The Ecologic MDMS Plays Pivotal Role in a Major Milestone in Oncor's AMS Deployment

Ecologic Analytics, LLC - 03.23.2010

Ecologic Analytics, a leading provider of meter data management systems (MDMS) for the Smart Grid, announced today that the Ecologic MDMS is a critical contributor in the data supplied to the Smart Meter Texas portal for Oncor. As the digital nerve center for Oncor’s Advanced Metering System (AMS), the Ecologic MDMS is responsible for enabling and tracking many on-demand functions for the AMS meters and associated Home Area Network (HAN) devices within the Oncor service territory and supplying this data to the portal. “Contributing to the initial go-live of the Smart Meter Texas portal is a significant accomplishment for us,” said Mark Carpenter, vice president and chief technology officer for Oncor. “EA’s leading edge application of the CIM messaging standards is a critical component of the high-volume, two-way communication capability between retail electric providers and consumers.” With the portal launch, consumers can register with the Smart Meter Texas portal to view daily energy usage, and participating competitive retailers, also known as Retail Electric Providers (REPs), can retrieve billing determinants and control in-home display (IHD) devices through the portal. As Smart Meter installations and the adoption of HAN devices increase within the Oncor service territory, the REPs will use the Smart Meter Texas portal to perform more services in near real time for consumers, including:

• Device activation and deactivation
• Meter connect or disconnect services
• On-demand meter reads
• Load control functions
• Pricing signals
  When requests are initiated from the Smart Meter Texas portal, the Ecologic MDMS processes them and returns responses in near real time. Service-oriented architecture between systems and common- information-model (CIM) messaging are a part of the process that enables the Ecologic MDMS to validate metering information, broker the command-and-control messages and provision in-home display devices for more than 700,000 AMS meters. Oncor intends to complete a deployment of more than 3-million smart meters by 2012. “As with so many of our customers, we are fortunate to work with Oncor, a truly innovative utility,” said David Hubbard, chief technology officer for Ecologic Analytics. “The AMS and MDMS deployment is yet another use case for the MDMS brought to life. Together we’re breaking new ground as we develop best practices to control in-home energy displays with standards-based messaging.” Late last year, Ecologic Analytics announced that the MDMS interfaces and messaging protocols are compliant with CIM/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61968 Part 9 standards and are generally available in the current version of the Ecologic MDMS. We invite you to see working demonstrations of this solution in conjunction with our partners IBM (booth -#427) and Landis+Gyr (booth - #702). For more information, contact us at info@ecologicanalytics.com or visit us at our DistribuTECH booth - #623.

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