🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Kimbal’s funding pushes it beyond smart meters into grid software

• “Advanced metering infrastructure” may not capture Kimbal’s push into “AMI 2.0,” which targets more real-time grid control as demand rises from electric vehicles and data centers 1.
• For reliability, Kimbal is building its own RF-mesh communication technology, a wireless networking approach that lets devices pass data across a network, to rely less on third-party cellular networks that often have shorter lifecycles 2.
• Kimbal is developing that work with MicroEJ, a software firm for connected devices. The software will run “Kimbal EI (Edge Intelligence),” which aims to make its meters software-defined and app-ready for future services 3.

Australia gives Kimbal a chance to test itself against entrenched rivals

• Kimbal’s move into Australia puts it in a market where grid-edge intelligence and next-generation smart meters, including AMI 2.0, are already moving ahead 4.
• Doing well there would put Kimbal up against Landis+Gyr, a Swiss smart metering and grid technology company. It would also face EDMI, a smart meter maker owned by Japan’s Osaki Electric, which makes Australia a useful test of performance and scalability 5, 6.
• The expansion fits a wider pattern of Indian technology firms using experience from India’s large home market to grow abroad 1.