This iteration seems more compelling in the sense that the chips can monitor grid conditions directly and minimizes the impact on consumer by reducing power consumption in more nuanced ways.

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In northern California alone, the current power deficit averages 2, 000 to 3, 000 megawatts per hour, according to the California Independent System Operator, the agency set up to monitor the state's power grid.

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Multiply that by millions of customers in a metro area, and a smart grid can produce a data set large enough to monitor power demand in real time and predict probable outages before they occur.

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The attack built by Giannetsos and his colleagues has a wider target than the power grid: any system that uses sensor mesh networks, from buildings that use the sensors to monitor for weaknesses in their architecture to sensors distributed in forests to detect wildfires.

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React to outside power grid risks and demand response requests: To reduce risk of application outages, data centers must be able to closely monitor the facility and surrounding environment as well as their IT equipment.

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