Subject: UFTO Note – Hand held Computers in Utilities
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 09:29:24 -0700
From: Ed Beardsworth

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Hand-Held Computers in Utilities

In the April issue of Electrical World T&D, there were a couple of items about hand-held computers. A number of you have either already implemented them, at least in some applications, or are thinking about it, so perhaps this will be useful if you didn’t notice it in your own perusal of the magazine.

On page 47-8, there’s a “Buyer’s Guide”, showing photos of 22 different brands, with a quick summary of their features. This follows an article on using them for field data collection. Also, on page 12, a conference is mentioned:

Utility Industry Hand Held & PDA Forum, August 20-22, St. Louis, MO

Contact:
World Market Strategies, 415-252-8008, info@wmsltd.com
Ask for Jeff Lohrmann. See web site at: http://www.pda-expo.com

The company does market development for mobile computing and wireless communications, putting vendors in touch with each other and with customers. This will be their third annual forum with the utility industry. Last year they had over 300 attendees representing hardware and software vendors and over 75 utilities (including some of your companies). The company can provide a summary report from last year’s event. More details from their web site is attached below.

They say that there’s wide range of how far along different utilities are at implementing these devices. Some companies are very advanced, and others haven’t even started. Too often, companies gear up to build their own system (reinventing wheels) and don’t realize how much is already available on the market.

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(PS: Please let me know if you consider this item “redundant”, “borderline,” or “worth sending via UFTO”. It’s sometimes a difficult judgement call, and I don’t want to be sending too many things that you already know about via other sources. EB)

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World Market Strategies/PDA Inc.
(web site material)
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Join us at the 1997 Utility Industry Hand-Held & PDA Forum

The 3rd annual Utility Industry Hand-Held & PDA Forum will be held August 20-22, 1997, at the Marriott Hotel in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. We look forward to your participation in this exciting event.

Call 415-252-8008 or email at info@wmsltd.com for more

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The Utility Industry Hand-Held & PDA Forum ’97 will again gather technology vendors, Operations/Administration Executives, CIOs, and Project Managers representing electric and gas companies from around the world together to discuss Hand-Helds, PDAs, related software and enabling technologies in a setting conducive to real problem solving.

The Forum provides significant opportunities for both the vendor and customer communities to share the risks and the rewards of bringing vital and effective field automation to the Utility Industry. This Forum continues to be the only event targeted specifically at mobile/wireless/hand-held computing technology in the Utility Industry.

Here’s the topics so far:
Field automation in disaster management
Mapping in the field
Distribution system/work management applications
Field service applications
Building an enterprise wide field automation strategy
Database connectivity
Determining the ROI for Mobile Projects
Wireless communications
Introductory issues in field automation
Sales Automation
Trouble call management
Inspections

Background & Description

More than 250 individuals, including nearly 100 CIOs, IT Managers, Project Managers and Operations Executives representing 75 different Utility companies along with 35 exhibitors who displayed their technology, participated in our inaugural Utility Industry Hand-Held & PDA Forum in December 1995. Our second annual Utility Industry Hand-Held & PDA Forum in August 1996 attracted 300 participants, including more than 110 Utility company executives and 42 exhibitors.

Past sponsors have included:
— AM/FM International — RAM Mobile Data — MDSI
— Norand — Utility Partners — Trimble Navigation
— Electric Power Research — Institute Husky Psion
— IT for Utilities Magazine — PennWell Publishing
— Motorola — Pen Computing Magazine
— Alliance Systems — Arrowsmith Technologies
— Raytheon Transportation Management — Mapframe
— PDA Industry Association — World Market Strategies — PDA Inc.

We look forward to working with you on this event. If you need more information call Jeff Lohrmann, James Thomas or Jon Covington at 415-252-8008 or email us at info@wmsltd.com for more information.