In a big announcement this week, Oracle (News - Alert) has introduced its Oracle Utilities Operational Device Cloud Service (ODCS), a new cloud offering that enables utilities to further automate the management of their grid assets and devices, at a total lower cost of ownership.
The utilities industry is going through tremendous transformation as a result of IoT and increasing distributed energy resources, Oracle has said. The United States alone has more than 70 million smart meters installed and utilities are increasingly deploying smart field sensors. As each smart device has its own unique requirements for maintenance, inspection, firmware upgrades and security, utilities are struggling to manage the lifecycle of these assets in a single, centralized way. Oracle has unveiled a cloud-based version of its Operational Device Management Solution that provides a scalable and future-proof way to manage IoT device operations.
Available as a new stand-alone cloud service, ODSC is designed to automate the management of smart grid and IoT devices. When combined with the Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management solution, it delivers a unified solution in the cloud to extend asset performance management to smart devices at a massive scale. This visibility of assets delivers detailed insights into each device's location, characteristics, health, and firmware upgrade status. In addition, utilities can extend ODCS for customer-owned asset registration processes such as smart thermostats and solar PVs, and by leveraging the cloud, utilities can reduce their total cost of ownership.
“We're in front of the dramatic shifts the utilities industry is experiencing, providing new technologies that meet the needs of our customers as they navigate this changing landscape,” said Rodger Smith, GM and SVP, Oracle Utilities. “We're committed to innovation, and to providing cloud solutions that make operational excellence a reality for electric, gas and water utilities worldwide.”
The solution can be added to Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Cloud Service and Oracle Utilities Meter Data Analytics Cloud Service or used as a stand-alone solution depending on a utility's requirements.