If you think about the public vs. private smart grid communications debate for too long, you’ll become more indecisive than Brett Favre. And speaking of people who call Mississippi home, I chatted with SmartSynch chief marketing officer Campbell McCool over the phone recently about this very argument.

Unlike Favre, Campbell is back in Mississippi – why shouldn’t an Ole Miss grad spend more time at the revered Grove? – and he certainly doesn’t waver on his sentiment concerning the benefits of a public network. He, like CEO Stephen Johnston (who recently predicted that, in two years, no one will ever buy a mesh network again), are certainly biased in their points of view – SmartSynch makes a smart meter system that uses Internet protocol (IP) networks, connecting meters to utilities over public, broadband networks managed by carriers like AT&T. Texas-New Mexico Power and the City of Griffin (Ga.) are two recent customers. Memphis Light, Gas and Water chose SmartSynch for its pilot earlier this month.

Johnston and McCool speak with conviction. And, in a week where mesh competitor Silver Spring Networks landed a deal with Indianapolis Power & Light, who doesn’t like a little bravado from the hard-charging alternative?

(more…)