The Utility Broadband Alliance (UBBA), a collaboration of utilities and solution providers dedicated to championing private broadband networks for critical infrastructure industries, today announced that its 2024 UBBA Summit & Plugfest welcomed more than 600 attendees, its largest audience ever and an increase of nearly 20% from the 2023 event. Presented by host utility Evergy from November 5-7 in Kansas City, the event featured thought leaders from across the utility and telecommunications industries aligning on opportunities for private broadband to supercharge grid modernization, AMI 2.0, artificial intelligence (AI) deployments and other initiatives driving utility innovation.

This year, for the first time, the UBBA Summit & Plugfest featured a showcase from Evergy demonstrating a live, operational private LTE network, allowing attendees a firsthand look at the benefits of high-speed broadband for their unique use cases. The event also featured the annual UBBA Plugfest and technical sessions, offering a deep dive into utility use cases around private wireless broadband deployment, AMI 2.0 and edge computing. Strategic general sessions and fireside chats welcomed perspectives from utility executives, PUC commissioners and telecom leaders providing key insights into broader industry trends such as the impact of AI on utility operations, the regulatory environment for private LTE, meeting the power demand from data centers and many more.

The 2024 UBBA Summit & Plugfest featured the unveiling of the new UBBA Board of Directors, with Chris Vana, senior director of digital technology at Ameren, assuming the role of chairman and Russ Ehrlich, senior manager, digital grid at Excelon, assuming the role of vice chairman. They are joined by new members, including:

•    Elaine Allyn, manager, OT network engineering and architecture, San Diego Gas & Electric
•    Tom Bedics, manager of product development, SouthernLINC Wireless
•    John Janney, director, IT grid technologies and T&D portfolio management, Southern California Edison
•    Jeff Pittman, head of Enterprise market unit for mobile networks, Nokia

Additional UBBA Board members include representatives from Evergy, New York Power Authority, Anterix, Burns & McDonnell, Motorola Solutions, UScellular and World Wide Technology.

“The growth of the UBBA Summit & Plugfest over the years has been nothing short of extraordinary, and it’s clear that there is great hunger in the industry for more opportunities to collaborate on delivering real-world solutions to industry challenges,” said Vana. “Between the highly relevant and applicable technical sessions, expert thought leadership from industry luminaries and regulators and innovative Plugfest presentations, this year’s event proved to be our most successful to date. We look forward to working with our members and industry partners as we begin planning to make next year’s event even better.”

The next UBBA Summit & Plugfest will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, November 4-6, 2025. Registration information will be available at www.UBBAPlugfest.org in early 2025.

To learn more about UBBA and to inquire about potential membership, visit www.UBBA.com.