MTech 2018 rides on a 'New Wave of Distruption'.

Since its first staging in 2015, the Meralco Technology and Innovation Summit (MTECH) has provided a venue for its employees and industry stakeholders to learn and experience new technologies relevant to utilities, and more importantly, let them into Meralco’s vision of providing solutions to enable a better energy future for its customers.

This year, the MTECH 2018 themed “A New Wave of Disruption” provided another update on disruptive technologies showcased in last year’s summit, while discussing new ones that are fast becoming essential and critical in enabling a more secure, efficient and sustainable energy future.

MTECH 2018 participants catched up on strategic technologies which have developed at a staggering rate over the past year, while learning a new set of digital disruptors such as:

Blockchain
IoT
Edge Computing
Virtual Reality
Robotics
Artificial Intelligence,

The annual tech summit ran from November 19 to 21, 2018 at the Meralco Center, a 3 day summit featuring exhibits, pocket sessions, and a culminating forum, . It brought together over 2,000 participants from the electric distribution industry, business and corporate partners, government and academe, media representatives, and leading experts both in Information Technology and Operational Technology.

On its first day, the summit opened the exhibit at the Lopez Building Lobby. The technology showcase throughout the three-day summit equipped participants with a better understanding and appreciation of the power industry by bringing together different technology vendors from over the world to present their latest products and services.

Aside from Meralco and its subsidiaries, namely, Customer Frontline Solutions, Radius and MServ, other MTECH 2018 exhibitors included:

Nokia
Delnet
Trends
Schneider Electric
Pazifik Power Inc.,
Nuvve
NTT Data
Microsoft
Indra
Dimension Data
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
SAP
Vobling
VMWare
Cisco-Fujitsu
CapGemini
Itron
NEC-Juniper
OneCommerce
Teltrends
Intellismart
Intel-Calbr8
Voyager

MTECH 2018 also held a cyber security skills competition dubbed FORGE 2018 during the first two days of the summit. It provided participants with hands-on experience of cyber-attacks based on real business scenarios.

The annual tech forum also brought in senior high school and engineering students for the Young Engineers and Scientists (YES) Summit held on the event’s second day. This student congregation familiarized students with the new technologies and competencies of the future engineer and utility worker, as they listened to various presentations and toured the exhibits.

The summit culminated with the MTECH Forum led by Meralco chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and Meralco president & chief executive officer Oscar S. Reyes. The following Meralco executives, meanwhile, gave presentations that delved into developments on disruptive technologies and their roles in Meralco’s continuing digital transformation journey: Meralco Chief Technology Advisor Gavin D. Barfield, Meralco Head of Customer Retail Services & Corporate Communication Alfredo S. Panlilio, Meralco Head of Networks Ronnie L. Aperocho, Meralco Head of Human Resources and Corporate Services Edgardo V. Carasig, and Meralco Head of Strategy and Business Development Office Raymund B. Ravelo.