AT&T signs up second smart-grid utility partner

Smart grids, a combination of smart meters, wireless technology, sensors and software, have received more attention from telcos as they look to reduce power consumption and lower their networks’ environmental impact. For telcos, smart grids also represent an opportunity to capitalize on a potentially lucrative market for services spurred by the recently passed economic stimulus bill’s focus on upgrading the nation’s electric system. With the funding, network standards will upgrade the nation’s power plants, electrical companies and eventually individual residential households, but it will be at least a 10-to-15 year project, Ingle said.

Qwest Communications also announced its smart grid intentions last week through a partnership with Current Communications for a smart-grid offering for utility companies. Like Qwest, Ingle said AT&T also sees the space as one where it should focus on partnering rather than offer home energy management services on its own. He said the benefits of partnership are that Cooper is able to save the billions of dollars required to invest in building its own private network, while AT&T is able to get to market quickly and draw on the knowledge of its utility partners for a space it doesn’t typically cover.

“We won’t do anything quote unquote on our own; we’ll do it through partnerships with people who traditionally would not have been our partners,” Ingle said. “So we’re learning to work in a way that’s atypical. We are harnessing innovation in every industry and helping them build on our platform in many ways then co-selling together into these different industries.”