automation hardware, and AEMPFAST, for electric grid management software. Fundamentally, it was ahead of its time at that point. The market for Automatic Meter Reading, Smart Grid and Home Automation Networks were in the concept stage and there was very little market “buzz“ about products in this space. The initial version of AEMPFAST (predecessor to GRIDfast) was capable of doing simple optimization studies (1,000-3,000 bus transmission systems) and was utilized in several consulting projects with the goal of verifying the capabilities and value proposition of the product’s core algorithm.