Between GridWeek sessions last week, I sat down with Marie Hattar, VP Network Systems and Security Solutions Marketing at Cisco, and talked with her about upcoming breakthroughs in smart grid data solutions, standards and interoperability of platforms, and Cisco's smart grid plans. 

Marie and other Cisco team members were among the thought-leaders at the GridWeek conference, and Marie wrapped up the week by moderating a session on "The Future of the Electric Utility - Business Models."  I've included some of her comments from that session as well as our interview (which, as you can tell from the footage, was my first on-camera interview and rough on my end).

Marie emphasized that smart grid data technologies and platforms are still in the early, "old, old west" days.  As with the early days of the internet in the 80s, there are different protocols and vendors and not yet enough standardization.  To help facilitate a smooth transition and ensure that systems being created today by different vendors can talk to each other, Cisco announced on Sept 17 the launch of their Smart Grid Partner Ecosystem with more than 25 partners.  The partnership will be advocating for standardization, working with IEEE, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and other standard-setting bodies and demonstrating a coalition of support for standards. Marie believes this will engender a more positive approach to standard-setting, rather than one in which different companies are "fighting it out."

She also talked about the need for smart tarrifs on the regulatory side so that consumers face different rates during peak energy use hours, encouraging changes in consumer energy consumption patterns.

From a technology standpoint, Marie is seeing an explosion in innovation and inventions, with many new options for utilities to communicate to data centers. She sees the proliferation of vendor products as a major positive in terms of expediting how quickly smart grid technology takes off and comes on-line.

However, Marie emphasized again and again the importance of common standards for protocols and platforms to allow vendors to invest in and create products that will work seamlessly together, allowing us to avoid the problems that will arise if proprietary and incompatible software and hardware rules the day.  

The focus for Cisco going forward is in two areas -continuing to bring innovative smart grid services to utilities and bringing to market products that will facilitate end-to-end communication infrastructure.

"People confuse electrical system modernization with smart grid," Marie commented during the closing session on The Future of the Electric Utility. "I see SG as an evolution - as happened with the internet - as we build out, including hubs for communication, we change the dynamic of how we all communicate...entrepreneurs, start-ups, and business units will be growing in this area quickly and revitalize the utilities themselves." 

Marie Hattar is Vice President of Network Systems and Security Solutions Marketing at Cisco. In this role, Marie is responsible for setting and developing a strategic vision that integrates key solutions areas: branch/WAN, campus, and security—roughly 75% of Cisco’s overall portfolio. An industry expert in data communications, convergence and security, she is an often-sought speaker for major industry seminars and events. Prior to Cisco, Marie worked at Nortel Networks, Alteon WebSystems and Shasta Networks in senior marketing positions. She was previously chair of the Broadband Content Delivery Forum (BCDF) and is co-author of IP Services at the Network Edge, published by Addison-Wesley. 

Marie holds a master’s in business administration in marketing from York University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto.

Read more about Marie's perspective on smart grid on her blog.

Also check out my write-up of GridWeek and interview with Siemens Director for Smart Grid Wes Sylvester.