Smart Grid University
by Narendran Mannazhi

The promises of Smart Grid technologies are at last becoming reality. You can transform your aging grid infrastructure into an efficient, high-performance, energy-saving asset. GE Energy is bringing together a unique and powerful collection of skills, products and partnerships that break through the obstacles to smart grid implementation.

So you can slash inefficiencies, anticipate demand and reduce loads, while at the same time raising reliability to new levels. After a decade of research and planning, we're lining up the worldwide resources, expertise and smart devices to help the Smart Grid become a reality. Together, we can move the Smart Grid from theories in the back room to successes in utility control rooms, corporate conference rooms and consumers' living rooms around the world. We're redefining reality for energy users across the globe.

In line with that GE is in the process of setting up a training center "Smart Grid University" in India so as to take the technology nearer to the valued customers. This proposed training center imparts knowledge through intensive training, demos, seminars etc. on various Smart Grid building blocks so that the customers get an opportunity to learn and understand the technology much better. We believe a learned customer is better placed to judge the technology and make appropriate investment in Smart Grid so as to reap the benefits in coming years.

Since the Smart Grid Technology encompasses many products and solutions catering to the transmission and distribution sectors, GE proposes to roll out training in a phased manner considering the present level of technology implemented by various customers. GE has a very strong install base in India and there are many customers using products like D20 family Remote Terminal Units (RTU), XA/21TM(Energy Management System), Geospatial system (Smallworld) etc. Initially we intend to roll out training focused on these products and later expand the training portfolio by including other building blocks of the Smart Grid viz. Smart Meters, M&D products, DMS/OMS solutions, Advanced Power system studies etc.

We are in the process of finalizing the location of the training facility and we will be announcing it soon. However till that time we intend to offer training at customer’s place as well as at selected cities as a stopgap arrangement. The details of the various programs are attached herewith.

Select here to register for a training course in India, request an on demand session, or just to let us know which trainings you are interested in or to get a quotation.

Training Schedule Rationale

Our training schedule aims to provide a suitable learning path for customers or partners whose personnel carry out daily tasks that include working with Smallworld applications.

Partners should send their personnel to attend all Smallworld basic courses, including Using Smallworld Core Spatial Technology (CST), Magik Programming, Data Modelling, Application Development, Configuration and Administration.

Attendance on all basic courses provides a comprehensive understanding of all the various components of Smallworld CST necessary for implementing and supporting customer projects. For fast learning needs, the Fast Track sessions offer great opportunities to learn our products through intense and fast paced sessions. Fast Track trainings are not for the fainthearted!

Customers should have personnel in their workforce at all times with user-level and expert-level knowledge of the Smallworld CST product suite, to fully appreciate, use and properly deploy a Smallworld-based project implementation.

Training schedule

Training catalogue

by David Haddock

Smallworld has run a number of Summer Schools in the UK taking students from around Europe and teaching them the Foundation, Data Modelling, Magik and Application Development courses over three weeks in order to increase the pool of Smallworld aware programmers. Some attendees saw the opportunity to add an extra GIS to their skill set and paid for themselves, but most were sponsored by Partners eager to recruit Smallworld primed employees. One partner, sponsoring half a dozen students, went as far as to send an experienced developer of theirs to work as a classroom assistant and help with the practical classes.

One such attendee was Jeremy Newton who recently had this to say about the experience. "I was working at a data capture centre for a UK electricity supplier using Smallworld GIS. My exposure to the system as a whole was very limited and I was oblivious to what happened after my part in the process. Nevertheless, the Smallworld partner leading the project offered me sponsorship for the first Summer School that year. I accepted, but didn't realise the lucky break that I'd just been given. I travelled up to Newcastle and spent three intensive weeks learning about how Smallworld GIS hung together. After the course I went back to the data capture centre but a couple of months later, a junior role at the partner came up and with my successful Summer School attendance on my CV I applied and was offered the job. Since then I have worked for a number of partners consulting on various Smallworld projects in Europe and now work for GE Smallworld in Cambridge in the Utilities development team."

Jayne Oates is now a GE Business Analyst working on the Electric Office product. "It was, for me, quite an intense course, as although I had experience in database development, I had no experience of programming or application development. I liked the potentials I saw with SW technology and decided that I would like to take this further. The Summer school was a good foundation for all aspects of SW development." Sponsored by a Smallworld Partner, Jayne completed an Open University course on Object Oriented development in the two years she worked for them after the Summer School which, "consolidated the working knowledge I had of Magik programming and helped me build a career as an application developer." She went on to work for other Partner companies before joining GE in a services role and then working in Telecoms development before starting her current job.

The training team is currently investigating the possibility of running a summer school in India this year, and would like to hear from customers and partners that may like to sponsor students or be involved in other ways. Any newsletter readers outside India who are interested in having a summer school in their locality should also get in touch. David Haddock, March 2009.