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Power & Utilities

Microsoft's Smart Energy Reference Architecture

Microsoft has developed a reference architecture based on familiar, cost-effective Microsoft platforms that can serve as the basis for development of the “integrated utility of the future.” The Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA) is Microsoft’s first comprehensive reference architecture that addresses technology integration throughout the full scope of the smart energy ecosystem. SERA has been endorsed by a number of global solutions providers whose energy industry solutions span the entire energy ecosystem — from the power grid to the home. SERA helps utilities by providing a method of testing the alignment of information technology with their business processes to create an integrated utility.

Performance Oriented Infrastructure

A performance oriented infrastructure includes those features that make an architecture complete and appropriate to business needs including:
  • Economic: must be cost effective to deploy and integrate functionality.
  • Deployment: components need flexibility in how and where they can be deployed.
  • Location agnostic: designed to be deployed on-premise or in the cloud.
  • Always connected: access regardless location.
  • Manageability: efficiently deployed, managed and monitored.
  • Transferability: migrations with minimal interruption or intervention.
  • Secure: protected from unauthorized access or malicious attacks.
  • High performing and scalable: increasing hardware performance or additional hardware and network resources.
  • Virtualization: deployed in a manner that optimizes hardware resources.
  • Highly available and self-healing: support for transition to new equipment in the event of equipment failure.
  • Disaster recovery and backup: capability to move facilitating transition.