About This Web Cast

Over the past four years, the utility automation and information technology business has seen some of the most difficult times and faced some of the most onerous challenges ever. The California power crisis and deregulation debacle in 2000; the terrorist attacks of September 2001; the collapse of Enron, power trading irregularities and other corporate accounting scandals followed by the massive power blackout in August of 2003 all helped cause unprecedented changes in utility markets from top to bottom.

Today, utilities are returning to traditional core business areas, overall capital spending is poised for a rebound and utilities are driven by a new set of business and market parameters, many of which are incongruent with their former cultures and traditional behavior. Now, more than ever before, utilities need new solutions - not only to alleviate old problems, but also to help them address and overcome a plethora of new ones.

This interactive panel session (see details below), the first in a new series of market-centric online briefings, convenes a panel of market analysis specialists, each with decades of direct market experience as user, supplier or consultant, to discuss where utility automation and information technology markets are headed - and why.

What You Will Learn From This Session

FocusPoints™ Online Market Briefings go straight to the issues. Specifically, your participation in this session will help answer these and other pertinent questions:

• The Seven Signs of Market Evolution: Market Drivers, Issues & Trends
• Supplier Environment: Market Leadership & Competitive Dynamics
• Future Market Outlook Profiles: $-Volumes & Opportunity Trends
• Insights & Answers: Interactive Q&A* with InfoNetrix Market Analysts

(*Questions may be submitted in advance via email to Info@InfoNetrix.com or online throughout the session. Contact InfoNetrix to request Topics & Guidelines document.)

Who Should Attend?

• Automation Equipment Suppliers & System Integrators:
  • VP/Director Sales & Marketing; Marketing Manager; Strategic Planners
  • Product/System Architects; Application Engineers
  • Sales Executives; Account Managers; Business Development Managers

• Consulting Engineers & Designers:
  • Business Development Staff: Automation/IT Specialists
  • Network Architects; Integration Services Managers
  • System Designers; System Engineers

• Utility Management & Staff:
  • Electric Utilities (Federal/State/District; IOUs, Municipals, RECs)
  • Water/Wastewater Utilities (Public, Private, Industrial)
  • Gas Transmission & Distribution Utilities

Session Format

• The session will begin with a general overview and outlook for major utility automation/IT markets in North America. Following the overview and speaker introductions, senior InfoNetrix market analysts will present their opening remarks, summarizing the utility automation project opportunity outlook in electric utility and water/wastewater utility markets for the period 2005-2007. (Based on in depth surveys conducted with over 2,000 utilities across the United States and Canada throughout 2004.)
  
  An approximately 1-hour (45-75 minutes, depending on presentation flow times) interactive question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentations during which the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions about pertinent market topics, issues and trends. Questions may be submitted in advance via email or online throughout the session.
  
  Anyone wishing to submit questions in advance of the session (preferable for having questions selected for the session) may request a Topics & Guidelines document, via email to Info@InfoNetrix.com, with FOMB 0105 Topics in the Subject line of the email.
  
  PLEASE NOTE: You must include your First Name, City & State/Province in the body of the email for your question to be considered. Every effort will be made to answer as many questions as possible during the allotted session time. In the interest of confidentiality for all concerned, no Q&A documentation or individual identities will be included/revealed in the session materials.

Presentation Materials

• Session participants may also obtain copies of the presentation materials to gain additional benefit from the wealth of information packed into each session. These materials may be downloaded free of charge by qualifying InfoNetrix Advisory Services (IAS) program client registrants and registered utility staff members. (Other registrants may purchase a copy of the briefing materials for a nominal fee. Please refer to the Briefing Registration Form for additional details and pricing.)