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The Aug. 15 edition of GreenTechMedia includes the following article discussing the future of the smart grid. The article highlights smart grid expert Andres Carvallo's presentation from The Soft Grid 2012 conference, and notes his comments regarding utilities' adoption of cloud computing and the utility "big data" challenge. The article mentions that Austin Energy is working on with Oracle on an IT-based project. The article also includes a comment from Oracle Utilities' Linda Jackman noting that utilities have their own reasons to keep as much of their IT work in-house as possible, but investor-owned utilities in particular are under pressure to spend on IT capital expenses, which they can recover in rate cases, rather than on operational expenses like cloud services that do not offer such guaranteed payback.

The Aug. 14 edition of GreenTechMedia includes the following article highlighting the ten predictions and trends for what the utilities industry will see in the software and smart grid market in coming years identified by the keynote speakers at GreenTechMedia's The Soft Grid 2012 conference. The fourth trend sited in the article notes the increasing role of open-source platforms in terms of distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers. The article notes that legacy players in the industry, such as Oracle, are building solutions around new open-source platforms.

The Aug. 13 edition of Electric Light & Power includes the following article highlighting the results of Oracle Utilities', "Big Data, Bigger Opportunities: Plans and Preparedness for the Data Deluge" research study. The article includes comments from Oracle Utilities' Rodger Smith noting that the report indicates that the majority of utility executives are working to enhance their ability to glean real intelligence from smart grid data to ultimately create new opportunities to improve service reliability and deliver useful information to customers. The article also includes comments from Oracle Utilities' Brad Williams, who notes that the survey results show that there are opportunities for business improvement in utility operations.

The Aug. 17 edition of NTS Smart Grid Blog & News includes the following article highlighting the results of Oracle Utilities' "Big Data, Bigger Opportunities" report. The article notes that utilities, like most other industries, struggle to effectively manage data.

The July/August edition of Electricity Today Magazine includes the following article highlighting how utilities can handle information to better serve customers. The article includes results from the Oracle Utilities' "Big Data, Bigger Opportunities" report which examined how utilities use information generated by smart grid deployments to drive organizational efficiency, increase reliability and strengthen customer relationships. The article addresses how access to new data will change the way utilities drive their businesses and how predictive analytics could spur operational change.

The Aug. 12 edition of GovLoop includes the follow article highlighting five ways to improve communication between information technology (IT) professionals and the business team members. The article includes comments from Oracle Public Sector's Peter Doolan, Group Vice President and Chief Technologist, noting that many projects fail due to an inability for IT professionals to explain and communicate their capabilities to the business side, and for the business to communicate back to the IT side, stating their needs and requirements to have a tangible impact on the outcome. The article goes on to discuss five starter questions and suggestions on how to best improve communication among a team.

The Aug. 29 edition of Government Computer News includes the following article highlighting new Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) specifications are designed to simplify cloud infrastructure management and ensure workloads can be easily relocated among differing cloud environments. The article notes that cloud infrastructure management interface (CIMI) has broad industry support, with companies such as Oracle submitting application programming interfaces as consideration for the standard in support of CIMI v1.0.

The August 28 edition of eCampusNews includes the following press release announcing the results of the "Making the Grade: Optimizing the Higher Education Student Experience" report, which examined where student services stand today, the impact those services have on overall student satisfaction and how higher education institutions can improve services and address opportunities like social media and mobile apps. The press release includes comment from Cole Clark, global vice president, education and research industry, Oracle, who notes that this report demonstrates that investments in student services' technology pay long-term dividends.

The August 28 edition of Converge includes the following article highlighting the results of Oracle's "Making the Grade: Optimizing the Higher Education Student Experience" report. The article notes the report found that more than half of students surveyed agreed that their college or university meets their customer service expectations, particularly in the areas of system availability and ease of information access. The article also notes that three areas need improvement: mobile readiness, service personalization, and information security.

The August 30 edition of 1 to 1 Magazine includes the following article highlighting the results of Oracle's "Making the Grade: Optimizing the Higher Education Student Experience" report. The article notes that by treating students as valued customers, colleges and universities have the opportunity to develop a highly satisfying multichannel approach that enhances current enrollment and promotes post-graduation involvement. The article also notes that one of the key takeaways from the study is that schools may see an uptick in satisfaction by updating information faster through social media and embracing mobile applications or browsers so students can access homework, class document databases, and student records on the go.