According to ABI Research, it's An Open and Shut Case -- "When the US Congressional Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual property invited testimony from four industry experts, they were considering nothing less than the future of digital rights management in the United States. At issue are proprietary versus open digital rights management (DRM) technologies, and whether governments should get involved. Advocates say that open DRM standards would help the portable industry. Most industry leaders are adopting a government hands off attitude, but ABI believes that other attempts at proprietary DRM schemes probably wouldn't succeed. Apple was the first to offer such a service and the content industry didn't care if their DRM was proprietary. But DRM becomes critical once video, and sharing between STBs and portable devices, become a reality."
What was once a simple, unidirectional flow of electricity from centralized power plants to passive consumers is evolving into a complex, intelligent network where millions of distributed resources actively participate in grid operations. This transformation, powered by smart grid technologies, represents one of the most significant infrastructure shifts of our time. It promises to reshape how we generate, distribute, and consume energy. At its core, the smart grid represents far more than mere digitization of existing infrastructure. This bi-directional capability is fundamental to understanding why smart grids are becoming the backbone of modern energy systems, facilitating everything from real-time demand response to the integration of renewable energy sources. Smart Grid Market Development By 2030, smart grid technologies are projected to cover nearly half of the global electrical grid, up dramatically from just 24 percent in 2025. This expansion is underpinned by explosive gr...