Luxoft Blog

Is Demand Response Dead?

Posted by Sergey Bakulin Posted in August 29, 2011 | Add a comment

I talked to hundred of Demand Response specialists at a lot of conferences this year around the world and it seems pretty interesting to see how the Demand Response market is changing.

We started with something like “Demand Response will save our planet” because it was clear, that new generation capabilities are more than limited. We moved to a set of pilots and prove of concepts, some Smart Cities have been advertised widely. In USA a number of “prove of concepts” i heard of is so big, that everyone would finally decide whether the concept worth spreading or not. But still there is no clear vision and more pilots to come. Why? The reason as I see it after a lot of conversations and projects review is not the consumer, not the education, and definitely not technology.

Let’s look at the idea – Consumers will shut down some of it’s equipment under pricing signals from utility. Well, that’s pretty much all the concept. So, all the infrastructure – two way communication, smart meters (sic!), in-home displays, integration platforms, not to mention everything on the backend. Just to curtail the load 3 times a year. I’m not buying.

Some may think that it’s just one small case, that there are a lot of other different Smart Grid applications. But the consumer thinks this way. And he is not buying. I talked to the students, who received the letter from the University, asking to turn off the light due to Demand Response event. And I didn’t find any interest in participation “to save Utilities money”

Something have to change. In perception, in branding, in vendors’ positioning of their products.

What I see is a clear shift now from Demand Response to Demand Management. And the difference is that now no one is expected to Respond to any Demands. Now Demand should be Managed in a smooth reliable predictable way. This is the same technology, but it is devoted not just to Shave the Peak, but to flattern the curve, react to possible faults, decrease the price to all the participants. Demand Management is a way to effectively balance the load not by manipulating the Generation but.. You got this. We will discuss the concept in more details in future posts here. But you can understand, that technically there is almost no difference – same protocols, different event sources, very different events cloud.

But we don’t use DR anymore. It’s dead. Demand Management is the new Energy world ideology.

Are Traders still necessary on the market?

Posted by Vladimir Koveshnikov Posted in August 9, 2011 | Add a comment

The case is that if you are a buy-side company then you have to use an algorithmic trading because everybody does; if you are a sell-side, the situation is the same, to make a huge deal you need to use an algorithm for the better price in better time-frame. Hope you have already heard about innovations and nanotechnologies.

Yes, I am also looking for this trend; and it appears in messaging engines. TIBCO presented TIBCO FLT which sets 2 new performance world records – an average application latency of 384 nanoseconds for intra-host communication and 3.1 microseconds for inter-host communication [1]. That’s about 40% faster than the nearest competitor.

In Luxoft we have TIBCO EMS and TIBCO Rendezvous expertise which is focused on investments banks, so the appearing of TIBCO FCL is a good opportunity for us and our major clients. Mostly, it is interesting to compare it with Informatica (29West) Ultra Messaging solution in work. Maybe someone wants to see the results?

[1] TIBCO FTL Benchmarks Performance metrics based on testing conducted by TIBCO in March 2011. Test cases measured average one way end-to-end application latency based on round trip times for messages. This can be replicated using sample applications tibping.c and tibpong.c available as a part of the TIBCO FTL® version 1.0.0 product download. Shared memory performance claim based on testing done using TIBCO FTL Version 1.0.0 running on a machine with Intel Xeon 5680 CPU, 48 GB RAM and Linux 2.6.35. RDMA over InfiniBand performance claim based on testing done using TIBCO FTL Version 1.0.0 running on a machine with Intel Xeon 5660 CPU, 40 GB RAM and Linux 2.6.18.

MeeGo

Posted by Kostia Khait Posted in April 25, 2011 | 1 Comments

Car ecosystem is changing in front of our eyes – from tape recorders to pre-installed head units and now to In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems. So the most popular topic in auto software community is the future platform for ”infotainment systems” – as if somebody knows what it is. Let’s talk about expert opinions, starting with most common one – MeeGo. Notice that we consider MeeGo and GENIVI equivalent for the purposes of this discussion.
MeeGo pros are:
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Japan Disaster would change the energy world

Posted by Sergey Bakulin Posted in March 17, 2011 | Add a comment

It is extremely sad that we have topics like that. But we have to move on and think about the results and conclusions we could make after what happened in Japan.

Japanese Nuclear Commission in 2003 has published a document in which they stated, that the risk of pollution due to accident should not exceed the extremely low probability – something like 1 per million years. But it happend and all the minds will be set now on thinking – how can we substitute nuclear energy generation with other sources. Solar energy? Coal?

And the problem is you just cannot substitute it right now. The only way is to consume less. But does this less consumption mean less lighting, less conditioning? Not necessarily, sometimes it just means – effective consumption in appropriate periods of time. And we come again to Demand Response programs. For example in Luxoft DRFusion ( http://www.luxoft.com/industries/energy/demand_response/ ) with active load control of wireless consuming devices we can setup the scenario in which all the curtailment commands are actively modified but the households, that means that all the required appliances will be working with no changes from utility site. That allows to curtail the load with minimum impact on the lifestyle. That will become extremely important in the situation of limited generation resources

Why is it useful to develop BI/DWH solutions in our days?

Posted by Vladimir Koveshnikov Posted in March 5, 2011 | Add a comment

Every company once used this popular video which shows us the speed of new information appearance.

Marketing tried to understand how to get revenue from this information, and the only thing that can help us is analytical software.

Demand Response concept

Posted by Sergey Bakulin Posted in February 10, 2011 | Add a comment

Demand Response became a buzzword maybe year ago. Spending some time trying to understand, what market players mean by it, I cleared out that despite the fact, that everyone is using it with the same idea in mind (effective energy management), the concept behind the word is different in different minds.

Some people think that it is making people to consume less of electricity. other think that it is a way Utility try to save their cost, enabling customers turning off the appliances they need now. Some are talking about Electric Vehicle usage as portable batteries.

As Luxoft recently announced it’s own Demand Response Platform, let me describe what we are thinking about DR in real life.

Does fear stop innovations?

Posted by Kostia Khait Posted in September 29, 2010 | Add a comment

Why can’t people make really good stuff? Of course, sometimes, they simply don’t know how to do their job at a high level. Some try it this way, others try it that way, but normally the result is nothing to shout about. Things happen.

Sometimes the only way to get a good result is to pay a high price. And if you try to save a little, the result isn’t going to be that good. With wrong materials and inappropriate technologies you deal with what you have at hand. It’s a compromise…

Demand Response as it should be

Posted by Sergey Bakulin Posted in September 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

Successfull Demand Response program deployment doesn’t make anybody to deploy wires at home. It doesn’t rely on sophisticated and costly hardware. It is flexible – you can manage it online if it bothers you too much. It is easy to setup and easy to modify.

Demand Response systems vendors have to think about approaches that enable all these features, they need a platform. The platform is ready, it will be shown on Metering Europe 2010 in Vienna, Austria, 22-24 september on Luxoft Booth.

Informatica Workshop

Posted by Vladimir Koveshnikov Posted in August 30, 2010 | 1 Comments

August 17, 2010, the Kiev office of Luxoft hosted a seminar on the solutions of the company Informatica (pic 1). The seminar covered different methods of development, and new tools to facilitate implementation of various procedures. It also provided an overview of the features of the new version of the solution Informatica 9. Besides a practical demonstration, the participants have also analyzed topical business cases.

Currently, in addition to advanced solutions for processing and data integration, Informatica offers a solution for sending messages Ultra Messaging), which is used when working with stock market data on the world’s leading exchanges. The seminar also covered the subjects of such solutions as Cloud Computing, Data Services, Data Explorer, and Data Quality.

California ISO Opens Market to New Demand Response Product

Posted by Sergey Bakulin Posted in August 11, 2010 | Add a comment

Something is going to change dramatically, with open market of Demand Response providers opening. Now they can not only propose services of load shedding, but they have to compete each other, proposing best service quality, better timing and accuracy. It is obvious, that the IT support of proxy demand resources is crucial to success. And we will see (and participate, of course) the process of creating and deploying outstanding solutions in nearest future.

Software lifestyles

Posted by Kostia Khait Posted in August 6, 2010 | Add a comment

There are some people, negating the experience of the others, people who like to understand everything for themselves. Usually this does not include companies. Companies which ignore the history of industry file for bankruptcy so fast that they don’t have the chance to learn enough to become successful. That’s why we monitor what giants do, study their experience, work to reproduce their success and avoid their failures.

These days we keep our eyes on Google and Apple. The conflict between these companies is seen by almost everybody who has ever typed “google.com” or kept an iPhone in their hands. They were analyzed as competitors, as former friends who became enemies, as companies having very different stories and very similar impacts to the market… But they’re also symbols. Symbols of two conflicting lifestyles: perfectionism versus uncontrollable innovations.

iPod and iPad as a Measurement / Diagnostic Device in Utilities

Posted by Sergey Bakulin Posted in August 2, 2010 | Add a comment

EPRI (ElectricPowerResearchInstitute) recently published a press release, stating that modern Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) like iPad® (toghther with others based on Android®, the Palm Pre®, the Zune HD® and other platforms) is predicted to be a portable minicomputers, well-suited for SmartGrid perormance monitoring, assets tracking, magnetic and electric field measurements. According to their research there is a huge field to leverage PED’s mobility and comuting power as an engineering instrument.

I personally see another way of wide iPad adoption in Smart Grid programs. As it is a “cool device”, specially crafted to bring unbelievable “touch” experience in everyday tasks, it is created for consumers, not for engineers, serving them. Yes, there are IT geeks, that have fun running Telnet on iPads, but most of the photos are of children and cats, playing with a new toy. Sooner or later, many households will have something of the kind. That means, that the interactive, easy to use and fun to play with energy management solution is already deploying through the market.

In DRFusion Demand Response automation framework we are using IPad exactly like that – as a sophysticated In-Home display, capable of showing the homeowners their consumption levels, manage their home appliacnes and fine-tunning demand response. Only like that – handled by the consumer, this devices shows all the power it can reveal, helping utilities on the way to the Smart Grid.

And Engineers will use laptops.

New policies of energy usage

Posted by Sergey Bakulin Posted in July 28, 2010 | Add a comment

One of my friends a student of American university has received a letter, describing new policies of energy usage. The letter stated the new rules of lighting, some limitations and recommendations for students on using electricity. It was clear from the letter, that the university has signed an agreement with the utility about participating in one of the demand response programs, aimed to shave the peak. It was also clear, that the university is making all the possible to help the region to cope the load peak, slightly changing the lifestyle.

What is most interesting is the reaction of the students. Though it was clear for them that the utility and the university are trying to cut their costs, they were absolutely sure, that there were no economical benefits for them, and their own bill will not be reduced. An interesting is that none has shown the intention to participate, somehow changing their consumption patterns.

I see two conclusions here.

First, automatic demand response is the key to successful implementation of peak shaving. If there is a recommendation to turn off some of the unused or unnecessary devices , we make the consumer think about it, and make some actions, that he is not awarded for. If however, all the devices are managed remotely, the consumer have to make some actions to tune his consumption pattern, turning on devices he needs. This, for the same reason, will lead to turning on only the minimum amount of loads, the real one he needs to.

And second, it is clear for me, being connected to the energy market, that the demand response is a must, it helps us to save tremendous amounts of money, not plugging in ineffective, costly energy sources. But many of the consumers, even young one, technology-oriented, are unaware of the reasons, processes and benefits if such programs and we still need to pay a lot of attention in educating them if we want the SmartGrid to become the part of our life.

E-Car: how it should be architected?

Posted by Kostia Khait Posted in October 18, 2009 | Add a comment

I am discussing the future of automotive very often. Sometimes with people who are smart and experienced in the subject. And… It seems to me something is wrong in “mass mind” regarding electric cars, which are the strongest technology trend in automotive.

We all see that everybody considers electric cars are to be “vehicles of future”. Nobody doubts: petrol is ending, earlier or later it will become too expensive. Electric motors are having better ratio, easier in control, ecologically clearer and so on. And many people wants to push e-cars to the market just now. But fails. Fails due to the small distance to recharge, worse dynamics, not ready infrastructure… many reasons. Or many claims?

I insist in the main problem is outside of this area. The main problem is in “mass mind”. There are two main trends in e-cars engineering. One is “just a car, but on electric power”. They try to replace gasoline engine with electric engine not changing other characteristics like body design, dynamics etc. For smooth transfer of the users from traditional to e-cars. It doesn’t work. Because e-power is not gasoline power and e-car can not be the same to traditional cars.

There is another trend. People try to do “something very different”. Exotic. Non-functional, non-native, but looking different to traditional cars. And mass user doesn’t accept this. For sure.

I am wondered why nobody does the very simple thing. Position e-car as “not a regular car”. Just vehicle with obvious and native characteristics. E-car must be (technically) light? Make it for one/two persons. The most time we are driving alone. It must have good aerodynamics? Make it in traditional sport style. Retro. Carbon. Plastic. It can not be as fast as traditional cars? How many people in big cities need to go faster that 50 km/h? Just don’t position it as a competitor to gasoline car. Do it special “everyday” vehicle. For students. For young. For active. Who needs wheels. Who wants to be different. And would not want just to compete with others. I am sure, it will work. At least electric scooters idea is working. Just now.

RFC1925. It must be approved as a corporate policy and presented during induction training for every employee!

Posted by Kostia Khait Posted in October 1, 2009 | Add a comment

RFC1925 – The Twelve Networking Truths
Network Working Group R. Callon, Editor
Request for Comments: 1925 IOOF

Category: Informational 1 April 1996

The Twelve Networking Truths

Status of this Memo

This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

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