[Ben]

I love the thought of this, though it's a lot of extra devices to put onto Vodafone's GSM network and it means, one assumes, that Vodafone will be tied to providing at least some GSM service in the 900MHz band for a very, very long time to come. That may sound A-OK as folk flock to 3G, leaving GSM relatively under-utilised, but what of the deployment of 3G at 900MHz?

Anyway, at least British Gas picked the one network I might actually get signal with. Smart Meters could be a big step in the right direction towards better energy efficiency.


British Gas is to upgrade two million meters to call home with automated readings - but this isn't just about obsoleting the gas man.

Automatic meter reading is a great thing - estimated bills are a constant headache for those of us too lazy to read our own meters - but the infrastructure proposed by British Gas goes way beyond reporting back on usage and fits with the UK Government's target of connecting everyone to smart meters by 2020.

The deal includes Vodafone, which will be providing the back haul over its GSM network, Landis+Gyr (will create smart meters and a touch-screen hub), Trilliant (will link up all the kit), OSIsoft (will store the data) and SAP, which will integrate the system with British Gas's existing IT systems.
continues...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/30/smart_meters/