 Hi, this is your host, Bheem Bhartiya and welcome to another episode of State of Energy and today we have two guests, Prince Singh, architect at Alienda and Benoit Johnson, R&D project manager at RTE. Prince, Benoit, it's great to have you both on the show. Thank you. Very happy to be with you Swatman. It's my pleasure to have you folks again. And today we are going to talk about Linux Foundation Energy Functional Architecture. Before we kind of deep dive into that, talk a bit about what is this model? What is this project all about? The idea of having an architecture is to have a clear picture of the ecosystem of the Linux Foundation Energy. And that's why at the very beginning of the story of the Linux Foundation Energy, we designed a functional architecture and we had the ability already to communicate about it, especially in the Linux Foundation Energy system that was held in Paris in 2019, if I remember well. And then we had a group that was called the Full Architecture Working Group. And in this group we had contributors that proposed to make an experimentation on having a design of the architecture based on Archimedes language. This proposal was done initially by Epri and we decided to organize a working group. First it was for proof of the center and we were very happy with the results that we had and we decided a few months ago to have a formal special interest group to design, to have an up-to-date architecture of the Linux Foundation Energy that is focusing mainly on the functional parts with Archimedes, but that can also be helpful for technical interfaces. In addition to what Benwasa just adding on into that, not only the specifics are required, but also we wanted to make it clear what our scope is. So with the functional architecture it becomes very easy to approach a wider set of stakeholders and also maintain consistency in what we are doing inside the group. So that was our main motive with the functional architecture. Can you also talk about the role of this architecture within the whole NF, when we look at LF Energy you have so many projects. So I want to understand the role that it's going to play within the project. This is a nice question. Thank you for this question because it makes also a good bridge of what we just discussed, what Benwasa just explained. So the functional architecture gives a good overview of what the functions or the business functions or the value or the capabilities what the stakeholders in the Linux Energy Foundation can deliver to the stakeholders. So that's one and two is that we deliver this value through our projects. So at some point of time we also need to see what is the synergy between these projects and how do the functions which these projects deliver, how do they come across, how do they merge, how do they create the synergy. So this is one of the things which is the underlying interest and also the proper motivation for the functional architecture. Yes, you're right Prince. So that's the main goal. It's to have a clear view of clarification of where the project are, what are they doing and being able to show that to the world. And that's also interesting to have also to identify where the empty space are, where we don't have projects that are covering what we expect as functionalities for the Linux Foundation Energy. And thanks to the work you've done Prince, you translated the initial functional architecture into the Archimage model and we can see that there are parts, there are areas of functionality that we expect to have. I think especially for example for the asset management, we would like to have projects in asset management that we don't have today and that are identified already in our architecture. Can we draw parallels to other similar projects that may be part of Linux Foundation's other projects which are trying to achieve the same or you think that this was kind of unique to this energy sector that you came up with this architecture model for the project. The methodology and the language that is used Archimage is very common in the IT domain so that's more reusing a methodology that is already widely used in other area. I don't know exactly in other Linux Foundation foundations they are using this methodology but that's pretty common in our industry to use that. Let's talk about the idea behind the project, we talk about the scope of other projects. Let's talk about the practice part which is like the working group, what are the, what are the parties involved and how actually you are driving this project. So that's now an official group of the Linux Foundation Energy so you can see its activities on the wiki of the Linux Foundation Energy and you have a mailing list for that. So we have a steering, a technical steering committee, a TSC like any other project. So this is actually identified as a special interest group and we have an annual review report to the technical advisory council of the Linux Foundation Energy and we soon made the decision at the technical advisory council level to make a mandatory the fact that any project that wants to become an incubation state or over needs to provide its architecture to the group and to be integrated into the Linux Foundation Energy architecture. And the working group would be very happy to support any initiative because we know that everybody is not maybe able to do that. You need to be of little skills to be able to do that and the archimage working group would be very happy to support any project that wants to help in that. But now that's mandatory when your incubation stage or above you need to provide your architecture and provide it in your annual review. It's in the interest of the project groups also. I mean, thinking from both perspectives, I think it's also in interest of the project groups or the stakeholders involved in the projects to be a part of our community and our meetings of our progress. Because that way they can also see what are the synergies and what they can learn from the other project group and how does their project sit in the whole ecosystem of the energy transition. So that also is benefiting for the project groups. When you look at the energy sector globally, how is this actually going to kind of help a lot of other parties to get a clear picture of what LF Energy is doing, how they can get involved, what are the projects they can share. So I want to understand the larger scope. The physical low are global and wire. The universe is based on the same physical rules. And the challenges that we are facing in terms of energy is global and we need to elaborate the same kind of solutions. And sharing the way we're elaborating this is probably the most efficient way of doing it. And the Lenox Foundation Energy is tailored to do that. And this very group, Archimede Group, Architexture Group, makes it easier for anybody on the world, on the planet to be able to identify what is already existing and how it can be integrated in the assistance. The way we collaborate, the solutions that we are designing, they are not proper just for Europe, they can be implemented anywhere in the world. And the more we have, the more the ecosystem is complete, the more we pave the functional architecture with open source projects, the easier it will be to spread the world with the open source solution that I'm able to be end-to-end solution for an end-to-end solution to the problem that is raised by the energy transition. I think Vinu also touched upon a very important point when he mentioned about the choice of Archimede because by choosing Archimede for the functional architecture, we have made it more approachable for all the stakeholders, I think. Because it's a modeling language, it is known to most people who work in the IT or business domain. So we have not just used local or internal modeling techniques, but by the use of Archimede, we have made it more, well, to use the word again, open to all the people who want to use our architecture model. So I think in that, if you look from that perspective, we are not only doing a very critical work, but also you can consider us taking a lead in this to model such a complex environment in a functional architecture and then also modeling it in Archimede. I think, and my colleagues will agree that this has been and will be a big challenge which we are proud also to do, which also has a broader impact. Once again, when we look at this community and when we talk about the community of LF Energy, of course, there are a lot of players who are involved who are creating projects, but then there are a lot of folks who are leveraging or using them and not everybody can get involved. Anybody doesn't have resources to get it. So when we look at the LF Energy community today, what would you call a community because community is not just the core members who are contributing the code. I look at the community of the ecosystem, the other players who are also leveraging the work you folks are doing. We should also not forget that we are in a transition phase. So in a generic sense, the energy sector is in transition. So the boundaries per se, as you are well aware, for example, the boundary between who is a producer and who is a consumer is getting dimmer and dimmer per day. So we are aware that we cater to a bigger ecosystem. There are people who could use our vision or our products or our models to develop further and think about new business models. But I think I cannot enumerate per se every stakeholder. Maybe when you can give a more specific answer to that. But a short answer would be that we are catering to all stakeholders who are in the transition. So they could be producers, they could be consumers, they could be people who are making standards or protocols for devices. We are also catering to industries which make smart devices, because at one moment they will also be apart by one way or the other in the energy transition. So our spectrum is very broad. But I think the specific answer what is probably can be given by Ben one because yeah, he's more in touch with the technical side. What I think is that this work is mainly focusing once again on clarity and it's providing clarity and that's for the benefits of the project themselves. So they will be better at communicating on what they are doing and what are exactly their identity, what they are aiming at doing within the functional architecture, how it interacts with other projects. So that's better for the project themselves. They will have a better audience that will have a better knowledge of what they are doing exactly. And for the people that are looking for a solution, they will have a better clarity on what is today available in the Linux Foundation energy ecosystem. What is today available in a strong foundation in terms of open source for energy. So I think that's for everybody that is involved in this industry. This clarification is very useful and is really required. Earlier you were talking about some gaps. The model is, you know, I look at it, you know, kind of work in progress. What are the things, you know, what are the gaps that you see out there, what are the things that are missing that, you know, you're like, hey, these are the things that are in the pipeline. One big area that is not paved today by any project is what we identify as the asset management area. So when you look at the initial functional architecture that was used for that archimage modeling, we see that there is a huge area that needs some code, needs some contribution, needs some open source initiative on the asset management side, because that's really strategic for our industry today. Our assets are aging, and we need to have projects to come up to cover that area, and I'm sure that there is business to be done on that area for anybody. And in terms of initiatives, what I could say is that in the beginning of the initial energy, we see that there is a real momentum. We have more and more projects, and the density of the pavement of the functional architecture with project is getting higher and higher. So that we are really in the right path to achieving what was expected when we launched the Lynx Foundation Energy. So as of today, we can already say that the Lynx Foundation Energy Initiative is a success, and we can see it with this architecture group. What next step I also see is that we are trying to link the functional architecture with the business functions of the projects which are in the ecosystem. That is not only logical, but also in terms of priority, a high priority for us. That gives us more clarity also to the stakeholders and a clear review of what the projects can accomplish. The Lynx between the different projects, that would also be clearer to understand, discuss and build upon them. In terms of potential, I also see that as a huge potential growth there. With my team in Alihander, we are busy to interact with the project teams and discuss the business aspect or the business values of their projects. Again, that will be mapped in the functional architecture. And by these concrete steps, we make it clearer what values are being delivered by the projects in the LFE ecosystem. When you are talking about the business value, how is that helping them to understand getting involved, contributing to LF Energy is also good for ROI. For us as a utility, having the Lynx Foundation Energy, that's a huge value. And so that for our business, that's for sure a necessity because there is a wall of development that is to be climbed. It's just before us. And thanks to the Lynx Foundation Energy, we are able to put our forces all together to build all that mountain of code that is required for the energy transition. And yes, so that's where we are finding the value. There is competition also in open source like with proprietary software, but that's in an open way. We can work all together and we are very happy also to pay and support the company that are involved in providing code for us. So that's not that we don't want to pay, that we don't want to give money. We want to give money, but we want to do it in a shared fashion because we think that's the most efficient way to achieve the huge amount of code that needs to be done for us. Of course, this is a growing community, but talk a bit about what kind of folks you would like to get involved with this working group or this project. In terms of contribution, the first people that we would like to be involved are the people from the project themselves. People that are designing code and we want their support, we want them to be part of our initiative because we want to serve them, but they are the best people to give us the clarity that is required for this initiative. So that's the first people that we would like to be helped by. That's a contribution. We want to support them to help them have a better communication, better audience, but we need their input to do that job. We need their contribution to that. So probably that's where the first contribution is expected. And then, if we can have also other people that are experts in architecture, and especially in archimage modeling, we would be very happy to have them on board and they can contribute, help the project to clarify their architecture, and so that's where we were expecting the most contribution. And I'm very happy to have this video too because I want people to know that this project, this group is existing and that we are publishing in live this architecture. So it's possible to see this growing. So please come and visit and if you're interested in contributing, of course you're very welcome. This whole chain or we say in Dutch Kate and this whole chain from the energy sector where energy is at one place developed and the other place consumed. This is a complex and long chain. And there are many actors, many industries, many companies involved. Now, if the digital transition is there, of course, every stakeholder, every company will be affected in one way or the other. So to answer the question and look very far ahead, who do we want to get involved? We want everybody to get involved who is in the chain. That's a very simple answer because by being involved in our community, in our archimage group or in the fund, Linux Energy Foundation, either they will learn something or we will learn from them because the chain affects us all. So the scope is very broad. Again, I will reiterate what Benoit said that we want people to get involved and if you are in the sector, there is win-win situation and we are here doing a lot of effort taking the lead to model critical aspects and we can also learn from other projects which we join us. How mature is the project? What are the major challenges that you have already tackled or you are there to still to tackle there? So when they look at this, you know, this, you know, group, they're like, hey, you know what, a lot of heavy lifting is already done or this is my skill set I can bring in and help the project. One thing which I'm really proud about in the group and which is also evident, no explanation is needed is that we have a lot of domain knowledge from RTE side and Aliantus side and the others we have also architecture, archimage, modeling experience. So that thing is already there. So there is, of course, more domain knowledge or domain specific knowledge. For example, when I was talking about asset management, partners, individuals, practitioners, experts, for example, who are specifically really experienced in asset management can join our group and make progress in specific that domain. And that is valid for every domain which has been inside the LFE foundation. But in terms of generic domain knowledge, the clients which we have, the scope which we have, the geographical area which RTE and Aliantus cover in Europe is gigantic. So there's a lot of experience also and so people can make use of this expertise which is already there. As you were talking, that people can come and join us. What are the processes in place so that you know how they can join? So there is an email for the list that you can subscribe to. I don't know it by heart, but I think that we can put that as a link. So there is an email to the group. We have also a channel in the Slack of the Linux Foundation Energy and there is, and we have a GitHub repo in which you can put issues and yeah, take contact with us. So there is a lot of ways to get in touch to us and we are very, very reactive. So please don't hesitate to come and contribute. One last question before we wrap this up is first of all, the summit in Paris is coming up. What are your plans for the next few months or any announcement that you're planning? Of course, you cannot share a lot of details there, but just to get a glimpse of what are the things that you're working on? Yeah, that's a very cool question and that's something that's of high priority for us. Actually, we have a presentation of what we are doing at the Linux Foundation Energy Summit in Paris and the goal is to have an Archimedes view that is up to date with the actual project that we have in the ecosystem. So the real project that are at least at the incubation stage should at least have a summarized model that we can show during the Linux Foundation Energy Summit. I think that would be really great for the project themselves and for us to show that we have this ability to come up with a consolidated view of the Linux Foundation Energy ecosystem. A lot of efforts we are doing inside Alihanda in this perspective, in this stream. Ben already mentioned that we have a presentation coming up in Paris. A couple of our projects from Alihanda will be doing a presentation. If we only have a functional architecture and Archimate, I think more and more projects now see the use of it and they use it as a tool to show what they are actually doing and to reach stakeholders. So I think this is a mind shift which is happening and this will also keep on happening. Another thing which was also discussed before is that now we have made a big step and said that the projects which are in the LFA or they want to join or want to change state, they should have a sort of a mature project architecture. That is also something for the future. And we will use the functional architecture which we have right now in Archimate to answer generic questions which stakeholders ask. For example, how can I do a smart device control? How can I do monitoring of the devices? Now we want to use the model to answer generic basic business level questions based on the architecture which we already have. So that is something which we will be working on. Friends, thank you so much for taking time out today and talk about this initiative, this group, this working group, this project. And I look forward to meeting you folks at the upcoming summit. Thank you. Yes, thank you.