Before the Internet of Things (IoT) captured the world’s imagination the utility industry relied on machine-to-machine (M2M) technology to help manage operations. Much of the industry still does and, truth be told, M2M fulfills much the same functions as IoT, so why all the hype about IoT ushering in a new era?

IoT is a term that has been much in use over the last few years. Most people are familiar with the fact that it means one day your refrigerator might automatically order more milk when it is running low, but IoT potentially offers far more impressive applications in places such as the utility industry.

Four leading distribution system operators in Poland are joining forces to modernize their power grid.

In Europe-wide assessments of grid stability, Poland often scores below average, with a System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), both significantly higher than the EU average. This means that Polish consumers lose their power supply more often than their European neighbors, and the total amount of time without power is longer.

Interview with Bill Lichtensteiger, Director of Communications Technology at Landis+Gyr.

Across the world, a new field of innovation is opening up, spurred by alliances between utility and technology companies, working with Internet of Things solutions that promise to profoundly change business practices, processes and delivery of services. Landis+Gyr is seeking ways to use IoT technologies to bring added benefits to the core business of utility companies and society as a whole.

Landis+Gyr has been building the experience and products needed to cater to the Internet of Things for some time, which puts it in a strong position to realize the many new opportunities created by this rapidly accelerating phenomenon.

Having been identified as one of the smart energy elites, Andreas Umbach, President & CEO, Landis+Gyr, recently gave an interview to Metering & Smart Energy International. The interview was first published in the latest edition of Global Smart Energy Elites 2015. Below is the full interview as published by Metering & Smart Energy International.