GE Smart Grid Solutions Underline Move To Cloud Computing

Two recent wins for General Electric's Grid IQ offering signal not just where GE is headed. They also suggest two important trends for 2012. First, the move to "cloud-based" hosted services is under way in earnest. Second, many of the sector's biggest players are targeting coops and municipals for their next round of deals.

Hosted services are here (and to stay).

Although we often talk about cloud-based services as a future trend, in reality most of the major suppliers have already made a firm commitment to this strategy. The concept is simple. A supplier sets up a central set of smart grid applications. Then it lets utilities order them à la carte for a monthly fee. The applications and the data reside at the supplier site and the utilities tap into those apps over the Internet.

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