Smart Grid Summit is Now in Session at ITEXPO East in Miami

By Stefanie Mosca, TMCnet Web Editor

The Smart Grid Conference, an event collocated with ITEXPO is in its first day today. The Summit enables networking with the full smart grid community including utilities, equipment vendors, software developers, academics, industry associations and policymakers.

Jon Arnold (News - Alert), founder of Intelligent Communication Partners, opened the Smart Grid Summit with an introductory welcome.

Arnold referred to TMCnet as, “one of the most established brands in the telecommunications market.”

Keynote speaker Mark Amentrout, president of the Texas Institute, was unable to make it to the Smart Grid Summit, however Arnold went ahead and gave his presentation regarding the “Smart Grid Vision,” in his absence.

Amentrout’s presentation revolved around the evolution of the Internet and how it currently parallels to Smart Grid.  His presentation asked questions such as how smart is Smart Grid and will history repeat itself with Smart Grid today?

Audience (News - Alert) members commented on the number of standards today versus ten years ago.

“The smart grid has done something that has raised standards like never before,” one participate said.  He credited the bar being raised to the competitive market. Verizon (News - Alert) was among companies sitting in the audience.  

Larry Karisny, VP of business development for WirelessWall, was the first to take the stage following Arnold. To begin his presentation, “How to Build Security with Intelligence,” Karisny quoted a number of Smart Grid industry leaders including Vint Serf,  the “Godfather of the Internet,”  as well as Kim Zetter and Bob Lockhart, to name a few.

Karisny referred to Smart Grid as a lot of networks, or a bunch of small clouds that are connected; however, this needs to be done on a layer basis. “Smart Grid is not your typical telco network; it is much more complex,” Karisny said.

He also touched on the disagreement between both private and public sectors regarding Smart Grid security. In terms of public security, he explained government agencies as fighting against themselves.  

Karisny left the audience with a number of suggestions on how to tackle Smart Grid security issues as they come including targeting the security problems before they actually begin. He also thinks it’s important to address the most crucial security issues first and using high-end yet simple security solutions to do so. Lastly, he stressed the importance of updating your Smart Grid security as you go, to ensure the best experience possible at all times.

Tony Flick, principal at FYRM Associates and author of Securing the Smart Grid,” added to the section on Smart Grid Security by explaining why Smart Grid companies should be concerned with security.

He stressed the importance of security in order to avoid the risks and consequences that come once a secure location is compromised. Companies don’t think to address security issues until it’s too late. Flick explained the reasons for companies disregarding security precautions as being too time consuming, too costly, too competitive, and feeling it is someone else’s responsibility to take care of.

Flick admitted that people are the weakest links when it comes to security because they are easily compromised, they do things they are often told not to, and people are ultimately the ones who design the automated processes.

Want to learn more about Smart Grid technologies? Then be sure to attend the Smart Grid Summit, collocated with TMC’s (News - Alert) ITEXPO East, taking place Feb 2-4, 2011, in Miami. The Smart Grid Summit is the first event of its kind to address the unprecedented opportunity coming from the intersection of two core building blocks of our economy – utilities and communications. This unique event is based on the joint vision of TMC and Intelligent Communications Partners (News - Alert) to create a new forum for and actively engage an entire community. To register, click here.

Stefanie Mosca is a Web editor for TMCnet. Previously she worked as a freelance copy editor for Digital Surgeons LLC. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Haven. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca

(source: http://smart-grid.tmcnet.com/topics/smart-grid/articles/140814-smart-grid-summit-now-session-itexpo-east-miami.htm)