Power & Utilities
Microsoft and Itron: Enabling Utility Management of Meter Data
The New World of Metering
amount of Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Automated Meter Reading
systems. They also support commercial and industrial (C&I) meters and improve
operational efficiencies, customer service, distribution reliability and more.
With their inscrutable wheels and dials, electricity, gas and water meters are
the most recognizable “faces” of the utility industry. Today though, those
meters are getting a face lift.
IEE MDM is a scalable, enterprise-wide, open-architecture data management
solution that manages interval, register and event data in a central repository
for residential and C&I customers looking to interface large amounts of data
with multiple systems.
Actually, they are being completely reengineered as regulators and consumers
alike pressure utility industry companies to change the way they monitor
and report electric, gas and water consumption, for reasons including
environmental and efficiency concerns.
Microsoft’s Role
The new monitoring systems will require integration with technology systems
at the utility company and in the home, to enable better pricing models for
the utility and better purchasing decisions for consumers. The meters will
report their data automatically, delivering usage information to the utility via
numerous communications channels.
By working with Microsoft, Itron has the resources, experience and knowledge
of an industry leader to ensure its solution delivers business results.
In fact, in 2008, Itron successfully tested IEE MDM, compiling data from 4.5
million meters, every half-hour, or the equivalent of hourly data for nine
million meters. The test imported over
Regardless of how these new “smart” meters
200 million intervals of data and served
work, all the new systems will create a
to ensure that MDM meets the needs of
Data Management
tremendous amount of data – an almost
large utility companies and can scale to
is
an
Enterprise
Affair
Billing (CIS)
Handheld
overwhelming torrent, as millions of
the increasingly sophisticated advanced
meters report their unique information at
metering infrastructure solutions that are
minute-by-minute intervals.
being introduced or piloted in programs
Mobile
across the industry. The tests used Microsoft
Inventory
In fact, the data creation may become
SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008.
and Asset
Management
so profuse that the utility company’s IT
Itron
department’s concerns about managing
Enterprise Edition
Julie Hance, Itron’s Vice President of Software
Advanced
Meter Reading
gigabytes and terabytes may soon be
Meter Data
Services, summed it this way, “In all cases
Management
replaced by fears of dealing with petabytes,
Microsoft and Itron were able to verify
Outage
a quadrillion bytes, or 1,000 terabytes.
that Itron’s MDM solution does, in fact,
Management
Adding to the difficulty, utilities will need
ve
meet and exceed all the required perforMV-90 xi
o
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n
t
ts
systems for separating automated meter
ra
mance and scalability demands for data
u
g
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f
Con
data for various determinations within
import necessary to satisfy large-scale
the utility, like billing and pricing.
installations upward of 9 million residential
Analytical
3rd-Party
Applications
Collection Systems
AMI hourly interval meters. Working
Truly, as advanced metering takes its
together, Itron and Microsoft were able to
place among the must-have technologies
establish that its architecture will flexibly
in the utilities planning, the coming data
scale to meet the future, growing needs
deluge will be like standing below a dam
of customers.”
Itron’s MDM solution uses the Microsoft platform to ensure that it
that’s about to breach.
is interoperable with a wide variety of systems to help people work
The IEE MDM application requires a number
across traditional data boundaries and gain streamlined access to
Enter Microsoft and Itron
of other Microsoft technologies to run
information.
and is optimized for and supports the
Microsoft and its partner Itron, a leading
Microsoft Windows environment (a full
provider of metering, data collection and
list of Microsoft technologies is provided on the back page).
utility software solutions, have been working together to create technology
systems that utilities will need to organize and make the most of the coming
Microsoft’s long-standing commitment to support the power and utilities
data flows.
industry is demonstrated by the fact that Microsoft solutions are present in
most, if not all, utilities around the world – supplying desktop and office
The resulting Itron Enterprise Edition (IEE) Meter Data Management (MDM)
software, collaboration and communications solutions, as well as servers,
application is a highly scalable program that enables utilities to manage
databases, integration and management software – in some capacity.
metering and other utility-operated data in one place, regardless of source
Itron solutions are upstream utility applications that support an unlimited
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EMPOWERING EXCELLENCE IN UTILITIES
Benefits of the IEE MDM Solution
Itron & Microsoft in Smart Metering
• Reduce cost/time to gather and reconcile meter data from multiple collection systems
• Provide higher quality data from operating a single enterprise-wide data repository
• Improve reliability, security and consistency of meter data for billing and analytics
• Reduce number of errors associated with increased data collection and
intervals
• Interface to numerous analytical software applications
• Improved operational efficiency by way of secure data that’s audited and easily accessible to the enterprise
• Insulate the utility’s business systems from the details of metering/meter reading in a multi-technology environment
Key Features of the IEE MDM Solution
• Scalable, open-architecture
This enterprise-wide data management solution manages interval, register
Itron Enterprise Edition MDM solution is built upon a number of
Microsoft platforms, including Microsoft BizTalk Server and SQL Server.
and event data in a central repository for residential and C&I customers
looking to interface large amounts of data with multiple systems.
• Secure, centralized data environment
The environment reduces the likelihood of errors in business processes
that use meter data. IEE MDM interfaces easily to existing billing systems
and analysis tools such as complex billing, customer care, demand response,
Key Microsoft Technologies in IEE MDM
Utility industry solutions from Microsoft and Itron are based on the world’s
most cost-effective, functionally rich IT platform that helps create a more
secure computing experience. The following Microsoft technologies are
required to run and directly integrated with IEE MDM:
distribution optimization and design and revenue assurance. This allows
• ASP.NET
companies to deploy a cost-effective data management system without
• Internet Information Services (IIS)
affecting existing billing processes.
• .NET Framework
• SQL Server
• Enables advanced metering infrastructure
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
IEE MDM allows seamless integration to OpenWay® by Itron, an open-
• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
standards approach that gives utilities the freedom to adopt best-in-class
• Windows Server
elements throughout their network. OpenWay provides full two-way
• Windows XP/Vista
communication to each meter, multiple channel interval data collection,
• Windows Vista for IEE (6.0 Rich Client Userface)
integrated mass market demand response, a built-in communication
pathway to the home, and extensive smart grid features.
www.microsoft.com/utilities
About Itron
Itron Inc. is a Microsoft certified partner and a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. Itron Inc. consists
of Itron in North America and Actaris outside of North America. Our company is the world’s leading provider of metering, data collection
and utility software solutions, with nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on our technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy
and water. Our products include electricity, gas and water meters, data collection and communication systems, including automated meter
reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI); meter data management and related software applications; as well as project
management, installation, and consulting services. To know more, start here: www.itron.com.
About Microsoft’s Worldwide Utilities Group
Microsoft’s Worldwide Utilities Group offers platform and partner solutions that empower utilities to thrive in today’s market-driven environment by optimizing their business operations in customer care, generation, trading and risk management, transmission and distribution,
regulatory compliance and enterprise services. For more information contact your local Microsoft Sales Representative or visit www.microsoft.
com/utilities.
© 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, BizTalk, SharePoint, Vista, Visual Studio, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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