This week’s Smart Infrastructure roundup features Sprint’s SaaS investment, Schneider’s smart UPS, and Google’s rumored plan for the power grid.

Sprint partners with ItsOn for SaaS

Sprint and ItsOn Inc., a company that specializes in Mobile Smart Services, have penned a multi-year agreement to provide the network carrier the ability to design and implement granular service policy control for various data, text, and voice services by utilizing the  ItsOn Smart Services Platform.

Sprint will be integrating ItsOn’s SaaS cloud solution into its existing network architecture to enhance operations through a centralized management interface called the Service Design Center. Sprint will also embed the ItsOn Smart Services device software to all new Android devices sold in its distribution channels.

The integration of ItsOn’s solutions is expected to enhance Sprint’s mobile network capabilities, as well as enable the company to develop new types of mobile services while reducing the cost within the network.

Schneider’s smart UPS

Schneider Electric aims to address power management issues faced by IT servers and network equipment with its new range of 5 – 10kVA smart uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) added to its On-Line products.

Most computer and networking equipment is able to ride through small voltage breaks of under 20ms, but previous generations of power supplies aren’t able to discern the difference between small voltage breaks and a complete power interruption, resulting in the power supplies kicking in even when they’re not needed.

Schneider explains that its new line of UPS are smart enough to know when they are needed or when to intervene.  This cuts power use and cost since costly and expensive intervention by power supplies are only done when actually needed.  In addition to that, the smart UPS also lowers the cooling requirement as the units subsequently create fewer heat losses which consequently results in extended life of key components of equipments such as battery.

The new Smart UPS On-Line features a flexible design allowing for the units to be configured for rack-mounted or free-standing applications.

What’s Google’s plan for the power grid?

A report from Bloomberg stated that Google is in the early stages of building software and hardware tools that would manage power lines and other infrastructure.  The unnamed sources claimed that the said technology is being developed by Google’s Energy Access team and led by Arun Majumdar, vice president of the company’s energy unit.

Google is said to be looking at transforming the century-old utility industry with the technology it is working on as it believes that the current ones employed are struggling to keep up with the increasing demand for power.  There’s also a need for power grids to be more flexible and efficient as cities begin to utilize renewable energy sources.

Google declined to comment on the report, but in one of its job postings, it stated that it is looking for hardware engineers as it is “ working on innovative solutions for access to clean, low-cost electricity,” and it is “seeking to develop technologies and products to address global opportunities for electricity delivery via new and improved infrastructure.”

photo credit: medically_irrelevant via photopin cc