The Role of Rugged PCs in Successful Rollouts of Smart Metering Systems - Sponsored Whitepaper

The Role of Rugged PCs in Successful Rollouts of Smart Metering Systems Sponsored by: Panasonic

As energy issues become more and more pressing, public bodies in all countries are moving to implement vast plans to rein in consumption and improve efficiency. A key element here is the rollout of "smart" or advanced metering systems for households and commercial customers, which are meant to automatically measure power consumption at the source and feed data back to the utility for processing and billing.

IDC expects there to be tens of millions of smart meter installations worldwide over the next decade, in an unprecedented technology refresh. In order to execute the shift effectively, a solid IT infrastructure has to be put in place, comprising back-end resources (datacenters, software backend) and mobile devices that enable field technicians to work at their best. IDC interviewed two utility providers, and in both cases it was proved that mobile devices do play a key role in smart meter rollout projects. The choice of a wrong device can lead to inefficiencies that multiply by the number of users, and that can easily scale to the thousands.

Customer case studies analyzed by IDC helped gain important insights for utilities embarking on mobile workforce projects:

` Change must be steered and controlled. Mobile workforce management systems bring operational, economic, and social changes to a company. Along with the implementation of new hardware and software technologies, organizational processes (HR, scheduling, etc.) have to be adjusted and planned in advance in order to get the full benefits of mobile workers.