Itron Launches TL-Pro Transmission Line Design Software.

Business Editors

SPOKANE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2002

Itron Inc. (Nasdaq:ITRI) announced the release and commercial availability of TL-Pro(TM), a feature-rich transmission line design software platform to provide engineers with a powerful tool to achieve new levels of productivity, efficiency, and cost optimization in the design, construction and maintenance of transmission lines and related assets.

"There is now industry-wide recognition that upgrading and renewing our transmission infrastructure is a critical step to ensuring the efficient and reliable operation of our energy delivery system," said Bill Brown, vice president of Itron's Transmission and Distribution Solutions Group, formerly LineSoft Corporation, which Itron acquired in March. "Utilities and energy companies that own and operate hugely expensive transmission assets face a key challenge in ensuring that the transmission line design process is optimized to meet precise requirements for reliability, safety, efficiency and capacity at the lowest possible cost. Itron's TL-Pro software was designed to meet this challenge head on and ensure that our clients get maximum value out of every transmission dollar they spend."

"The development of the TL-Pro software platform has been a collaborative partnership between Itron software engineers and Itron's core of experienced transmission engineers," said Fred Behrmann, P.E., product architect for Itron's Transmission and Distribution Solutions Group.

"From the beginning, we've worked closely with line design engineers from leading utilities and engineering firms, as well as our own Engineering Services group to deliver the innovative features and functionality that are most important to our customers' success," said Behrmann. "The result is a powerful, yet very easy-to-use design application that will enable engineering teams to achieve significant improvements in overall design quality, designer productivity, design cycle time and optimization of construction costs."

Featuring open systems architecture, robust data management capabilities, new 3-D modeling and visualization technology, and powerful new calculation and optimization tools for design scenario comparison, TL-Pro is designed to transform not only the science and art of transmission line design, but the business of line design as well, Behrmann said.

"We're confident that the capabilities of TL-Pro will enable design engineers to consistently achieve substantial design and construction cost savings compared to traditional design methods. With the high price of transmission line build out, this is a great opportunity for our customers to reduce capital expenditures."

"This initial release of the TL-Pro suite, which we call `TL-Pro Designer,' delivers the features and functionality our customers said they need first," Behrmann said. "But that's just the beginning. The object-oriented architecture of the TL-Pro platform has been designed to accommodate continuous upgrades, improvements and add-on packages in the months ahead. Planned enhancements to the TL-Pro family include management of design standards, structural analysis, and interfaces to other systems such as GIS and workforce management.

Though the commercial release of TL-Pro Designer is just underway, a select group of line design engineers at several leading utilities and design firms in the U.S. have had the program on their desktops for several months now. Here's what they're saying:

-- "TL-Pro Designer fits our vision for a design tool very well. We plan to gather USGS survey data for our entire service territory. We can then use TL-Pro Designer to quickly develop estimates and perform alternative comparisons, as well as refine the selected design and prepare our construction package," says Dave Nunez of Entergy Corporation, a leading global energy company that operates a system composed of more than 15,500 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 1,450 transmission substations.

-- "TL-Pro Designer is very intuitive and easy to use. After just two days of training, I was designing lines with it," says Gary Kunick of Power Engineers, a leading provider of consulting engineering services to electric utilities, independent power producers and other industries.

-- "Designing with TL-Pro Designer is very straightforward, and the optimization is a powerful tool," says Jim Grimstad of SSR Engineers, a leading engineering company that provides consulting services to utilities.

About Itron

Itron is a leading technology provider and critical source of knowledge to the global energy and water industries. More than 2,000 utilities worldwide rely on Itron technology to deliver the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron delivers value to its clients by providing industry-leading solutions for meter data collection, energy information management, C&I customer care, load management and demand response, transmission and distribution system design software and services, and web-based workforce automation.