As one of the largest energy companies in the U.S, the use of smart meters, a key component of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) was highly beneficial for both consumers and the business. Smart meters allow consumers to adjust their utility usage during times of peak demand, thus creating lower rates. Smart meters also allow for more accurate usage of information for the energy company to level out peaks and valleys making managing energy production easier and more cost effective. A key component of the smart grid, the AMI service, relies on network communication. The company’s infrastructure and applications were vulnerable to many performance issues. The IT team was challenged with quickly identifying the issues reducing the time to triage the performance problems. Failure to find these problems put the energy company at risk for a tarnished reputation along with impacting customer service and revenue.
