Itron Releases Active Smart Grid Analytics™ Solution for Rapid Deployment

Published on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 08:51 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash.-( Business Wire )-

Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced today that it has released its first set of specialized analytic software applications built on the Active Smart Grid Analytics™ (ASA) platform. Each application is bundled with Itron’s Analytic Accelerators and Extension Toolkits, which help utilities take full advantage of their smart grid data.

Built to leverage Itron’s industry-leading metering, communication network and meter data management (MDM) solutions, these analytic applications provide actionable business intelligence to enable specific smart grid solutions for distribution operations, revenue cycle services and customer engagement. Each analytic application is operational “out-of-the-box” and comes with an Accelerator and Extension Toolkit. Each Accelerator offers immediate value by providing a fully functional set of analytic dashboards and reporting tools, but also establishes an ideal launching point to develop customized analytic solutions using the ASA Extension Toolkits.

By embedding best-of-breed technology from SAP, IBM and Teradata, Itron’s ASA solution creates an extensible platform to incorporate data warehousing, business intelligence, interval meter data and state-of-the-art analytic methods. The solution allows utilities to combine and analyze data in new ways, providing new insights into their systems to streamline operations and lower costs.

“Successfully meeting the challenges that lie ahead requires a comprehensive, extensible set of analytic tools that create strong business value from the vast amounts of data utilities are now collecting,” said Mark deVere-White, senior vice president of Itron Energy in North America and Latin America. “The flexibility inherent in Itron’s ASA solution enables utilities to gain valuable insight into the delivery and use of energy.”

Energy Diversion Detection, Transformer Load Management and Power Quality analytics are the first analytic applications to be released on the ASA platform.

• Energy Diversion Detection: Itron’s Energy Diversion Detection analytics employ a variety of methods to analyze meter alerts, energy and voltage measurements, energy balancing and historic usage patterns to identify energy diversion and meter tampering on a system-wide scale.
• Transformer Load Management: Itron’s Transformer Load Management analytics continually monitor and identify under-utilized, over-utilized and at-risk transformers throughout the distribution system. The kit evaluates kVA utilization, percent loss of life, top oil and hot spot temperatures, increasing the visibility and management of this key utility asset.
• Power Quality: Itron’s Power Quality analytics enable utilities to measure performance throughout the delivery system by monitoring voltage, outage and restoration data from the grid. This system-wide monitoring allows the utility to identify opportunities for Voltage Optimization and evaluate the effectiveness of energy-saving measures deployed.

ASA Accelerators are designed to allow for customized expansion with the use of Itron’s ASA Extension Toolkits. By customizing Accelerators, utilities can create specific business processes, reports or interfaces to other enterprise solutions. The toolkits also provide an efficient path to integrate ASA with other core utility systems to enable closed-loop solutions.

“We set out with the goal of creating an analytics platform that had the flexibility of a custom solution while delivering the ‘time to value’ and decreased risk of an off-the-shelf application. By creating analytic applications that include prebuilt Accelerators for rapid deployment and Extension Toolkits for customization, we have created a best-of-both-worlds solution,” said deVere-White. “Now a utility can quickly learn from the data acquired from the grid and use that knowledge to extend and customize their analytics for added value or as their needs change.”

Itron will be demonstrating the ASA analytic applications at DistribuTECH in their booth #611.

About Itron

Itron is the leading provider of energy and water resource management solutions for nearly 8,000 utilities around the world. We offer end-to-end solutions that include electricity, gas, water and thermal energy measurement and control technology; communications systems; software; and professional services. With nearly 9,000 employees doing business in more than 130 countries, Itron empowers utilities to responsibly and efficiently manage energy and water resources. To realize a sustainable future, start here: www.itron.com.

Itron, Inc.Sharelynn Moore, 509-891-3524sharelynn.moore@itron.comVice President, Marketing & CommunicationsorBarbara Doyle, 509-891-3443barbara.doyle@itron.comVice President, Investor Relations