A lot has changed since my first involvement with AM/FM/GIS over two decades ago. Some of the changes include:
That last change – software actually working – may be the most important aspect of AM/FM/GIS. It today’s environment, utility executives and system users cannot afford to waste money on software that does not do the job. Moreover, that software must improve the business process, or it might as well stay on the shelf. In fact, among major electric utilities in North America, GIS is an accepted technology. While not yet an operational necessity, it is slowly becoming a core technology upon which other applications are based.
Since 1968 utilities have struggled to develop automated technology that allows them to manage their overhead and underground facilities. The requirement was not just to inventory the items, but to build an intelligent graphical and relational database that could keep track of the items, and be intelligent enough to understand their spatial or location relationships. Beginning in the late 1990s major electric utility companies were nearing completion of the massive conversion process from paper to computer, and could turn their attention to driving critical engineering and business applications with the new technology.
If you are not familiar with AM/FM/GIS technology, it includes all applications that rely on a spatial database – one that associates an event or asset with a location. While the traditional primary users are found in distribution engineering, new applications are now used by customer service, marketing, transmission planning, and a growing number of other departments. The market research firm InfoNetrix (www.infonetrix.com) refers to this market as GIS and Mobile Computing Solutions, or GMCS. I’ve grown to like the term because it encompasses all the spatial solutions that an electric utility might implement. So if most or all of the major utilities already have their GMC solutions installed, does this mean that the end is near for the growth of the technology? Hardly.
While most major electric utilities have functional systems, there are still many smaller companies that are just now realizing the benefits. Mergers and acquisitions, especially in the U.S., force IT evaluations that often result in a change in system technology. But looking at the forecast for GMCS technology does not tell the whole story. GMCS is just one small, yet important part of a utility’s overall operations strategy. Industry-wide confusion and uncertainty are by far the most pervasive factors impacting the GMCS marketplace today.
Beginning in 2000, an especially unsettling series of false starts and miscues contributed to a decline in spending between 2001 and 2002 for systems used by systems and distribution engineers, including GMCS. The California power crisis, the bankruptcy of PG&E and the collapse of Enron, as well as other widely publicized irregularities among prominent electric utilities punctuated these events. Although the prevailing climate of uncertainty was exacerbated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the reluctance of utilities to move forward with infrastructure investments in North America had already begun to take a toll before then.
Absent any clear and consistent indications of how deregulation will ultimately affect them, large investor-owned utilities remain understandably reluctant to invest heavily in what is so far the uncertain future of a competitive, restructured marketplace. However, the need to invest has never been more pronounced than it is now. Many utilities have already delayed investing in their T&D infrastructure for well over two decades following the traditional investment model of large utilities by directing most of their capital spending to generation as the principal strategy for keeping up with load growth. Today, however, the problem has shifted from constrained generation capacity to one of inadequate transmission facilities to deliver power when and where it is needed.
While utility generation and transmission problems may at first seem unrelated to information technology such as GMCS, they require substantial funding, and for some, that is a scarce commodity these days. The absence of any "quick fix" to the congestion problem through traditional methods for increasing capacity suggests that this transmission crisis will likely translate into a long-term driver for increased transmission and distribution systems expenditures in the years ahead. The good news (and the bad news for conversion companies) is that the biggest investment component of GMCS — the conversion of data — is nearly complete. Thus, GMCSenabled utilities are now in position to develop productivity enhancing applications on top of their GMCS systems. This is most reflected in the surge of web-enabled applications for enterprise-wide access to GMCS data as well as in the high level of interest shown in mobile computing as a means to field crews improve their productivity.
Three Road Signs for the Future
In the course of conducting the GMCS market research for InfoNetrix, we were able to identify Seven Signs of GMCS Market Evolution. What follows is a discussion of just three of those signs – indicators of what’s next.
They are:
Technology, Integration & Standardization
In the early days of GMCS the applications outpaced the technology. Finding graphics terminals and processors for under $50,000 per seat was unheard of. By the mid 1980s mini-computers moved onto the scene, but the application requirements still outpaced the technology. With the exception of Intergraph, (and the now defunct Prime Computer Corporation), hardware technologists did not pay much attention to this market. It wasn’t until the 1990s when Intergraph led the way to running GIS applications on Intel Processors and Microsoft’s Windows operating system that technology began to catch up. What really happened is that GIS moved from needing special hardware to using a standard desktop PC. At that point, the GIS industry began to benefit from the rest of the IT community’s almost insatiable appetite for increasing levels of raw computing power. Finally, we did not have to wait for a GIS-specific workstation to be developed. GIS rode the wave of increasing PC power with a decreasing cost.
The accelerating pace of technology is having – and will continue to have – an especially significant impact on GMCS for the foreseeable future. Continued erosion of average selling prices and the proliferation of everlarger volumes of products and systems involving similar or even identical base functions and features are among the most evident impacts of rapidly advancing technology on both the AM/FM/GIS and Mobile Computing fronts. For example, users increasingly expect systems to be compatible with Microsoft Windows operating systems at both the desktop and server levels and expect their core GIS software to be Web-enabled. Standards are also beginning to play a central role in the migration of AM/FM/GIS platforms.
In the mobile computing area, the introduction of Microsoft Windows/CE facilitated a faster migration of GIS-enabled technology for handheld devices than any standard would have likely produced in the same short time frame. Fortunately for the electric utility industry, mobile computing products are driven by a huge commercial and consumer market. Furthermore, until recently, relatively few executives knew of or understood AM/FM/GIS. Not so with mobile computing. Today laptops, cell phones and PDA’s have replaced the executive attaché case of the 1970s, bringing executive into the market mainstream.
Moreover electric utilities are beginning to look more carefully at I/T expenditures as long-term investments. The supplier experience, however, suggests that while return-on-investment (ROI) is often mentioned as a key criterion for justification and procurement, it is not clear that ROI is ever actually measured after the fact. "Utilities don’t have the staff to even evaluate or try many of the new concepts that could save time and money and boost efficiency," said one industry observer who contributed to the InfoNetrix study. Savvy GMCS suppliers understand that new solutions must have an affect on productivity.
As Roxanne Cox-Drake, Electric and Gas Utilities Industry Manager for ESRI told me, “Building on their foundation of asset information systems, utilities extend geospatial capabilities across the company, like supporting integration of schematics for system operators or routing for meter readers. Utilities also get the information to users in the field to support operational efficiency, safety and customer service.”
This end-goal of enterprise applications interoperability is intended to improve decision-making through access to increasing amounts of better and more timely data. This is particularly true for mobile computing where field workers can improve their own productivity, as well as back office productivity, by capturing data in field.
There is a clear convergence of technology developing. For example, Outage Management and Work Order Management systems developers recognized that the electronic network developed as part of the AM/FM/GIS project is the perfect starting point for their systems. They also recognized that their customers want these new systems and believe that they, not an outside firm, should be developing and installing the system. The user expects whoever installs the AM/FM/GIS system to understand how the system works and to have a high level of expertise in the vertical application(s). These new applications provide a significant revenue source, and the AM/FM/GIS suppliers are clearly aware of this developing opportunity.
Data Integrity & System Security
Data integrity is quickly migrating from a general consideration to an implicit expectation. That is, end-users may not express the need for data integrity because they now expect the supplier to have built-in safeguards for their data as part of the baseline offering. With increasing acceptance of commercial-off-the-shelf relational database systems and general maturity of the applications, these expectations are gradually being met by the vast majority of suppliers.
Security, however, raises different questions. Clearly, the War on Terrorism plays a big part in the heightened awareness of security. Yet while most of the public emphasis seems to be focused on the physical security of the utility assets and infrastructure, the data security issues are equally important. In the GMCS marketplace a dichotomy has developed: On one hand, users realize that they must protect the sensitive data that describes the physical assets of the utility. At the same time, however, there is rapidly growing interest in Web and wireless solutions –- two highly vulnerable penetration points for cyber-attacks and other invasive threats.
The cost and proper implementation of security is not widely understood by utilities, nor for that matter by most other companies. Physical security is widely understood, and the measures to secure a facility are well known. However, things change dramatically when it comes to data,. Short of locking the computer in a vault with no outside contact, data is vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These attacks are silent and often go undetected. Securing against them often means increased inconveniences to the end users – mandatory password changes, multiple logon pages, and restricted access to data – to name a few examples.
Least safe are mobile systems. While encryption helps protect the message, it is the mobile network itself that may provide access to the entire enterprise database.
Adding to the misery of it all is the fact that new vulnerabilities in computer networks are being found daily. The points of attack often come through Microsoft products because they are so wide spread and give the cyber attacker a larger target. Thus, as GMCS adopts off the shelf technology, everyone becomes more vulnerable.
Web & Wireless Solutions
The World Wide Web is not unique to the electric utility nor to GMCS. On the contrary, it is everywhere, and we increasingly expect to find just about anything we might want or need to do accessible through a browser interface. The Web has taught corporate users certain things about how to uses a computer. (e.g. if it is blue and underlined). Although most corporate systems are not yet as easy to use, GIS is rapidly adopting a more Webfriendly approach. Now that much of the protracted AM/FM/GIS development and conversion work has been completed by most large utilities, a steady stream of internal users are demanding access to the resultant data. But, unlike traditional users, these new users may not necessarily be GIS users exclusively. Instead, only occasional access – whether local or remote – may be required. As such, the demand for expanded GIS applications that can be most easily facilitated by the Web is increasing daily.
The dramatic reductions in the cost per seat is certainly good news for endusers. Better still, the results derived from web-based GIS can easily be shared with the rest of the world through a simple – and now very familiar -- point and click routine.
The Web changed the very nature of the relationship between supplier and end-user. Thanks to the Web, software can be ordered and downloaded online, 24 hours per day. Some suppliers provide free trial versions, webbroadcasts and tutorials. User groups and email list servers provide an almost instant contact with fellow GIS specialists who often can answer complex questions at no charge.
Wireless applications will likely have an easier time being accepted than early GIS systems. For many years, GIS was almost unheard of outside a small circle of technologists. Today’s wireless technology is already pervasive – not just among utilities but in our everyday lives. However, the true productivity gains of wireless technology will ultimately come from driving many of the previously centralized applications to the field operations level for easy access and use by field crews without host system intervention.
Because of the nature of electric utilities (i.e., assets spread out over an expansive service territory) and the presence of a large mobile workforce, wireless connectivity looms large as a potentially valuable solution set. Still, the sometimes spotty geographical coverage and insufficient bandwidth to support increasingly robust mobile applications continue to impede the advancement of wireless in the utility market. Fortunately, a convergence is taking place between wireless and mobile technology that allows a significant amount of data to be stored in the field device itself and permits wireless access when the latest information is required. While it is clear that utilities want wireless/mobile technology, they are still looking for the mission-critical applications that their field crews will sponsor and use.
Still missing, in my opinion, is that must-have “killer app” that will make field force automation mandatory. Aside from some technical issues such as coverage, bandwidth and security, other factors such as cost and form-factor are holding back what is already a burgeoning segment of the market. Much of that hesitation will likely be overcome when the right application finally comes along. Too often the field system benefits the “back office” far more that the field crews. Replacing a map-book and clipboard with computer hardware that automatically updates the corporate system is not a motivator for a lineman. Looking forward, however, there is no doubt that new technology will eventually spawn new applications that will better balance the benefits between the field and the back office.
Because wireless technology is highly vulnerable to invasive forces, security issues must also be addressed. Indeed, for many users each additional level of security imposed represents another deterrent to deploying and using the system. Currently, there are three central concerns in the security arena: (1) Stealing data from the airwaves; (2) Stealing bandwidth (for Web surfing or other nonproductive activities); and (3) Gaining corporate system access via the wireless connection. Yet although concern #1 is reasonably handled through data encryption; #2 can be easily handled with password protection; and #3 can be overcome through a combination of firewalls, passwords and active device authentication, every level of security remains vulnerable and adds to concerns about broadening user access to the data.
Conclusion
There are plenty of GMCS opportunities in the in the electric utility marketplace. Mergers and acquisitions present new challenges for systems integrators, new versions of software force end-users to evaluate the need to upgrade and new applications keep expanding the market.
Huge opportunities are evolving for the wireless and mobile computing segment now that the need is understood and the demand is there — waiting to explode. Non-traditional systems such as work order and outage management present a next logical step for AM/FM/GIS developers.
Predicting the future is always a difficult task. What makes it a bit easier in the IT industry is that trends are often driven by the technology, and hence by the technology makers. When asked what he thought was next for AM/FM/GIS, Arthur Spencer, Executive Vice President, Utilities & Communications, Intergraph Mapping & Geospatial Solutions told me, “AM/FM/GIS technology must move beyond its traditional role as a stand-alone application and become the core enabling technology of an integrated Geospatial Resource Management (GRM) system. GRM models a utility’s distribution infrastructure and supports all the work processes involved in designing, constructing, analyzing, operating and maintaining the network. When customers report outages, GRM predicts devices that have failed and expedites response to those situations. The end result is improved customer service and lower operating costs. The return on the technology investment is much greater with GRM through quantifiable hard-dollar improvements. GRM is where Intergraph can help.”
This message of building GMC solutions that support the business model, are integrated with other systems, and drive down the operating costs is a message that is consistent among all GIS suppliers.
Users can expect (and will get) easier to use systems that won’t require a degree in electrical engineering or cartography. These systems will be delivered to the desktop, shirt pocket and web browser quickly, easily and at an increasingly affordable cost. So if you’re asking yourself the question, “What comes next?” The answer is: Just about everything!
About the Author
Chris Harlow has over 30 years in the IT profession. He is the founding president of GITA, editor of The Harlow Report-Geographic Information Systems (www.theharlowreport.com) and was engaged as the lead analyst for the InfoNetrix Market Forecast for GMCS in the North American Electric Utility Industry. He may be reached at charlow@charter.net
- Specialized hardware is a thing of the past
- Arcane interfaces are (almost) gone
- Computers sit on the desktop or in a shirt pocket, not on the raised floor of an isolated data processing center
- The Web is here, there, and everywhere
- Software is finally affordable
- The folks in the executive suite know about GIS
- Proprietary databases have given way to commercial software
- IT directors don’t run when they see a user request for AM/FM/GIS
- The software actually works.
That last change – software actually working – may be the most important aspect of AM/FM/GIS. It today’s environment, utility executives and system users cannot afford to waste money on software that does not do the job. Moreover, that software must improve the business process, or it might as well stay on the shelf. In fact, among major electric utilities in North America, GIS is an accepted technology. While not yet an operational necessity, it is slowly becoming a core technology upon which other applications are based.
Since 1968 utilities have struggled to develop automated technology that allows them to manage their overhead and underground facilities. The requirement was not just to inventory the items, but to build an intelligent graphical and relational database that could keep track of the items, and be intelligent enough to understand their spatial or location relationships. Beginning in the late 1990s major electric utility companies were nearing completion of the massive conversion process from paper to computer, and could turn their attention to driving critical engineering and business applications with the new technology.
If you are not familiar with AM/FM/GIS technology, it includes all applications that rely on a spatial database – one that associates an event or asset with a location. While the traditional primary users are found in distribution engineering, new applications are now used by customer service, marketing, transmission planning, and a growing number of other departments. The market research firm InfoNetrix (www.infonetrix.com) refers to this market as GIS and Mobile Computing Solutions, or GMCS. I’ve grown to like the term because it encompasses all the spatial solutions that an electric utility might implement. So if most or all of the major utilities already have their GMC solutions installed, does this mean that the end is near for the growth of the technology? Hardly.
While most major electric utilities have functional systems, there are still many smaller companies that are just now realizing the benefits. Mergers and acquisitions, especially in the U.S., force IT evaluations that often result in a change in system technology. But looking at the forecast for GMCS technology does not tell the whole story. GMCS is just one small, yet important part of a utility’s overall operations strategy. Industry-wide confusion and uncertainty are by far the most pervasive factors impacting the GMCS marketplace today.
Beginning in 2000, an especially unsettling series of false starts and miscues contributed to a decline in spending between 2001 and 2002 for systems used by systems and distribution engineers, including GMCS. The California power crisis, the bankruptcy of PG&E and the collapse of Enron, as well as other widely publicized irregularities among prominent electric utilities punctuated these events. Although the prevailing climate of uncertainty was exacerbated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the reluctance of utilities to move forward with infrastructure investments in North America had already begun to take a toll before then.
Absent any clear and consistent indications of how deregulation will ultimately affect them, large investor-owned utilities remain understandably reluctant to invest heavily in what is so far the uncertain future of a competitive, restructured marketplace. However, the need to invest has never been more pronounced than it is now. Many utilities have already delayed investing in their T&D infrastructure for well over two decades following the traditional investment model of large utilities by directing most of their capital spending to generation as the principal strategy for keeping up with load growth. Today, however, the problem has shifted from constrained generation capacity to one of inadequate transmission facilities to deliver power when and where it is needed.
While utility generation and transmission problems may at first seem unrelated to information technology such as GMCS, they require substantial funding, and for some, that is a scarce commodity these days. The absence of any "quick fix" to the congestion problem through traditional methods for increasing capacity suggests that this transmission crisis will likely translate into a long-term driver for increased transmission and distribution systems expenditures in the years ahead. The good news (and the bad news for conversion companies) is that the biggest investment component of GMCS — the conversion of data — is nearly complete. Thus, GMCSenabled utilities are now in position to develop productivity enhancing applications on top of their GMCS systems. This is most reflected in the surge of web-enabled applications for enterprise-wide access to GMCS data as well as in the high level of interest shown in mobile computing as a means to field crews improve their productivity.
Three Road Signs for the Future
In the course of conducting the GMCS market research for InfoNetrix, we were able to identify Seven Signs of GMCS Market Evolution. What follows is a discussion of just three of those signs – indicators of what’s next.
They are:
- Technology, Integration & Standardization
- Data Integrity & System Security
- Web & Wireless Solutions
Technology, Integration & Standardization
In the early days of GMCS the applications outpaced the technology. Finding graphics terminals and processors for under $50,000 per seat was unheard of. By the mid 1980s mini-computers moved onto the scene, but the application requirements still outpaced the technology. With the exception of Intergraph, (and the now defunct Prime Computer Corporation), hardware technologists did not pay much attention to this market. It wasn’t until the 1990s when Intergraph led the way to running GIS applications on Intel Processors and Microsoft’s Windows operating system that technology began to catch up. What really happened is that GIS moved from needing special hardware to using a standard desktop PC. At that point, the GIS industry began to benefit from the rest of the IT community’s almost insatiable appetite for increasing levels of raw computing power. Finally, we did not have to wait for a GIS-specific workstation to be developed. GIS rode the wave of increasing PC power with a decreasing cost.
The accelerating pace of technology is having – and will continue to have – an especially significant impact on GMCS for the foreseeable future. Continued erosion of average selling prices and the proliferation of everlarger volumes of products and systems involving similar or even identical base functions and features are among the most evident impacts of rapidly advancing technology on both the AM/FM/GIS and Mobile Computing fronts. For example, users increasingly expect systems to be compatible with Microsoft Windows operating systems at both the desktop and server levels and expect their core GIS software to be Web-enabled. Standards are also beginning to play a central role in the migration of AM/FM/GIS platforms.
In the mobile computing area, the introduction of Microsoft Windows/CE facilitated a faster migration of GIS-enabled technology for handheld devices than any standard would have likely produced in the same short time frame. Fortunately for the electric utility industry, mobile computing products are driven by a huge commercial and consumer market. Furthermore, until recently, relatively few executives knew of or understood AM/FM/GIS. Not so with mobile computing. Today laptops, cell phones and PDA’s have replaced the executive attaché case of the 1970s, bringing executive into the market mainstream.
Moreover electric utilities are beginning to look more carefully at I/T expenditures as long-term investments. The supplier experience, however, suggests that while return-on-investment (ROI) is often mentioned as a key criterion for justification and procurement, it is not clear that ROI is ever actually measured after the fact. "Utilities don’t have the staff to even evaluate or try many of the new concepts that could save time and money and boost efficiency," said one industry observer who contributed to the InfoNetrix study. Savvy GMCS suppliers understand that new solutions must have an affect on productivity.
As Roxanne Cox-Drake, Electric and Gas Utilities Industry Manager for ESRI told me, “Building on their foundation of asset information systems, utilities extend geospatial capabilities across the company, like supporting integration of schematics for system operators or routing for meter readers. Utilities also get the information to users in the field to support operational efficiency, safety and customer service.”
This end-goal of enterprise applications interoperability is intended to improve decision-making through access to increasing amounts of better and more timely data. This is particularly true for mobile computing where field workers can improve their own productivity, as well as back office productivity, by capturing data in field.
There is a clear convergence of technology developing. For example, Outage Management and Work Order Management systems developers recognized that the electronic network developed as part of the AM/FM/GIS project is the perfect starting point for their systems. They also recognized that their customers want these new systems and believe that they, not an outside firm, should be developing and installing the system. The user expects whoever installs the AM/FM/GIS system to understand how the system works and to have a high level of expertise in the vertical application(s). These new applications provide a significant revenue source, and the AM/FM/GIS suppliers are clearly aware of this developing opportunity.
Data Integrity & System Security
Data integrity is quickly migrating from a general consideration to an implicit expectation. That is, end-users may not express the need for data integrity because they now expect the supplier to have built-in safeguards for their data as part of the baseline offering. With increasing acceptance of commercial-off-the-shelf relational database systems and general maturity of the applications, these expectations are gradually being met by the vast majority of suppliers.
Security, however, raises different questions. Clearly, the War on Terrorism plays a big part in the heightened awareness of security. Yet while most of the public emphasis seems to be focused on the physical security of the utility assets and infrastructure, the data security issues are equally important. In the GMCS marketplace a dichotomy has developed: On one hand, users realize that they must protect the sensitive data that describes the physical assets of the utility. At the same time, however, there is rapidly growing interest in Web and wireless solutions –- two highly vulnerable penetration points for cyber-attacks and other invasive threats.
The cost and proper implementation of security is not widely understood by utilities, nor for that matter by most other companies. Physical security is widely understood, and the measures to secure a facility are well known. However, things change dramatically when it comes to data,. Short of locking the computer in a vault with no outside contact, data is vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These attacks are silent and often go undetected. Securing against them often means increased inconveniences to the end users – mandatory password changes, multiple logon pages, and restricted access to data – to name a few examples.
Least safe are mobile systems. While encryption helps protect the message, it is the mobile network itself that may provide access to the entire enterprise database.
Adding to the misery of it all is the fact that new vulnerabilities in computer networks are being found daily. The points of attack often come through Microsoft products because they are so wide spread and give the cyber attacker a larger target. Thus, as GMCS adopts off the shelf technology, everyone becomes more vulnerable.
Web & Wireless Solutions
The World Wide Web is not unique to the electric utility nor to GMCS. On the contrary, it is everywhere, and we increasingly expect to find just about anything we might want or need to do accessible through a browser interface. The Web has taught corporate users certain things about how to uses a computer. (e.g. if it is blue and underlined). Although most corporate systems are not yet as easy to use, GIS is rapidly adopting a more Webfriendly approach. Now that much of the protracted AM/FM/GIS development and conversion work has been completed by most large utilities, a steady stream of internal users are demanding access to the resultant data. But, unlike traditional users, these new users may not necessarily be GIS users exclusively. Instead, only occasional access – whether local or remote – may be required. As such, the demand for expanded GIS applications that can be most easily facilitated by the Web is increasing daily.
The dramatic reductions in the cost per seat is certainly good news for endusers. Better still, the results derived from web-based GIS can easily be shared with the rest of the world through a simple – and now very familiar -- point and click routine.
The Web changed the very nature of the relationship between supplier and end-user. Thanks to the Web, software can be ordered and downloaded online, 24 hours per day. Some suppliers provide free trial versions, webbroadcasts and tutorials. User groups and email list servers provide an almost instant contact with fellow GIS specialists who often can answer complex questions at no charge.
Wireless applications will likely have an easier time being accepted than early GIS systems. For many years, GIS was almost unheard of outside a small circle of technologists. Today’s wireless technology is already pervasive – not just among utilities but in our everyday lives. However, the true productivity gains of wireless technology will ultimately come from driving many of the previously centralized applications to the field operations level for easy access and use by field crews without host system intervention.
Because of the nature of electric utilities (i.e., assets spread out over an expansive service territory) and the presence of a large mobile workforce, wireless connectivity looms large as a potentially valuable solution set. Still, the sometimes spotty geographical coverage and insufficient bandwidth to support increasingly robust mobile applications continue to impede the advancement of wireless in the utility market. Fortunately, a convergence is taking place between wireless and mobile technology that allows a significant amount of data to be stored in the field device itself and permits wireless access when the latest information is required. While it is clear that utilities want wireless/mobile technology, they are still looking for the mission-critical applications that their field crews will sponsor and use.
Still missing, in my opinion, is that must-have “killer app” that will make field force automation mandatory. Aside from some technical issues such as coverage, bandwidth and security, other factors such as cost and form-factor are holding back what is already a burgeoning segment of the market. Much of that hesitation will likely be overcome when the right application finally comes along. Too often the field system benefits the “back office” far more that the field crews. Replacing a map-book and clipboard with computer hardware that automatically updates the corporate system is not a motivator for a lineman. Looking forward, however, there is no doubt that new technology will eventually spawn new applications that will better balance the benefits between the field and the back office.
Because wireless technology is highly vulnerable to invasive forces, security issues must also be addressed. Indeed, for many users each additional level of security imposed represents another deterrent to deploying and using the system. Currently, there are three central concerns in the security arena: (1) Stealing data from the airwaves; (2) Stealing bandwidth (for Web surfing or other nonproductive activities); and (3) Gaining corporate system access via the wireless connection. Yet although concern #1 is reasonably handled through data encryption; #2 can be easily handled with password protection; and #3 can be overcome through a combination of firewalls, passwords and active device authentication, every level of security remains vulnerable and adds to concerns about broadening user access to the data.
Conclusion
There are plenty of GMCS opportunities in the in the electric utility marketplace. Mergers and acquisitions present new challenges for systems integrators, new versions of software force end-users to evaluate the need to upgrade and new applications keep expanding the market.
Huge opportunities are evolving for the wireless and mobile computing segment now that the need is understood and the demand is there — waiting to explode. Non-traditional systems such as work order and outage management present a next logical step for AM/FM/GIS developers.
Predicting the future is always a difficult task. What makes it a bit easier in the IT industry is that trends are often driven by the technology, and hence by the technology makers. When asked what he thought was next for AM/FM/GIS, Arthur Spencer, Executive Vice President, Utilities & Communications, Intergraph Mapping & Geospatial Solutions told me, “AM/FM/GIS technology must move beyond its traditional role as a stand-alone application and become the core enabling technology of an integrated Geospatial Resource Management (GRM) system. GRM models a utility’s distribution infrastructure and supports all the work processes involved in designing, constructing, analyzing, operating and maintaining the network. When customers report outages, GRM predicts devices that have failed and expedites response to those situations. The end result is improved customer service and lower operating costs. The return on the technology investment is much greater with GRM through quantifiable hard-dollar improvements. GRM is where Intergraph can help.”
This message of building GMC solutions that support the business model, are integrated with other systems, and drive down the operating costs is a message that is consistent among all GIS suppliers.
Users can expect (and will get) easier to use systems that won’t require a degree in electrical engineering or cartography. These systems will be delivered to the desktop, shirt pocket and web browser quickly, easily and at an increasingly affordable cost. So if you’re asking yourself the question, “What comes next?” The answer is: Just about everything!
About the Author
Chris Harlow has over 30 years in the IT profession. He is the founding president of GITA, editor of The Harlow Report-Geographic Information Systems (www.theharlowreport.com) and was engaged as the lead analyst for the InfoNetrix Market Forecast for GMCS in the North American Electric Utility Industry. He may be reached at charlow@charter.net
