Itron was pleased to participate in the growing momentum around the standard last week, including increasing collaboration within an IEEE working group in Atlanta at the 802 Plenary Meeting. This industry initiative resulted in the development of an amendment to the existing IEEE 802.15.4 standard, including technical requirements that support interoperability and existing deployed smart utility networks. The group of industry stakeholders made major progress in forming the standard's physical layer specification and have agreed to its main parameters, including communication data rates and modulation to help facilitate global smart grid applications.

"Standards that encourage interoperability are a must for utilities as they embark on this energy revolution and IEEE TG4g is no exception. OpenWay was designed and architected to embrace these emerging standards and we are confident that both our currently deploying customers and new installations will be able to take advantage of these new capabilities shortly after their ratification," said Philip Mezey, Itron North America senior vice president and chief operating officer.

Upon successful adoption of TG4g SUN, Itron will demonstrate that OpenWay and the OpenWay CENTRON(R) smart meter already comply in several important ways including:

-- Support for optional frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation with a communication bit rate of 150Kbps, operating within specified frequency bands and parameters

-- Support for mandatory FSK modulation with a communication bit rate of 50Kbps, operating within specified frequency bands and parameters

-- Support for mandatory physical layer packet structure

-- Support for advanced physical layer features including data whitening, forward error correction (FEC), and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) support, all of which are designed to enhance end-to-end system performance

-- Support for physical layer messages of up to 1500 bytes in length; ability to efficiently accommodate IPv6 packets

Concluded Mezey, "As a major smart grid influencer, Itron recognized early on in its research and development of OpenWay that it needed to offer utilities a system architecture that addressed communication range, robustness and coexistence characteristics truly unique to the grid's network environment. That is why we are able to easily embrace TG4g SUN and already anticipate product compliance."

Smart grid standards like TG4g SUN are meant to provide guidelines in understanding and defining grid interoperability of the electric power system with end-use applications, like smart meters, home area networks and advanced distribution operations. Integration of energy and communications technology is necessary for utilities to achieve seamless operation for electric generation, delivery, consumer end-use benefits, flexible and reliable delivery, and the integration of new, renewable energy sources that are the realization of the smart grid vision.

Following the natural development process, now that the IEEE working group has prepared a draft of the proposed standard, editors for the standard have been instructed to start working on technical specifications documents which will become a baseline draft for the next meeting in January 2010. The draft will then be submitted for balloting approval by IEEE members. The IEEE Standards Association Standards Board Review Committee will then make a recommendation on final ratification to the Standards board. This positions the working group well to publish the standard, in accordance with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scheduling, by the end of 2010.

In addition to IEEE, Itron plays a key role in developing smart grid standards by engaging with and providing thought leadership to other groups such as the UCA International Users Group, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), NIST, and the ZigBee Alliance. As a member of the board of directors for the ZigBee Alliance, Itron played a key role in supporting the Alliance's recently announced decision to further integrate IP standards into ZigBee specifications.

About Itron:

Itron Inc. is a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. Our company is the world's leading provider of intelligent 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, water and heat 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.

SOURCE: Itron Inc.

Itron Inc. 
Deloris Duquette, 509-891-3523 
Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications 
deloris.duquette@itron.com 
Kim Papich, 509-891-3590 
Itron Communications and Marketing 
kim.papich@itron.com

Unsworth was named CEO of Itron in March 2009 and has been a member of the board of directors since December 2008. Prior to his post as CEO, he was Itron's president and COO. Unsworth joined Itron as senior VP, Hardware Solutions, in July of 2004, when Itron acquired Schlumberger Electricity Metering and was promoted to senior VP and COO, Actaris, in April 2007 when Itron acquired Actaris Metering Systems.

Itron is a technology provider to the global energy and water industries.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

In the future, the two-way communication inherent to the Itron Fixed Network will also enable utilities to gather electronic gas pressure recorder and corrector serial data, and monitor cathodic protection monitoring stations through Itron's advanced data collection suite, ChoiceConnect(TM). Additionally, the ability to retrieve the mechanical uncorrected readings will provide an additional layer of protection against losing critical data. Currently, utilities read the instruments manually or rely on more costly backhaul technology. Access to the instruments' readings through the gas AMI network will result in reduced operational costs for utilities as they avoid sending personnel out into the field.

"As each new avenue of innovation is ushered in by our gas AMI solution, it proves we've designed a technology that can truly evolve to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. We feel privileged to see an imaginative utility like NW Natural join us in this evolution," said Ron Renzini, vice president, Itron North America sales.

NW Natural began its AMR program in 2006 and has already automated more than 660,000 meters in its Oregon territory using Itron technology. In July of 2008, the utility began its deployment of 100G and 100G Datalogging ERT modules, Itron's newest generation of higher powered gas modules, bringing gas AMI capabilities to its territory.

NW Natural considered a number of technologies before choosing an Itron system. Cost reductions and operational efficiencies were the primary drivers for automating its territories.

About Itron:

Itron Inc. is a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. Our company is the world's leading provider of intelligent 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, water and heat 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 NW Natural

NW Natural (NYSE:NWN) is a 150-year old company headquartered in Portland, Ore., and serves about 662,000 residential and business customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. It is the largest independent natural gas utility in the Pacific Northwest and is one of the fastest-growing local distribution companies in the nation. NW Natural was the first gas-only utility in the nation to offer a high-quality carbon offset program to its customers. In 2003, the company became one of the first local natural gas companies to become decoupled, adopting a rate structure that eliminates profit from the sale of natural gas to our customers, effectively allowing it to promote energy conservation. For more information about NW Natural, please visit nwnatural.com.

SOURCE: Itron Inc.

Itron Inc. 
Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications 
Deloris Duquette, 509-891-3523 
deloris.duquette@itron.com 
or 
Itron Communications and Marketing 
Kim Papich, 509-891-3590 
kim.papich@itron.com

In order for consumers to understand their electricity usage and the impact of charging their PEV, a utility's smart grid system must be able to track the total amount of electricity consumed in a billing period and precisely when that electricity was used. This time based tracking is referred to as interval data or load profiling and is a core capability of the OpenWay system.

"Since the future supply-demand balance requires addressing both sides of the equation, the smart grid must provide the mechanism for participation by consumers," said Bill Cloutier, AMI manager for DTE Energy. "Working jointly with Itron and Comverge, we now have a more realistic picture of how PEVs may affect our grid. The goal is to test this new technology and share the information with our customers, providing them the opportunity to make more informed decisions about how and when they charge their PEVs and ultimately how they can use the information to lower their electric bill."

The integration relies on the ZigBee(R) Smart Energy Profile, allowing for seamless communication between the utility and PEVs, without the need for a broadband connection. In this case, the PEV was equipped with charging controls that contain a ZigBee card to enable meter-to-car communication.

"This demonstration is another realization in the promise of Apollo software and its flexibility in accommodating future smart grid developments such as PEVs as they become part of our utility customers' portfolio of assets," said Michael D. Picchi, Comverge interim president and chief executive officer. "Working together, we are moving closer toward making the smart grid vision a reality."

The Business of Plugging In conference, which took place Oct. 19 -- 21, was co-hosted by DTE Energy, General Motors and the University of Michigan. This first-ever conference brought together vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, energy companies, government agencies, schools and researchers to address the many opportunities and challenges involved in bringing PEVs to the mass market. The conference was made possible by a grant from the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Itron is providing DTE Energy with OpenWay smart grid technology to automate a total of 2.6 million electric meters and 700,000 natural gas meters over the next six years.

"This full end-to-end functionality is just one aspect of the power of our OpenWay smart grid system," said Philip Mezey, Itron North America senior vice president and chief operating officer. "With other market leaders such as DTE Energy and Comverge and their determination to stay on top of emerging trends and policies, the potential positive impact on consumers and the excitement for this advanced technology continues to grow."

About Itron:

Itron Inc. is a leading technology provider to the global energy and water industries. Our company is the world's leading provider of intelligent 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, water and heat 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 DTE Energy:

DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Its operating units include Detroit Edison, an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan, MichCon, a natural gas utility serving 1.2 million customers in Michigan and other non-utility, energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, coal and gas midstream, unconventional gas production and energy trading. Information about DTE Energy is available at www.dteenergy.com.

About Comverge:

Comverge, with over 3,300 megawatts of clean energy capacity under management, is a leading provider of clean energy solutions that improve grid reliability and supply electric capacity on a more cost-effective basis than conventional alternatives by reducing base load and peak load energy consumption. For more information, visit www.comverge.com.

SOURCE: Itron Inc.

Itron Communications and Marketing 
Kim Papich, 509-891-3590 
kim.papich@itron.com 
or 
For DTE Energy: 
Len Singer, DTE Energy External Communications 
313-235-8809 
singerl@dteenergy.com 
or 
For Comverge: 
Kristin Mastrandrea, Comverge Communications Manager 
973-434-7157