Elster Integrated Solutions (EIS), part of Elster Group, a world leader in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and integrated metering and utilization solutions to the gas, electricity and water industries, announces it has successfully demonstrated ZigBee product interoperability with participating partner companies using the ZigBee Smart Energy Profile. The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard.

The ZigBee Alliance recently completed the ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile, which Elster is using in its EnergyAxis® System AMI solution. ZigBee Smart Energy offers utility companies a global open standard for implementing secure, easy-to-use wireless Home Area Networks (HAN) for managing energy.

"We are excited to have Elster's active participation in the ZigBee Alliance," said Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance. "The ZigBee products Elster and its partners are developing are important components to the portfolio of AMI connected HAN solutions. ZigBee technology enables Elster to offer its customers even more options for expanding Elster's EnergyAxis System into the customer premise to facilitate innovative demand response and energy efficiency applications."

Participation in the ZigBee Alliance gives Elster and its partners the opportunity to offer ZigBee Certified Products for use in HAN solutions. Elster successfully demonstrated interoperability testing with its EnergyAxis System and partnering companies including: Comverge, Energate, LS Research and Riga Development. EIS joined the ZigBee Alliance in 2007. In cooperation with its partners, EIS will deploy ZigBee Smart Energy Certified Products for use in HAN solutions for the EnergyAxis® System in 2008.

"Elster's EnergyAxis System is the most widely deployed AMI system in the world utilizing a true two-way radio frequency mesh network," said Victor Sitton, vice president of product marketing for Elster Integrated Solutions. "Elster continues its leadership position in the industry with successful large-scale, field-proven AMI deployments, and will similarly continue to lead in delivering innovative solutions in home area networking. We are proud to be an active participant in the ZigBee Alliance and we look forward to continuing to deliver innovation for our customers by bringing more ZigBee Smart Energy devices into the market."

By offering AMI solutions that support HANs designed for ZigBee, Elster continues to offer leading electric, gas and water AMI solutions for demand response, load control, pricing and customer communications. Elster's EnergyAxis System supports multiple HAN solutions, so utilities using an EnergyAxis AMI have a choice when selecting in-home displays, programmable communicating thermostats or load control devices.

Elster's EnergyAxis System delivers proven AMI technology to manage installed smart devices and communicate related information. The system provides the foundation for energy conservation, demand response, smart home solutions and is part of the smart grid of the future. Elster's AMI system supports gas, electricity and water while its open and interoperable architecture lowers investment risk by providing maximum flexibility for the integration of third-party solutions and emerging technologies via open and standards based interfaces.

The EnergyAxis System is currently the most widely deployed two-way radio frequency mesh network AMI technology in the world. EnergyAxis systems are operating in urban, suburban, rural, residential, commercial and industrial applications and range from high density metropolitan environments to lightly populated areas, including remote rural villages in Alaska. EnergyAxis System installations span the globe with deployments in North America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean.

Mon Mar 31 10:15:00 CDT 2008