
	February 2008

Itron Mobile Collector Lite Makes Strides in AMR Marketplace

In 2007, Itron's Mobile Collector Lite made significant progress in the marketplace. Itron now has more than 200 Mobile Collector Lite automate meter reading (AMR) systems under contract—a market leading metric.

As part of Itron's ChoiceConnect™ AMR data collection suite, there was much anticipation when the Mobile Collector Lite was released in March 2007. By combining the flexibility of a

handheld system with the reading efficiency of a mobile system, the Mobile Collector Lite offers utilities an innovative and low cost system that meets its meter reading needs.

Itron's rugged, industry-leading FC200 handheld computer is the key to Mobile Collector Lite's flexibility. Utilizing the compact in-vehicle dock and external multi-channel, full-duplex radio, the Mobile Collector Lite collects consumption and tamper data from water, gas and electric endpoints. The external full-duplex SRead™ radio collects reads across 80 channels simultaneously, providing the highest level of RF performance in a highly integrated and cost-effective solution. A single Mobile Collector Lite can read up to 10,000 meters on a single route, or the FC200 can be removed from the in-vehicle dock to probe reads and collect manual meter reads or program endpoints while reading the normal cycle route.

The early success of the Mobile Collector Lite illustrates the need for a collection system that offers water, gas and electric meter reading flexibility and efficiency at an affordable price.

Itron Water Endpoints Offer Compatibility to Existing and Future Meter Population

As our customers make the decision to deploy Itron automated meter reading (AMR) systems, it is critical to their success that we make the rollout as cost effective as possible. One way Itron strives to accomplish this is to design and develop our systems to be compatible with meters from the leading manufactures. Itron endpoints excel at capturing accurate reads from either encoded or pulse-generating registers and delivering that meter data to either a walk-by, drive-by or network collection system.

Itron 60 Series Water ERT® modules are compatible with encoded (60W) and pulse-generating (60WP) registers from industry-leading water meter manufacturers including AMCO, Badger, Hersey, Metron-Farnier, Sensus, Neptune and Actaris. The 60 Series works with Itron's ChoiceConnect™ suite of data collection systems, which include FC200SR handheld computers, and MC3 and Mobile Collector Lite mobile meter reading systems.

The 200WP is compatible with industry-leading water meters including AMCO, Badger, Hersey, Metron-Farnier, and Neptune, enabling water utilities to consolidate all its water meters under a single, advanced-metering radio-frequency network. Part of the Itron Water Fixed Network, the two-way radio capability of the 200WP facilitates on-demand reads and clock synchronization without visiting the meter. Powered by a long-life D-cell lithium battery, the 200WP endpoint delivers an extended battery life.

When considering an AMR solution, compatibility to your existing and future meter population is a key decision. Itron has worked with the leading meter manufacturers for years and is the water industry leader in AMR architecture.

Intelligent Management of Precious Water Resources

It wasn't long ago when non-revenue water losses were assumed as a cost of doing business. Today's sky rocketing costs, increasing demand and tighter supplies are making it hard for water providers to ignore the importance of water loss control, enterprise pipeline integrity management and conservation of resources.

Itron Water Loss Management solutions help utilities realize the benefits of state-of-the-art leak detection system-wide. Its

comprehensive distribution information at your fingertips. Access to accurate and time-sensitive information when and where you need it, solves the problem of real losses between the treatment plant and the consumer. This minimizes the economic cost of pumping and treating lost water, and reduces the costs associated with line bursts. It also addresses the growing need for conservation of water resources.

Itron's innovative water loss management solution, MLOG, is the world's first truly maintenance-free, automatic leak detection system that provides continuous monitoring of "leak sounds." It's based on patented acoustic sensing technology and a superior analysis engine for rapid identification of the precise locations of underground leaks. MLOG is designed for water providers of all sizes who want to manage distribution system water loss; simplify pipeline repair and water containment structure maintenance; and safeguard its precious resource. A rich interactive suite of web applications, mlog online™, helps manage distribution system data for one or many community water systems — to support today’s business needs and tomorrow’s technologies.

How Water Utilities are Benefiting from Interval Meter Data

In a time when estimated bills and quarterly billing are still somewhat commonplace, the idea of collecting meter data from your water customers every 15 minutes may seem a bit excessive. With ever-increasing demand for water and tighter supplies, accurate billing and data logging are becoming important tools to better control and manage usage.

While estimated reads don't take into account the actual

consumption of water by a customer, walk-by and drive-by automatic meter reading (AMR) capture meter reads that accurately convey how much water a customer consumes during a given time period for billing purposes. Fixed networks enable utilities to collect and manage multiple meter reads over a given time period, up to every 15 minutes, to log actual usage by individual customers and are offering water providers a wealth of information on who is using what, how much and when. All with interval meter data.

Interval meter data is used to precisely monitor usage patterns and create usage profiles for every customer. These profiles enable different billing programs such as time-of-use billing and peak pricing. Utilities can also manage conservation programs with usage profiles. With interval data, a baseline can be created of usage for the entire customer base or any specific group desired - subdivision, pressure zone, etc. Once the conservation program is implemented, current usage data is measured relative to the baseline for program effectiveness and customer compliance. Different programs, such as email or door-hanger campaigns or different rate structures, can be tested against one another to determine the most effective implementations vs. relative cost. Individual water savers and abusers can also be identified and tracked with their specific usage profiles.

Interval data can also be utilized for advanced engineering studies to detect areas which may be approaching their capacity design limits. Once identified, time-of-use rates can be managed with interval data collection to help distribute peak loads to avoid overloading the distribution system. By shifting loads, expensive infrastructure investments and unpopular bond issues can be deferred.

As the balance between water supplies and demand becomes more critical, water providers are realizing the importance of usage information and that meter reading can offer far more than a simple consumption read for billing purposes.

City of Parsons has Environment, Progress in Mind

As concern for the environment grows, so too does society's desire to reduce pollution, recycle more, and save resources. These 'green' efforts have become trends across the United States. The City of Parsons, Kansas is taking a leading role in environmental awareness and selected Flostar meters from Actaris, an Itron company, for use as valuable tools for the intelligent management of Parsons' precious water resources. The Flostar is a single jet meter and is designed to meet the advanced needs of today's water utilities in residential applications. Its metrological accuracy exceeds the latest AWWA

standards and its low flow accuracy ensures complete and efficient measurement. This Flostar meter's accuracy enables Parsons to measure every drop of water consumed for better resource management.

Parsons is located in the southeast corner of Kansas and has a population of around 11,000 residents. The city has three elevated water towers that store about 1.25 million gallons. This meter change out will use a total of 4,554 meters with Itron 60W Water ERT® modules, and will be read with Itron's Mobile Collection System, our easy-to-use, portable drive-by automated meter reading (AMR) system. The replacement of the meters and the installation of the AMR systems are expected to be complete before the end of the year.

Parsons worked with Custom Energy, an independent energy services company on their efficiency programs and part of their joint effort included the recent selection of Actaris Flostar meters.