Atlanta, GA, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- November 30, 2012 - Grid IQ™ “Solutions as a Service” (SaaS) offering from GE is one of nine industrial service technologies that are creating more modern, interconnected businessesin a 21st century economy, according to the company’s chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt.

Grid IQ SaaS is a cloud-based grid management fee-for-service system aimed at meeting the operational technology needs of smaller and mid-market utilities that want to avoid the overhead expenses involved with developing their own smart grid management networks.

With the world’s electricity demand expected to increase by more than 70 percent by 2035, GE’s Grid IQ SaaS and other solutions are being deployed to help utilities around the world modernize their grid networks to more effectively meet their growing capacity, environmental and security needs.

“The internet has changed the way we consume information and talk with each other, but now it can do more,” says Immelt. “By connecting intelligent machines to each other and ultimately to people and by combining software and big data analytics, we can push the boundaries of physical and material sciences to change the way the world works.”

Grid IQ SaaS allows utilities to monitor, manage and control their grid more intelligently. Using a cloud-computing services model, these capabilities can be deployed in 50 percent less time than traditional turnkey project models and 10 percent of the estimated implementation cost.

The SaaS technology combines the benefits of advanced metering infrastructure, outage management systems, interactive voice response, demand optimization systems and geospatial information systems into simple, hosted, subscription-based packages. Integrated services also offer utilities greater grid modernization capabilities by better managing electricity loads. Consumers benefit by engaging through a web portal, allowing them to make smarter decisions and better manage their electricity, water and gas use.