Itron and Xcel Energy Sign Contract for Additional AMR Endpoints and Solid-State Meters.SPOKANE, Wash. -- Itron Inc. (Nasdaq:ITRI ITRI Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan, ROC) ITRI Information Technology Research Institute ITRI Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute ITRI International Tin Research Institute Ltd ITRI Information Technology Reuse Initiative ) announced today details for a contract worth nearly $15 million with Xcel Energy for an additional 200,000-plus Automatic Meter Reading Automatic meter reading, or AMR, is the technology of automatically collecting data from water meter or energy metering devices (water, gas, electric) and transferring that data to a central database for billing and/or analyzing. (AMR (1) (Adaptive Multi-Rate) A variable rate speech codec selected by the 3GPP for the 3G evolution of the GSM cellphone system (WCDMA). Using the Algebraic CELP (ACELP) compression technology, AMR provides toll quality sound at transmission rates from 4.75 to 12. ) endpoints to be installed in the Boulder, Colorado The City of Boulder (, Mountain Time Zone) is a home rule municipality located in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. Boulder is the 11th most populous city in the State of Colorado, as well as the most populous city and the county area. Included in this deployment Xcel Energy will purchase more than 50,000 of Itron's solid-state electricity meters for the first time in its Colorado service territory. Once the AMR endpoints are installed, Xcel Energy will have automated data collection from more than 2 million electric and natural gas meters in its Colorado service territory using Itron technology, making it one of the largest AMR installations in the world. "After nearly 10 years of success with Itron's automatic meter reading technology, the business environment is ready for us to expand the solution to incorporate the communities served by our Boulder service center," said Charles Hutton Charles Hutton (August 14, 1737 – January 27, 1823) was an English mathematician. Hutton was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He was educated in a school at Jesmond, kept by Mr Ivison, a clergyman of the Church of England. , Xcel Energy's vice president of customer care. "By improving our efficiency, we improve our customer satisfaction with more accurate billing and we reduce our overall costs." A long-time Itron customer, Xcel Energy began installing Itron AMR technology on a large scale in its Colorado service territory, then known as Public Service Company of Colorado, more than 10 years ago. In addition to the new contract, Xcel Energy recently teamed up with Itron and other leading technology providers, including IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) and Indus, in a new project called the "Utility Innovations" initiative, an ambitious project designed to prove the value of new technologies in the areas of asset management, workflow management and customer service. The "Utility Innovations" initiative is anchored by new generation Itron fixed network technology in the Denver area collecting advanced metering data from some 6,000 residential and small commercial customers. The Itron Fixed Network feeds that data into a single meter data repository See repository. to support a wide range of applications at Xcel Energy. These applications include distribution system monitoring A System Monitor (SM) is a process within a distributed system for collecting and storing state data. There are many issues involved with designing and implementing a system monitor. and operations; outage out·age n. 1. A quantity or portion of something lacking after delivery or storage. 2. A temporary suspension of operation, especially of electric power. management, response and restoration; asset management and planning; service delivery management; and revenue assurance. LeRoy Nosbaum, Itron's chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , said Xcel Energy is deploying one of the largest combination electric and gas AMR systems in the world and has continually looked for innovative ways to improve efficiency and delivery to its customers. In addition, Itron signed a contract with Xcel Energy this summer for the purchase of 6,000 advanced solid state meters equipped with SmartSynch's SmartMeter(R) technology to be installed at hard-to-access and security-sensitive commercial customer locations throughout the Denver area. "Xcel Energy is both a highly valued customer and a highly valued partner," said Nosbaum. "We are indeed fortunate to work with such a forward-thinking utility whose vision has so much in common with our own." About Itron Itron is a leading technology provider and critical source of knowledge to the global energy and water industries. More than 3,000 utilities worldwide rely on Itron technology to provide the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron creates value for its clients by providing industry-leading solutions for electricity metering; meter data collection; energy information management; demand response; load forecasting, analysis and consulting services; distribution system design and optimization; web-based workforce automation; and enterprise and residential energy management. To know more, start here: www.itron.com. About Xcel Energy Xcel Energy is the fourth-largest combination electricity and natural gas energy company in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Xcel offers a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.3 million electricity customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers. The utility has regulated operations in 11 Western and Midwestern states, and revenue of $7.9 billion annually; own over 260,000 conductor miles of electricity transmission and distribution lines, and more than 32,000 miles of natural gas pipelines; and operate power plants that generate about 15,433 megawatts of electric power. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion