Siemens USA on a roll with an aim to improve digital Infrastructure

With Infrastructure Week 2019 in full swing, Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton wants to see the United States get a high-tech infrastructure upgrade.

Siemens is interconnecting transportation and power systems, and supporting the ongoing development of the power grid, but Humpton is calling for the government to do even more, saying in a recent interview, “Cities across the country are really investing in electric infrastructure for charging vehicles. As buses and cars and, frankly, eventually even aircraft come online with electric, we're going to need a deeper, more powerful charging infrastructure.”

According to Humpton, Siemens USA is working on developing an electric infrastructure and bringing onto the grid more forms of renewable power, but not stopping there.

Wireless broadband and mobility services play an important role in developing a great digital infrastructure. Siemens has partnered with Amdocs (DOX), a leading provider of software and services to communications and media companies, to enable mission-critical networks to leverage shared Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.

By leveraging the Siemens solution with the Amdocs Spectrum Access System (SAS), CBRS enables a lower cost of entry into supporting mobility, augmenting Wi-Fi coverage and capacity with small cells, in remote industrial locations such as substation automation, self-healing smart-grid systems, and intelligent transportation systems for traffic management and railway control systems.

In the field of solar energy advancement, Siemens central R&D unit in the U.S. announced it was selected for a $6.4 million research award from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to advance solar energy’s role in strengthening the resilience of the U.S. electricity grid and infrastructure.

Siemens also plans to add over 20,000 new jobs by 2023, though there may be a cut of about 10,000 jobs temporarily - mainly administration and support roles, in the move. Humpton said the company is investing in its employees to help them learn the skills they need.

Siemens announced recently their Gas and Power division, which includes its oil and gas, conventional power generation, power transmission, and related services businesses, will be set up as a standalone company with the aim of a public listing by September 2020, signaling that it would now focus on its Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure businesses.