SmartGridMan.com

Smart Grid Man filed these comments in the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Standards process

SUBJECT:  Initial List of Smart Grid Interoperability Standards; Request for Comments (FR Doc. E9-13514)

• My company, Milsoft Utility Solutions provides Smart Grid solutions to nearly 1,000 electric utilities in the US.  You can find out more about our company at http://www.milsoft.com.
• Milsoft Utility Solutions software includes:
  • WindMil transmission and distribution grid modeling and analysis software
  • DisSPatch automated outage management system
  • WindMilMap geospatial information software
  • PORCHE / Telelink / Crew Call interactive voice response systems

• Milsoft’s customers by product line include:
  

• Milsoft Utility Solutions has a leadership role in Smart Grid deployment and in developing industry standards as a member of the following organizations:

  • IEEE
  • MultiSpeak
  • NRECA
  • APPA
  • GridWise Alliance
  • Utilimetrics

• For our customers to make the most effective use of these products, they must be interfaced / integrated with scores of third party software solutions and other applications including:

  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • Customer information (and billing) systems (CIS)
  • Automatic Meter Information (AMI) and Automated Meter Data Management & Analysis (MDMA)
  • Work & workforce management
  • New construction staking & field design
  • Field inspection & damage assessment
  • AMR / smart meters
  • SCADA
  • Distribution automation
  • AVL
  • Digital communications including broadband TCP/IP
• By far the most robust and useful interface / integration that we and our customers have been able to between and among many third party software solutions and other applications has been and continues to be through MultiSpeak.  You can learn more about MultiSpeak at http://www.multispeak.org.
• We strongly believe that MultiSpeak in its current form and in future versions as new applications are incorporated, represents a proven, effective, industry standard, real time, web services data interface.  It is already making interoperability possible in many electric utilities for many varied applications.
• For the reasons set forth above, it is paramount that the MultiSpeak specification be added to the list of acceptable smart grid interoperability standards.  It provides complete, comprehensive, and cost-effective software integration a large number of Smart Grid applications and continues to grow to include more every day.
• Application software written to the MultiSpeak specification from many vendors, and tailored specifically to the needs of cooperatives, is ready for use today and has been proof tested through years of service in hundreds of existing installations.
• Software written to the MultiSpeak specification offers true “out-of-the-box” interoperability, which is vital to electric utilities and their vendors as they try to realize the advantages and values of Smart Grid Deployment, particularly when they do not have a extensive technical or IT staff, or the resources to hire expensive outside consultants needed to customize new software interfaces and integrations.
• The MultiSpeak specification is a low-cost integration solution for electric utilities and their vendors because it does not require extensive customization or expensive tools such as messaging infrastructure to implement.

There has been some confusion that MultiSpeak will ultimately just be the same as the IEC 61968 Common Information Model (CIM).  This is not the case.  MultiSpeak will ultimately include an interface to CIM, but it provides with will continue to provide integration and functionality that CIM will not.

Please add MultiSpeak to your list of standards and specifications that is considered “low hanging fruit” to be included in the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Framework Roadmap.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can provide any additional information or assistance.