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for Power and Utilities
A primary example of these megatrends at work within the power and utility
space is the evolution of the intelligent grid. Intelligent grid development
is increasing data volumes by several orders of magnitude. Driving
these trends are a host of edge devices, and new IT and OT
applications, such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI),
synchrophasors, smart appliances, microgrids, advanced
distribution management, remote asset monitoring, event
avoidance and self-healing networks.
The implementation of smart grid technologies such as
advanced metering demonstrate how Mobility, Social, Cloud,
and Big Data come together with the potential to dramatically
alter existing IT and business structures.
Where utilities once absorbed data from manual meter
reads approximately once a month, smart meters often
transmit and remit data on a scale of minutes throughout the
day, every day. This data deluge creates multiple prospects and
trials. Smart metering means access to once untapped resources of
information regarding customer behavior and communication, efficiency and
demand response, and performance monitoring. However, this level of data also
positions utilities with the burden of massive information management and new considerations for
compliance, security and privacy.
Access to customer Smart Meter data can also enable the Utility to align customers with the best rate plan, Time of Use or
Peak Shifting or Summer Energy Saver programs, which provide best customer value. Other emerging analytics scenarios
include predictive analytics and condition based maintenance, asset operations optimization, Customer Sentiment, realtime
decision support, insightful analysis of combined information across what has historically been silos within the Utility.
The evolution of the intelligent grid is also pushing the need for power and utility enterprises to weigh and match the
advancement of intelligent systems in parallel industries. The emergence of home energy management systems (HEMS),
the growing popularity of distributed resources such as rooftop solar, and the market growth of electric vehicles (EVs) all
represent opportunities for deeper collaborative analytics and new threats in maintaining and protecting assets.
While risks will always exists, power and utility enterprises through these technology megatrends now have access to a potent
range of information that could enable them to save money, drive excellence, and grow revenue. These megatrends also
present opportunities to leverage this new information wealth to better protect and enhance asset performance. But how?
The value of Big Data is found in the ability of an enterprise to capture, manage, analyze, and connect structured and
unstructured information. Until a business can access and quantify the information embedded in the data they collect for
improved operations there is little opportunity to reap the potentially immense value of Big Data. Knowing what elements
comprise an effective Big Data solution is the place for power and utility businesses to start.
Continuing the cycle, these insights can be fed back through enterprise systems to steer new behavior and then finally back to the
devices themselves to again drive change at the point of engagement. Once an intelligent Big Data system is functional, companies
are able to benefit through access to deep business insights that can be used to and expanded upon over and over again.
The reality of this Big Data solution is one that will require a powerful suite of tools that will effortlessly capture, protect,
manage, and make accessible information at all levels. A complete solution is one that not only meets these challenges, but
does so through an easy to implement system able to adapt to the specific business imperatives of your individual enterprise.
Today, power and utility enterprises can tap into these powerful elements to take advantage of an end-to-end Big Data
solution that comes together seamlessly through a single provider.
Microsofts comprehensive suite of tools and robust partnerships take Big Data to the next level. Our solution approach
layers together contemporary data management, enrichment, and insights to create an intelligent system that enables your
entire enterprise to make smarter decisions with data.
Microsofts Big Data solution offers familiar, accessible toolswith powerful BI platforms such as Power Query, Power Map,
PowerPivot and Power View in Excel your employees can easily analyze all data types, including unstructured data from
Hadoop clusters. HDInsight is Microsofts new Hadoop-based service, built on the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) that
offers 100% compatibility with Apache Hadoop. HDInsight enables users to gain business insights from structured and
unstructured data of virtually any size and activate new types of data regardless of its location.
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation BI Solution to Improve Information Sharing
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Corporation (CGN Group) is responsible for building 60 percent of the nuclear
power projects underway in China and operating 46 percent of existing nuclear power plants.
Goal: CGN Group needed a better way to organize, locate, and share its growing data volumes among all employees to
improve efficiency and competitiveness. As the utility grew, its data stores multiplied into the multiterabytes.
Strategy: CGN Group upgraded to Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and created a single massive data warehouse that
employees across the enterprise can mine using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 and other
BI tools built into the software.
Results: With all company data stored in a single data warehouse, CGN Group employees are able to quickly locate data
and make sounder business decisions knowing that the data is up-to-date and consistent.
Value: By unlocking the value of rapid data discovery through a consolidated data warehouse employees are more
productive and efficient, and CGN Group is able to use its data to gain competitive advantage.
By using SQL Server 2012, CGN Group can better share information with subsidiaries, which enhances employee
efficiency and competitiveness, ChengLian Li, Deputy of ITC, China Guangdong Nuclear Power
The Only Big Data Solution Supplier for Your Entire Stack
Microsoft brings to the table a fully integrated holistic solution offering the most comprehensive portfolio of Big Data tools
and support to help your business harness the real value of information.
While there is certainly no shortage of powerful Big Data solution components available to power and utility enterprises,
there is only one solution provider able to service the needs of your entire technology stack Microsoft.
We offer a pre-built solution that is 80-90% complete off the shelf and does not requires a lengthy or risky consulting
engagement before realizing a return. The Microsoft Big Data solution offers Enterprise-class security and governance
along with support for all types of analytics corporate and robust self-service BI, real-time, predictive and prescriptive
combined. This translates as repeatable business processes that deliver insights automatically to find the ROI in your data.
Microsofts Big Data solution also offers the ease of integration with existing platforms at a highly completive cost for
implementation, maintenance, and simplified upgrades as technologies evolve. Cost values are also found through an
existing knowledge base that can be tapped via our comprehensive offering of known products, such as Office, SQL Server,
and of course Excel, one the most utilized business analytics tools in the world.
Microsoft solutions position us to be the technology and thought leaders for Big Data solutions for power and utility
enterprises today and tomorrow let us show you how.
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