Arm Drives Smart Utilities for KEPCO’s Behind the Meter Project

Arm today announced that it has been selected by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), South Korea’s largest utilities company, to lead the transformation of its metering systems. As part of a multi-year agreement, Arm will provide IoT software and device management, hardware IP, and consulting services to drive new smart utility use cases for KEPCO.

Arm is working with KEPCO to expand their existing metering system that currently connects household smart meters mainly over wired connectivity. The Arm® Mbed™ IoT Device Management Platform delivers secure connectivity, over-the-air provisioning, and device management. The solution provides the flexibility organizations require in managing all of their IoT devices whether in the public or private cloud, on-premise or in hybrid environments.

“IoT complexity is a major challenge for organizations, and they need solutions that provide security, scalability and simplicity across both hardware and software,” said Dipesh Patel, president IoT Services Group, Arm. “Arm’s strong heritage of more than 25 years designing SoC technology and a scalable software device management platform uniquely positions us to help companies securely address IoT deployments end-to-end.”

Arm’s strong commitment and leadership in delivering end-to-end IoT security was a significant factor for KEPCO, and will provide the foundation of their IoT solution. KEPCO plans to use the Mbed IoT Device Platform, Arm® Cortex®-M33 processor, and Platform Security Architecture (PSA) including Arm® TrustZone® technology for secure device development, deployment and management.

“As part of our digital transformation project, smart utilities provide us with opportunities to increase efficiency, deliver better service to our customers, and enable new use cases, but we also must ensure we’re delivering robust security,” said Dong-Sub Kim, EVP & CTO for KEPCO. “We chose Arm to lead our smart utilities efforts as they provide a comprehensive IoT solution for securely developing, managing, provisioning and connecting IoT devices from the chip to the cloud.”

Arm will deliver a comprehensive set of IoT solutions that enable KEPCO to securely deploy and manage millions of connected units and introduce new smart utility use cases. Benefits include:

• Ease of development: Arm technology such as Cortex-M33 processor and development tools from Mbed OS help KEPCO reduce total development cost, improve time to market and efficiency, and make smart meters more secure.
• Over-the-air provisioning and firmware updates: Mbed Cloud ensures connected devices work out-of-the-box once they are deployed in the field and can be managed and updated remotely, which is critical for maintaining a strong security posture.
• Real-time data collection and intelligence at the edge: Mbed Edge will enable KEPCO to deploy smart gateways that connect additional grid and utility services, as well as home appliances. The data can be analyzed in real-time for optimized energy consumption.
• Robust end-to-end IoT security: Mbed IoT Device Management Platform, Cortex-M33 and Trustzone help KEPCO securely build, deploy and manage connected devices from the chip to cloud. PSA also provides the first industry framework for building securely connected devices, including a common set of ground rules and resources that reduce the cost, time, and risk associated with IoT security today.