Date: Sep 28, 2004 Source: Business Wire
Today, at the Metering Europe 2004 utility event, Echelon Corporation (Nasdaq:ELON) and GORLITZ AG announced that the companies have signed an agreement under which GORLITZ will base its system offering for the residential metering market on Echelon's networked energy services (NES) system. GORLITZ is a leading supplier of automatic remote reading, data transmission, and data gathering and preparation systems for utilities serving the European commercial and industrial sector. More than 350 European utilities in 14 countries have installed control systems and devices from GORLITZ. This new agreement marks GORLITZ's entrance into the residential metering market.
"As energy markets across Europe liberalize in response to EU directives, the demand for smart energy management systems is growing rapidly," said GORLITZ's CEO Martin Gorlitz. "It is becoming critical for utilities to have systems in place that provide them with the information and control they need to make smart decisions. Our EMETRION meter portfolio extends the existing EDW3000 and Skalar metering system platforms with next generation integrated meter solutions. Echelon's NES system, with its advanced suite of metering services, allows us to expand into the high volume metering market and will become a cornerstone of the GORLITZ system portfolio. This combined solution gives our customers access to an extensive set of new smart metering applications and seamlessly integrates with their current business processes and existing IT infrastructure for metering. Market conditions have created an exciting opportunity for companies with the right set of solutions, and with the NES system we will maintain a leading market position for procuring, processing and documenting energy data."
Under the terms of the agreement being announced today, GORLITZ is joining Echelon's NES Value-Added Reseller (VAR) program. This program is designed to establish Echelon's NES system as a global standard for intelligent utility management systems. In addition to positioning member companies to provide advanced metering and related services to utilities, the program creates an opportunity for companies to offer high-value project management and installation services, software applications, new services such as outsourced meter reading, and meters customized for local market needs. These services are built on the highly reliable NES platform, which is comprised of middleware software based on Echelon's Panoramix(R) enterprise software platform, powerful IP connected data concentrators, and a family of intelligent, communicating electricity meters and meter boards that can be built into customized meters by the VAR.
"We believe that GORLITZ, with their relationships with hundreds of utilities across Europe and particular strength in Germany, could rapidly expand the adoption of smart metering systems across Europe," said Echelon's Chairman and CEO Ken Oshman. "GORLITZ's focus on metering systems as communications networks and sources of data to be managed for competitive advantage represent the kind of forward-thinking viewpoint that we believe utilities are increasingly seeking. Their adoption of the NES platform should enable them to build on their strengths and continue to provide solutions that not only lead the market in technology but more importantly, lead the market in solving customer problems and delivering business value."
About GORLITZ AG
GORLITZ AG is one of the leading European Metering System suppliers, offering a complete portfolio for meter data collection software, hardware, system integration and project management for over 30 years. Over 140 people are the base of GORLITZ's European-wide presence. GORLITZ metering systems are used in more than 400 utility and 800 industrial projects in Europe. This includes installations at most of the 10 largest utilities such as ENEL, RWE, EON, VATTENFALL, ATEL or ESSENT. GORLITZ's systems include a wide platform of communication devices for meters cover GSM, GPRS/SMS, PSTN, ISDN, Ethernet and low voltage and mid voltage power line communications.
EDW3000 is a state of the art metering system with integrated data collection and energy data management capabilities. The intelligent Skalar Modem family expands any kind of energy meter into a TCP/IP web based communication site automatically. Further information can be found at http://www.goerlitz.com
The EMETRION meter portfolio is GORLITZ's latest product segment. Five different meters serve applications from simple residential up to high potential industrial meters. Integrated communication and optimised system integration is common to all of the new EMETRION meters. Further information can be found at http://www.emetrion.com
About the NES System
Echelon's Networked Energy Services (NES) system provides an open, bidirectional, and extensible infrastructure that enable a comprehensive range of utility applications. These services, including automatic meter reading (AMR), time-of-use (TOU) pricing, automated remote connect and disconnect, direct load control, maximum power limiting, tamper and theft detection, outage detection, and quality of service monitoring, can bring benefits to every aspect of a utility's operation, from metering, to customer services, to distribution operations, to value-added services. The NES system is comprised of power line based smart meters, data concentrators located at the transformer communicating with NES meters, and system software hosted at the utility or service provider's operations center.
About Echelon
Echelon Corporation is the creator of the LonWorks(R) platform, the world's most widely used standard for connecting everyday devices such as appliances, thermostats, air conditioners, electric meters, and lighting systems to each other and to the Internet. Echelon's hardware and software products enable manufacturers and integrators to create smart devices and systems that lower cost, increase convenience, improve service, and enhance productivity, quality, and safety. Thousands of companies have developed and installed LonWorks products and over 40 million LonWorks based devices have been installed in homes, buildings, factories, trains, utilities and other systems worldwide. Further information regarding Echelon can be found at http://www.echelon.com.
EMETRION is a trademark of the GORLITZ AG. Echelon, LonWorks, Panoramix and the Echelon logo are trademarks of Echelon Corporation registered in the United States and other countries. NES Powered by Echelon is a trademark of Echelon Corporation in the US and other countries. Other marks belong to their respective companies.
This press release may contain statements relating to future plans, events or performance. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to the timing and level of customer orders, demand for products and services, development of markets for Echelon's products and services, including Echelon's Networked Energy Services (NES) system; risks associated with GORLITZ meeting production and delivery targets for NES based solutions, integration of existing GORLITZ applications with the NES system, demand for GORLITZ's EDW3000 system and the EMETRION meter portfolio, and demand for GORLITZ NES based solutions; risks associated with the NES system's ability to perform as designed and its pricing relative to alternative offerings, potential production or shipment delays of NES components to GORLITZ by Echelon or its production partners, the growth of the LonWorks industry worldwide, sales targets not being met, development of markets for Echelon's products and services; and other risks identified in Echelon's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Echelon and GORLITZ undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
