RALEIGH, N.C., March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Elster (NYSE : ELT ) today announced that it will work with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) (NYSE : SAI ) to deliver a comprehensive hosted Smart Grid solution that will empower utilities with a variety of advanced functionalities across electric, water and gas infrastructures. The hosted end-to-end solution is especially cost-effective for public power municipal and cooperative agencies, and will enable them to improve operating efficiencies and customer service.

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This full life-cycle offering will enable utility customers the opportunity to realize the benefits of SmartGrid as a Service™ (SGaaS™), such as  demand response (DR), distribution automation (DA), meter data management (MDM), voltage conservation, transformer monitoring, electric vehicle charging and more. With the bundled offering, small and large utilities can operate a high availability Smart Grid system at significantly lower cost.

"Elster and SAIC are providing the foundation for Smart Grid projects of all sizes and requirements through a hosted offering that can be customized according to the needs of our customers," said Mark Munday, president and CEO, Elster Solutions.

"Our relationship with SAIC will help utilities determine and accelerate their position within the Smart Grid life cycle, and ensure that project goals are met and customers are informed and happy," Munday added.

The joint solution will build on Elster's EnergyAxis® Smart Grid solution and SAIC's Tier 3 SAS 70 Type II service. EnergyAxis, which is already active in more than 85 deployments worldwide, enables advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and DA convergence through built-in applications.

EnergyAxis supports TCP/IP, IPv4 and IPv6, and provides utilities with increased interoperability and more multi-technology options. EnergyAxis uses standard interfaces to Customer Information Systems (CIS), Geospatial Information Systems (GIS), Outage Management Systems (OMS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), and is compliant with industry standards, including National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) approved security standards. SGaaS™ also provides scalable MDM for Smart Grid deployments of all sizes.

"Similar to SAIC, Elster has a very successful track record of Smart Grid deployments that have provided both utilities and their customers with energy-reducing and cost-saving services," said Mark J. Fronmuller, executive vice president of SAIC's energy IT and smart grid operations.

"The need for a hosted solution is clear, and by combining our field-proven technologies and service offerings, Elster and SAIC are delivering on the promise of the Smart Grid," Fronmuller added.

The comprehensive solution from Elster and SAIC provides program management services, as well as business process and change management. The entire solution takes advantage of multiple wide area network (WAN) technologies, eliminating the need for a system backhaul. In addition, the solution is backed by leading customer support processes from both SAIC and Elster.

About Elster

Elster (NYSE : ELT) is one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services – key components for enabling consumer choice, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets.

Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering modules deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications.

For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.

SOURCE Elster