“Smart” Technology is a Necessity
From infrastructure to entertainment, “smart” technology is a necessity, rather than a matter of discretionary afterthought when it comes to the rebuilding process in the post Palisades and Eaton Fire planning, as it is now becoming for all new neighborhoods and developments moving forward. A smart strategy all begins with the construction of an entirely new smart power grid, which I will touch upon in some detail here, and then drills down systematically through every sub element of residential, commercial, retail and municipal, design and installation.
Given the unique “ground-zero” platform we are presented with in the Palisades, Malibu and Altadena in particular, our ability to execute a complete bottom-to-top level restructuring has truly only been rivalled by other natural disaster-driven events such as Hurricanes Katrina, Helene and Superstorm Sandy, the 1994 and 1998 Ice Storms, not to mention the recent Camp Fire in 2020. The difference from all of those catastrophic destructive effects and complete demand for entire reconstruction is that in 2025 we are now positioned to employ every and all devices and appliances currently proven and available in the IoT compatible device infrastructure that were all mostly hype or unproven previously. From top-level applications as Distributed Energy Resources Management, or D.E.R.M to all of the latest clean power distribution innovations – including the recently approved directive from Los Angeles County legislators to rebuild the exterior power line transmission system underground (forever protecting it from wind-driven mechanisms of ignition) we are already seem the advancements in technology being deployed, and please don’t overlook the intentionality of in so many ways being able to decarbonize energy generation, while creating and distributing this new power in a much more sustainable and clean fashion…All tremendous and what I will refer to as “forever benefits” waiting for us all.
From the individual residential and small business power perspective, we will also benefit greatly from the ability to isolate the creation, storage, backup and supply of residential and commercially created power from their own individual systems. Depending on demand and use, systems such as the Rosewater HUB Series and Jackery HomePower System have the capacity to store, and when available feed power back into the smart grid, leading to substantial efficiency never previously available. Solar is another major component of what should be included everywhere possible, given the major reduction in supplier grid dependency, and with the above mentioned products we can add the Tesla Powerwall as options for power storage and inversion.
I would like to divert laterally for just a moment in saying that an integral part of the newly constructed infrastructure needs to include the hardcoding of its blueprint in weather monitoring technologies and significant augmentation to the existing investment in the AI enhanced, Alert California live camera networks and METAR weather stations which can act in a unified fashion to direct the autonomous elements to respond to weather initiated hazards and emergencies, or other physical distribution grid damage. Our ability to deploy connectivity with multiple safe points for communication, power source or types of sustained damage will ensure a herculean leap forward in “first minute” hazard alert potential, expediency of multi-departmental warning communications and hardened points of critical communications towers and assets which incorporate transmission redundancy mesh two-way backup standards with satellite measures such as, not exclusive to Starlink.
With the new smart grid infrastructure in place, the trickle down architecture of rebuilding the larger “last mile” and “to the home” communication grid with fiber, 5G cellular and the latest in secure WAN to end point device security architectures, will rely greatly on the implementation of AI and autonomous devices that when combined with digital twin modeling will most reliably and efficiently position the most critical structures for CO and IXP data centers and storage facilities, Emergency Management hubs, MTP fiber distribution trunk cables, and the most efficient construction of new utility conduits and neighborhood-level communications redundancy – and power redundancy systems alike. As a Custom Technology Integrator who has grown with, and lived with so many evolutions and beneficial technological advancements over the course of my career, I say with a sense of unprecedented purpose and intention that we can choose one of two paths of these next few months and years. We can repeat the mistakes of the past, choosing to redeploy half-century or full-century methodologies and materials, or we can learn from past limitations, innovate as we iterate, and invest in true instruments of ROI that directly benefit life and property above all.
Our roles in this overall process are to help add what we can from our decades of expertise in the residential, retail, commercial, corporate, industry, municipal, DOD and EMS tech spaces to drive the initial short-term discussions, and then act as your concierge tech experts, initiating and advancing conversations on our client’s behalfs in preparation for an estimated multiple of 2.5 to as much as five times the power and data demand within the fire rebuild areas. From our various areas of custom technology integration expertise we are well versed in extending our thousands of proven case-specific use case scenarios, from infrastructure to automation and control systems to the individual end-point devices responsible for driving the daily and routine tasks within the home, business or office.
As a closing point of interest surrounding the types of technology either already being deployed en masse or recently having come to market, I would like to take a moment to look at technology industry award products from the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025. There are numerous product and technologies award winners from manufacturers we have represented for years, setting the stage for more sophisticated automation and control interfaces, smarter security and visual deterrent infrastructure, drastically improved cellular 5G services, a meteoric rise in the use of connected IoT appliances throughout the home and endpoint cyber security options for remote and encrypted secure storage of digital copies of homeowners private and personal data.
We are here to answer your questions and provide concierge level tech service. The process begins now, and we have spent a considerable amount of time amassing the best of the best in order to assist in your initial phase planning, manage the technical design elements of your rebuild, provide the manpower and project management assets to install these new systems and then provide the best in personal service and remote management to ensure the most efficient systems performance and device longevity.
