New Pecan Street smart grid tech to come from Dell

Dive Summary:

Dell announced Tuesday that it would join Pecan Street's industry advisory council, providing technology and expertise for the Austin, Texas-based organization.
Dell recently unveiled its Dell Smart Grid Data Management Solution, a bundle of various servers and features meant to address storage, networking and security concerns.
Pecan Street is currently conducting consumer energy use research covering renewables integration.

From the press release:

ROUND ROCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dell today announced it has joined the industry advisory council of Pecan Street Inc., a nonprofit energy and smart grid research and development organization headquartered at the University of Texas at Austin. As a member company, Dell will provide technology and IT expertise to Pecan Street to advance its work in energy big data.

“Dell’s experience in enterprise computing and its leadership in empowering customer solutions that integrate big data and smart grid technologies will be a great resource for Pecan Street. Dell has long been a supporter of Pecan Street’s mission, and we are thrilled that they have joined our consortium.”
Pecan Street is currently conducting the country’s most robust and detailed consumer energy research in Austin, Texas, including consumer electricity and gas use and solar and electric vehicle integration. In more than 400 homes, researchers are monitoring electricity and gas use from several circuits every 15 seconds, resulting in the world’s deepest consumer energy use data.

Such complex systems — requiring two-way communication between users, producers and transmitters of energy — rely on high performing data management systems to provide actionable information in real time. Dell’s decision to join Pecan Street builds on its announcement this fall of the Dell Smart Grid Data Management Solution: a tested architecture that bundles servers, storage, networking, and security services with state-of-the-art software into a ready-to-deploy solution that helps utility companies better manage their distribution networks.

Dell is committed to putting its technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet. The company believes that smart grids and other information-enabled networks can help utilities, businesses and consumers use natural resources in a wiser and more informed manner — improving both productivity and efficiency.

Working with Pecan Street through the Dell Solution Centers, Dell is providing the nonprofit with equipment, including:

OptiPlex and Dell Precision workstations for the project’s researchers;
PowerConnect network switches;
PowerVault direct-attached storage to enable easier research sharing;
SonicWall back-up and recovery; and,
Data center infrastructure including a Dell rack, Dell power distribution unit (PDU), Dell uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and Dell rack-mounted switch and console.