Page 14 - Landis+Gyr | pathway 05

PAGE 14 | | PAGE 14 | INTER VIEW interoperability for a secure future A conversation about standardization and interoperability with Peter-Georg Koller, VP Technology of the IDIS Association and VP Portfolio and Solution Management at Landis+Gyr. PETER-GEORG KOLLER Peter-Georg Koller is responsible for technology in the IDIS Association and for the portfolio of smart energy solutions ranging from smart devices and AMM software to full smart metering solutions in EMEA at Landis+Gyr. He holds a degree in engineering and business administration and has many years of international leadership experience in the telecommunications, IT and smart metering industries. pathway: In 2009, a European Commission mandate way you use your tablet or laptop: for the user, the tasked the European standardization organizations with important part is that the browser or the email client the “development of the open architecture for utility works, independent of the communication technology meters involving communication protocols enabling that enables the connection to the internet. In our interoperability”. What progress has been made so context, this concept allows the system operator far? What have been the main deliverables over the to profit from the availability of devices supporting past few years? new communication technologies without generating substantial new system integration costs. Koller: As we expected, the Commission’s mandate triggered a number of attempts by different interest pathway: Complying with open standards is one groups to get their proprietary solutions stamped as of the main prerequisites to ensure a successful standard compliant. The standardization organizations smart meter rollout, but in itself is not sufficient to were at risk of becoming misused as rubber-stamping achieve the required level of interoperability. Many institutions. Together with a broad range of other established standards still leave room for further players committed to the spirit behind the idea of technology configurations. Why is that? Who in the standardization, it has been possible to put a stop industry is best positioned to take on the task of to the attempts to use these organizations as sales specifying these configurations? platforms. Today, we have achieved a consistent set of standards. This builds the foundations for the Koller: Standards that leave room for further open architecture, which enables interoperability as configurations can be adjusted and used for optional mandated by the European Commission. Contributions applications and use cases. They enable technology to standardization which don’t fit this model may still vendors to make their choice for the optimal usage be published as “technical specifications”, but aren’t of technology. This is fine as long as there is no need accepted as true “standards”. for direct interoperability. A strict separation between the use case-driven To ensure interoperability, one party needs to take application models and the technology-driven responsibility for choosing the options within the communication protocols ensures that new standards and therefore define the companion developments in communication technology can be specification on a selected standard. This party could incorporated quickly without changing the functional be either a very large utility or utility association model of the devices. You can compare it to the creating a huge economic demand for its specific