DOE, through Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is facilitating the GridWise Alliance, a collaborative effort to leverage information technology to improve power generation, distribution and consumption.  The alliance strives to lead the transformation of the U.S. electric system into the information age.  Per the alliance’s mission statement, the integration of information technologies into the grid is expected to enhance security and reliability by creating a flexible and adaptive system.  Individually, the partners have invented different technologies and approaches that could be leveraged by the alliance.  Erich was selected to participate on the GridWise Architecture Council.