Intel joins with Cap Gemini on tablet for energy efficiency

Cap Gemini SA and Intel Corp. will offer a home energy-management system to consumers and utilities as the French and U.S. partners seek to beat rivals onto the market for power-saving upgrades to electric grids.

Cap Gemini, Europe’s largest computer-services company, and Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, will cooperate on a tablet-style computer that will let customers adjust appliances’ power use, Steven Harris, Cap Gemini’s head of smart home services, said in a phone interview. Later versions may include a smartphone application or may allow the device to be used as a data source for utilities looking to allocate electricity.

Cap Gemini will soon face a stronger local rival in Atos, which is scheduled this year to complete a merger with Siemens AG’s computer-services unit to leapfrog the Paris-based company as the No. 1 computer-services provider in Europe. Cap Gemini and Intel also face competition in the home-energy market from Google Inc., which is partnering with utilities including India’s Reliance Energy to expand its PowerMeter service.

For the complete article, please click here.

HomeGrid Forum President Re-Elected to SmartGrid Interoperability Panel Governing Board

HomeGrid Forum, the non-profit trade group promoting the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union’s G.hn and G.hnem energy management technologies, announced in December that Matthew Theall, President of HomeGrid Forum and a Technology Strategist at Intel Corporation, was re-elected to another two-year term on the SmartGrid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Governing Board.

The mission of the SGIP is to provide a strong framework for coordination of all stakeholders of the Smart Grid to accelerate standards harmonization and development. The SGIP does not write standards, instead it develops and reviews use cases, identifies requirements, lists approved standards, and proposes action plans for achieving Smart Grid interoperability and coexistence goals.

The SGIP is managed and guided by a Governing Board that approves and prioritizes work programs and arranges for the resources necessary to carry out finalized priority action plans. The Governing Board’s responsibilities include facilitating a dialogue with standards development organizations to ensure that the action plans can be implemented. The SGIP Governing Board provides guidance to the SGIP. This guidance includes a broad perspective of the NIST Interoperability Framework and Roadmap vision.

For the complete article, please click here.