The September/October edition of Electric Light & Power includes the following article the current state of smart meter data management amongst U.S. utilities. The article includes the results of Oracle Utilities' recent "Big Data, Bigger Opportunities" report, noting that out of the 151 North American utilities executives surveyed, respondents rated themselves a 6.7 out of 10 on "readiness to manage big data." The article also notes that the same Oracle study found that the two largest amounts of data being extracted are power outage and voltage.

The September/October issue of Electric Energy T&D includes the following interview with Oracle Utilities' Rodger Smith on the future of the smart grid and improving operational efficiency and customer service with big data and analytics.

The October issue of Utility Products includes the following bylined article by Oracle Utilities' Linda Jackman the benefits utilities can gain from mobile workforce (MWM) technologies. The article notes that although smart meter deployment is perhaps the most complex and daunting undertaking a utility can pursue, by automating scheduling, dispatch and vehicle location tasks, MWM can ease the burden. The article also notes that MWM replaces inefficient manual processes with a transparent integrated system that reduces operational costs while increasing customer satisfaction.

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Press release highlighting that AboitizPower, a power distributor, retailer and generator in the Philippines, has implemented Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing to improve efficiency and enable compliance. The release notes that prior to selecting Oracle's solution in August 2011, AboitizPower's six subsidiaries were using unrelated systems developed internally and customized over several years. The release includes comments from Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager at Oracle Utilities noting that Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing will enable AboitizPower to streamline billing processes and allow the utility to meet privatization and deregulation requirement.

The September edition of IEEE Smart Grid includes the following bylined article by Oracle Utilities' Brad Williams highlighting the benefits of leveraging information architecture for data mining and analytics for increased grid investment value. The article also discusses the results from Oracle's recent "Big Data, Bigger Opportunities" study which gauged perceptions regarding the business impact of "big data" amongst utilities with smart meter programs in place. The article includes the positive findings from the survey - including a five year improvement plan - but notes that there is still room for significant improvements in effective data management. The article includes a comment from Oracle Utilities' Rodger Smith, noting that utilities will benefit from establishing enterprise information strategies, and from investing in the systems and people needed to make better business decisions.

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. 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 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.

Article highlighting an approach PowerWatch is taking to India's power grid peak use and blackout problems, which involves smart air conditioners that can send real-time power usage data from smart metering back to a utility and use the data for analytics and planning. The article notes that according to Oracle's recent "Big Data, Bigger Opportunities" report, very few utilities are taking advantage of the influx of smart grid data.