thought into all he did.   

Jon will be dearly missed. We wish strength and patience to all he left behind. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and all of his loved ones.   

In agreement with the wishes of his family, I have created a memorial fund through the American Heart Association. Jon passed away from a heart attack. The selection of the American Heart Association also complements Jon’s dedication to the support of people worldwide: Jon was Director of IT for the American Red Cross from 1986 through 1990.   

Please help us make a difference by contributing in memory of Jon. Whatever you can give will be appreciated, and everything helps. Thank you for your support.   

To make a donation online, visit the American Heart Association.   

To send a donation: Make all checks payable to: American Heart/American Stroke Association Mail to: Larry Cochrane 61 Cascade Key, Bellevue, WA 98006-1023

Note: For those of you that would still like to follow the Microsoft Power & Utilities blog, please book mark this page for future blogs: 
http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/industry/manufacturing-and-resources/blog/power-utilities.aspx#fbid=YiGjtVX3UHg

As the smart grid continues its evolution, more and more Utilities are finding the need for a substation automation software solution that can integrate all of the distribution devices within their network into one solution. All of this needs to be done securely with a unifying management platform that can handle a host of different vendor's devices that are typically deployed throughout the power system. This is really an Internet of Things (IoT) play as the requirement is for a powerful solution that supports multi-vendor, multi-function, intelligence electronic devices across distribution and transmission networks.

This is exactly the situation that BC Hydro found themselves in when they selected SUBNET’s Power System Center.  As BC Hydro states in the SUBNET press release: “First and foremost, BC Hydro chose SUBNET because they ensure that we can integrate all of the distribution devices within our network into one solution, regardless of manufacturer, and still be able to support our substation and transmission equipment. We couldn’t find anyone else who could actually do it. The SUBNET product will allow us to, quickly and easily, access and use the device event data, something that has been a difficult, labor intensive and error-prone process in the past.”

We have written about our partner SUBNET Solutions in the past, here and here, and we are delighted to see how they continue to help Power & Utility companies worldwide solve their most complex substation automation needs. You can read the full press release here. – Jon C. Arnold

Welcome to our March-April installment of Microsoft Power & Utilities News.

It was great to see many of you earlier this month at Hannover Messe. We had our biggest presence ever and it was a very exciting week! At the event, Microsoft showed how we’re helping Utilities innovate, bring products to market more quickly and transform into digital businesses.

Many Microsoft customers and partners announced pivotal IoT initiatives that are changing the way people live and work. Utility partners ABB, OSIsoft, SUBNET Solutions, ICONICs, ITVT, Accenture & Avanade, AutoGrid, Clicksoftware, and COPA-DATA all joined us to demonstrate their state of the art solutions for the connected Utility. At the event, SAP also announced that it has enhanced its mobile enterprise asset management applications for Windows.

In our busy booth, we had a world-class, end-to-end digital showcase on display that helped to inspire business transformation with IoT. Customers also came to see our 55 educational sessions in our theater and met us for nearly 250 private meetings. We demonstrated machine learning for Utility scenarios including grid congestion management, load forecasting, power production planning, and operations improvement. We showcased business insights and analytics for the smart grid, smart metering, and customer analytics as well as explored the digital plant, including next generation visualization and generation portfolio optimization solutions. We also talked about customer centricity and the digital transformation of the Utility customer experience, smart buildings solutions for building and asset optimization, secure substation communications and automation for the smart grid, and much more.

I was sorry to see the week end, and look forward to watching the digital transformations that these innovations will bring to our industry.

It’s been a busy month for meetings and we participated in the OSIsoft user conference where we demonstrated how we are working with OSIsoft and our joint partners to unlock the power of their PI solution and bring it to the enterprise. A great example is with partner Element Analytics where they went from data collection to predictive analytics in a period of 4 weeks using tools from OSIsoft, Azure Machine Learning, and Power BI for UpWind Solutions - the leading independent Wind Operations provider in the US. You can take a look at this great demo here.

Another meeting where Utilities was front and center was our annual //Build conference which is our blockbuster conference aimed at software and web developers. If you are interested in the future of computing I would definitely recommend checking out the Build keynotes with our CEO Satya Nadella and others from our leadership team. One session I want to highlight is with Joseph Sirosh, our CVP of machine learning, where Joseph brought out Erik Åsberg from partner eSmart Systems. eSmart is using Azure services and the power of machine learning and data to reinvent the industry of power management with specific use cases around substation loading and energy management. You can check out the session here.

We also unveiled a number of new products and services for industries and organizations including the Azure IoT Suite, a cloud-based tool for the Internet of Things, and Windows 10 for IoT. In addition, Power BI and Office Delve are being rolled out globally, and Microsoft is bringing business collaboration to a whole new level through Skype for Business, with a technical preview now available. You can read more in this wrap up blog post. And our new cloud-based Azure App Service helps developers quickly build Web and mobile apps for any platform and any device.

Adding to our Surface family, we recently introduced Surface 3, as well as a mobile-broadband version, Surface 3 (4G LTE). It’s the thinnest and lightest Surface we’ve ever shipped and offers the security and manageability features customers like you depend on.

Harness the power of big data through machine learning – I hope you can join us on June 3, 2015, at 9:00 AM PDT for a new webcast where we will discuss how to harness the power of big data through machine learning. We will hear from Microsoft Power & Utilities CTO, Larry Cochrane, Microsoft Data Scientist Director Ilan Ritter, and Genscape’s Platform Services Managing Director Albert Hofeldt for an insightful overview of the emerging arena of Machine Learning and how you can apply it to help meet the challenges of the Power & Utilities industry.

The Innovation Challenge: Creating the 21st Century Utility – And in case you missed it, be sure to listen to the replay of our last webcast where we explored how Utilities are reimagining themselves from a megatrend perspective covering the IoT, Cloud, Big Data, Mobility and Social in order to survive in this era of deep and accelerating rate of change.

There’s lots of news below, so read on and enjoy!

Sincerely,

Jon C. Arnold

Managing Director

Microsoft Worldwide Power & Utilities

Here's more proof that companies are jumping on Microsoft Office 365 like crazy – Business Insider

Microsoft's Office 365 has become a bona fide success in terms of the number of people starting to use it.

Visit OpenText at Microsoft Ignite – May 4-8, 2015, Chicago, IL

Join OpenText at the show to learn how we help enterprises maximize the value of their Microsoft solutions. Book time now to meet with a product expert and learn how we help any company with a Microsoft infrastructure or a mixed Microsoft and non-Microsoft environment. Experience our portfolio of solutions for Office 365 and learn how you can transform your business with OpenText and Microsoft Azure.

Neudesic takes Smart Meter analytics to the hybrid cloud!

Microsoft partner Neudesic recently announced the availability of its Smart Meter Analytics Solution, which utilizes a hybrid cloud architecture that combines on-premises SQL Server, Microsoft BI Platform and the Azure cloud that easily scales as big data demands grow while protecting personally identifiable information (PII) data.

Windows 10 Security Innovations: Device Guard, Windows Hello and Microsoft Passport

Microsoft recently announced new security innovations in Windows 10—Device Guard, Microsoft Passport and Windows Hello. Organizations that deploy these will help eliminate some of the most common tactics that are being used against them. If you haven’t already joined the Windows Insider Program and would like to, please follow the link to join the program and witness Windows 10 evolve first-hand!

eSmart Systems: Making cloud technologies the brain of the modern smart grid

eSmart Systems keeps the lights on with an automated energy management system based on Microsoft cloud services, including Microsoft Machine Learning. Now, utility companies anywhere can connect sensors, smart meters, and software to forecast consumption, reduce outages, and monitor assets to improve efficiencies. This means that utilities can avoid costly investment in both grid and IT infrastructure while serving an ever-growing population.

Improving customer service: From idea to app in six weeks through the Cloud

Western Power wanted to better inform their customers concerning upcoming maintenance and upgrade work as well as provide better information about storms and other unplanned outage situations. The Western Power ICT team worked with Microsoft partner Ignia to deliver a working prototype, based on Microsoft Azure, in just six weeks and the mobile application is simplifying the customer experience and alleviating the pressure on Western Power’s customer service team during planned and unplanned outages. Check out the video case study here and the written case study here.

Microsoft opens first industry Center of Excellence worldwide

Microsoft Russia recently opened a new Center of Excellence dedicated specifically to the Power & Utility and Oil & Gas industries. This first Center of Excellence for industry is a joint project of Microsoft, global partners including Accenture, OSISoft, ESRI, Siemens, Bentley, Ionics and OpenText; as well as Russian industry partners including Rosnano-Inform, Maykor-GMCS, EAE Consult, Nvision, CDC, Prosoft, and Manzana. This Center represents Microsoft’s commitment to helping Russian P&U and O&G industries transform organizations through key technology innovations, such as mobility, cloud computing, and knowledge management, and security and privacy.

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Date: Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015  Time: 9:00 AM PDT

This webcast will feature Microsoft Power & Utilities CTO, Larry Cochrane, Microsoft Data Scientist Director Ilan Ritter, and partner Genscape’s Albert Hofeldt Platform Services Managing Director for this insightful overview of the emerging arena of Machine Learning and how you can apply it to help meet the challenges of the Power & Utilities industry. To register, please click here.

Webcast Details: Big Data and advanced analytics have been hot topics in Power and Utilities recently. A number of analytics scenarios are emerging in electric utilities ranging from customer segmentation, predictive and proscriptive maintenance to increase reliability, generation forecasting, price estimation, and Load Forecasting. Microsoft has released a number of new platform solutions to facilitate statistical analysis for these scenarios, including HDInsight for Hadoop analytics, and Azure Machine Learning.

This webcast will demonstrate the new Azure Machine Learning (AzureML) offering, how to easily and quickly create experiments for trained predictive models, and how to commit those models into production. Learn about experiment design and execution and how easy it is to create these statistical analysis models.

In addition, one of the historically challenging areas of control and trading within the electric power system has been the realm of Load Forecasting. This webcast will discuss some sample prediction models for load forecasting. The webcast will also include Microsoft partner Genscape who will discuss integration of AzureML with their Power IQ Market Intelligence offering to improve the robustness and accuracy of the ISO/RTO market load forecasts.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, June 3rd! – Jon C. Arnold

The Microsoft Team is counting down the minutes till Hannover Messe and we are so excited! This is where we will make the Internet of Things become real with demonstrations and customers discussing how they have leveraged their Microsoft partnerships to help transform their businesses.

Just how excited are we about our story at Hannover Messe?  We didn’t think simple written words were good enough so the Team made a video to convey our passion and excitement. You can check it out here.  This video does come with a warning as our passion and excitement could be considered contagious! We hope to see you next week! – Jon C. Arnold

As Gino Giudice, Head of Customer Service at Western Power says: “Rather than our customers having to contact us, we wanted to take a more proactive approach and have the information readily available at their fingertips.”  He goes on to say: “A number of our planned outages end up cancelled due to operational requirements, so around 6,000 customers per month are affected by the changes in schedule without warning.” 

With this business pain point in hand, the Western Power ICT team worked with Microsoft partner Ignia to create a prototype app to present to internal stakeholders and showcase its potential.

What makes this story so interesting is that the Western Power team had to deliver a prototype app quickly and knew that the traditional waterfall software development approach which could take up to a year was unacceptable as the business wanted a solution much faster and their external customers needed a solution now.

Leigh Sprlyan, Chief Information Officer at Western Power says: “We wanted to deliver the project in a different way and decided to try our hand at being disruptive and the Western Power App was chosen as the ‘guinea pig’ for this approach. We wanted to test whether Agile (Ignia’s methodology for agile software development) would work in our environment and add any efficiencies. So this app was essentially a two-fold project; a proof of concept to determine how we can best approach tactical projects as well as delivering value to our customers.”

Western Power also knew they did not want to host this solution and turned the Microsoft cloud environment, Azure, for its highly scalable and ready to use services along with its ability to quickly scale up to service high volumes of customers at once which is a perfect fit for an outage information and notification application.

The result was that the Western Power and Ignia team were able to deliver a working prototype in six weeks and the mobile application is simplifying the customer experience and alleviating the  pressure on Western Power’s customer service team during planned and unplanned outages. There’s a lot more to the story and we suggest you take a look at the video case study here and the written case study here.

You can hear many more stories like this by joining us for Reimagining the Utility enterprise in a connected world at Hanover Messe,  April 13th – April 17th, #HMI15.  May the Cloud be with You! – Jon C. Arnold

It’s hard to argue that the Power & Utilities industry is NOT in the midst of a transformative change. The drive towards a low carbon power system, the long term focus on a decentralized system in support of distributed energy resources, significant progress in energy efficiency impacting demand and new market entrants are putting enormous pressure on the Utility business model which has been in existence for well over a hundred years. Is the Utility industry immune from the radical changes that are impacting other industries? The answer is a resounding NO! While a new application or any single new business entrant is not going to render the Utility business model obsolete over night, the mantra ‘adapt or die’ is a reality.

During the week of April 13^th – April 17^th, Microsoft will have a major presence at the world’s largest industry fair, Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany. We cordially invite you to reimage the Utility enterprise in a connected world with us at Hanover Messe.

At Hannover Messe 2015, Microsoft and our partners will showcase an end-to-end integrated industry which covers Discrete Manufacturing, Process Manufacturing, Oil & Gas as well as Power & Utilities.

When you visit our booth you will find interactive, business solutions throughout that focus on – Connected Customer Experience, Connected Innovation, Connected Marketing, Sales, and Service, and Connected Operations scenarios.

From a Utility perspective some of specific opportunities and topics that we will be highlighting include:

• Microsoft data scientists will discuss machine learning for Utility scenarios including grid congestion management, load forecasting, power production planning and operations improvement
• Business insights and analytics for the smart grid, smart metering and customer analytics
• Discussion on the digital plant including next generation visualization and generation portfolio optimization solutions
• Customer centricity and the digital transformation of the Utility customer experience
• Demand response optimization with demonstration of IoT device controls
• Smart buildings solutions for building and asset optimization, reducing their energy cost and carbon footprint
• Secure substation communications and automation for the smart grid
• Smart home and connected appliance solutions
• Demonstration latest capabilities in plant and field services including recently released devices

You will have an opportunity to meet industry leaders from Microsoft, partner and product teams; learn from solution presentations, interactive demos and newly launched apps. Experience the Windows Device Bar and engage in one-on-one conversations with our experts from Utilities and other industries, and attend plenary sessions in our booth theatre. This is truly exciting as we not only be talking about the future of industry but demonstrating it!

For more information on our presence at Hanover Messe including registration for a free fair pass, scheduling an executive briefing or booth tour, please go here.

On behalf of Microsoft and our partners, we invite you to see firsthand to how your organization can transform itself for success in a connected world. We look forward to seeing you there! – Jon C. Arnold

One of the foundations of modern society is its ability to deliver clean water and sanitation deposal. At the heart of this process is the water-energy nexus where electricity generation often consumes large amounts of water and water supply and sewage disposal are substantial electric loads. Optimizing this water-energy nexus helps society to reduce its carbon footprint and achieve greater resource conservation.

The city of Breda is a municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands. Working with Microsoft partner ireckon, the city set out to optimize the water-energy nexus by developing an IoT solution that links water and sewage plants’ physical sensors to provide real-time data about water flow, asset management and enables predictive maintenance. With this solution the city is able to adjust pumping levels more efficiently to optimize use of the pumps and decrease wasted power consumption.

Ireckon’s solution has enabled the city of Breda to optimize asset management, energy and maintenance costs and help prevent flooding. This solution runs in our Azure cloud environment and uses Power BI for a self-service analytics exposing information to the citizens of Breda to raise social conscious concerning the water supply and its optimal usage.  Since the solution is based on our cloud technology, it is a highly scalable solution that can be applied to other cities and Utilities small or very large. This is a great example of elevating water conscious with IoT and the cloud. You can see the innovation at work by viewing this case study video. May the Cloud be with You! – Jon C. Arnold

needed a standard yet agile approach to continuously maximize the strategic value of its capital investment portfolio all year round. Consolidated Edison delivers power to approximately 3.7 million electric and 1.2 million gas customers in the world’s most dynamic and demanding marketplace – metropolitan New York. It’s a challenging job and an essential service that Con Edison does safely and reliably. Yet, more and more, priorities have been compounded by climate change, customers concerned with costs, sustainability, and changing regulations. Increasingly, it’s become critical to track and evaluate where every dollar of the utility’s $2 billion annual capital budget is spent, and to fund projects that best align with Con Edison’s long-term strategy and the optimal balance of stakeholders’ needs.

Join Microsoft partner UMT Consulting Group and Frank LaRocca, Dir. of Business Improvement Services at Con Edison, for a free webinar on Thursday, March 12th at 2PM eastern standard time (EST), dedicated to PMO, finance, operations and program management executives from Utilities and other large enterprises:

• Learn from ConEd’s experiences and insights on building governance and an enterprise project management office for multi-billion dollar capital investment portfolios.
• Hear about the latest innovations in agile operating models that deliver and exceed historical performance across electric, gas and steam operations.

To hear more details on the Con Edison case study go here and to register for this free webinar please go here. – Jon C. Arnold