As the joint use industry inches closer to a technology-based future, cybersecurity is an everyday concern. In the last few years, there have been incredible innovations in technology: the Internet of Things, Machine-to-Machine communications, smart...

Industry professionals understand the risks line workers face all too well. However, many customers may be surprised to learn that installers and repairers are among the top ten most dangerous jobs in the country. This statistic includes fatal work...

For joint use asset owners that are already stretched thin managing their plant, the trend of more frequent and more powerful natural disasters is a threat. If climate scientists are correct, events like the hurricanes and wildfires that have...

To close our underground series, we look at the crucial principles of an underground inventory. Underground inspections are necessary for asset owners, who must know the current conditions of their facilities. Although underground systems can seem...

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Harvey gushed into the streets of Houston and surrounding areas. It flooded businesses, homes, and schools. But it didn’t stop there. Water leaked from the streets  into the manholes and handholes of underground Houston. ...

Foreign to our everyday lives above ground, the underground world can be quite mysterious. What lies beneath is unknown and unfamiliar. Twenty-first century urban explorers have begun to uncover findings of underground communities, secret maps, and...

The future of communications is rapidly progressing. With high-speed broadband becoming a basic requirement in daily life, extensive changes are being made to regulations and federal deployment plans. Initiatives such as the Connect America Fund and...

Our communities are built on the success of our infrastructure. When something fails, we are all impacted – whether that infrastructure is a road, a bridge, power plant, or utility pole. Many people pass through their days unaware of the complex...

Sorting through paper records, emails, or asset records spread across several different spreadsheets or platforms is no longer feasible for a best practice. Trying to keep track of maintenance needs, work requests (such as pole transfers), joint use...

Today’s utility asset data is a vast world of information. Much of it is valuable; some of it is not. Asset owners hold data about many different asset types (utility poles, underground conduit in manholes or vaults, towers, cables, etc.), in many...

 Are aging field assets an urgent crisis, or a manageable long-term maintenance challenge?

Is aging infrastructure an imminent problem that is bearing down on the U.S. utilities industry? Or is it a minor challenge to be addressed over a long period...

As tempting as it is to see the start of a new year as a fresh beginning – an opportunity to forge ahead with new resolutions, new plans and exciting new initiatives – it’s also important to take a look back. To consider all that the utility and...

This post is part 2 of a blog series about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impact on asset management. To read part 1, go to “What Does the Internet of Things Mean for Fixed Asset Management?”

Infrastructure asset management is evolving. In the...

Bad weather happens. From the occasional light rain to seemingly increasing instances of extreme weather, tornadoes, hurricanes, ice storms, wind, hail and lightning all can wreak havoc on utility poles, lines and equipment.

One of the keys to running a business well is having visible oversight—the high-level, future-focused information that allows for continued success. In joint use, that means reviewing your contracts to ensure they are updated, correct and working in...

At Alden, our experts travel all over the country solving issues in infrastructure asset management, data collection, data management and joint use for companies of all shapes and sizes. We see a lot of different situations, and as a result, we...

When utility pole owners, attaching companies or anyone with a joint use department decide to ask for help, we have found it usually has to do with one big thing: resource contention.

Many joint use departments simply do not have the resources to do...

In the past few years, the idea and application of cloud computing has exploded. It almost seems as though we will cease to store important information on our personal devices or keep stacks of external drives gathering dust on our desks. Apps like...

With election season in full swing and the appointment of the next leader of the United States a mere six months away, our nation’s attention is tuned to television and social media, dissecting the views and every move of the field of hopefuls. We...

We are now a month into 2016, and while a lot of resolutions have been made, we know that it is difficult to keep them as the year goes on. January is the proving ground for turning great end-of-year ideas into year-long habits, but if you have not...

"Utility poles are like snowflakes: no two are alike." – Barry Wise, Alden Project Manager

The phrase "If you don’t like the weather now, just wait a few minutes" was most likely quipped by Mark Twain, but just about any meteorologist in the country could have uttered it in the past few months. It is the year of the "El Niño" in the...

Happy New Year to the utility and infrastructure asset management world! 2015 gave us lots to say about backlogs and field assessments, NESC violations, and the ever-turning field asset management cycle. 2016 will, we know, pose new challenges. So...

Just a little under half of all U.S. states have deregulated energy[1], a construct that allows consumers to shop around for their service provider. The other half, however, are not immune to its influence. Deregulation changed the game for everyone...

With U.S. infrastructure aging in a big way, utility pole owners will soon be faced with a dilemma: replace or repair a large number of vital assets, or get smart fast with a new take on infrastructure asset management designed to predict when...