International utility company National Grid (NG.L; NYSE:NGG) has selected Verizon (NYSE: VZ) to develop communications for new energy management systems and business operations.
Communication services will encompass wide and local area networks, telecommunications services, voice services, selected security services, as well as video conferencing.
National Grid said it expects this new global communications capability to help drive greater efficiency, adaptability and scalability in its IT ecosystem.
National Grid delivers gas and electricity to customers across Great Britain and the Northeastern United States. As the company expanded, its global IT environment had become increasingly fragmented.
The selection of Verizon as technology partner is part of companywide transformation of National Grid's information services, said David Lister, National Grid's global chief information officer. National Grid plans to spend more than $27 million in the next two years to modernize its networks and telecommunications infrastructure as part of its work with Verizon.
"We are challenging ourselves to create an environment that anticipates and exceeds the expectations of our customers, and our communications network is the information backbone of meeting that challenge," Lister said.
In the US, National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island, and manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). National Grid also owns over 4,000 megawatts of contracted electricity generation that provides power to over one million LIPA customers. It is also the largest distributor of natural gas in the northeastern U.S., serving approximately 3.4 million customers in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
