Smart grid communications services need to be top-notch to support grid initiatives

Communications companies will need to meet some pretty tough requirements if they're going to provide electric utilities with the extremely high level of service needed to support smart grid initiatives. Utilities will need a range of advanced technologies to meet the communications challenges of intelligent electric grids and emergency response systems.

A new study finds that:

• Reliability is the number one criteria for utility communications networks
• Utility communications systems vary substantially from utility to utility, so no single approach to communications is practical in the short term
• Key factors for providing safe, secure and reliable utility operations include extremely high reliability and security, higher bandwidth, very low latency, ubiquitous coverage and an uninterrupted power supply
• The smart grid opens the door for new opportunities for communications service providers, but they'd better be prepared to meet utilities' critical reliability, technical and cost requirements