Infrastructure Asset Management Takes Center Stage at 82nd Annual International Conference of Doble Clients

WATERTOWN, Mass., March 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- With asset maintenance, regulatory compliance and cyber security front of mind for the electric power industry, its leaders have come together in Boston for the 82^nd International Conference of Doble Clients. Doble Engineering Company, a subsidiary of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE), holds the event annually to provide a one-of-a-kind forum on a broad range of industry issues. Kicking-off on Sunday, March 22 and running through Friday, March 27, this year's conference will focus on addressing the infrastructure asset management concerns of men and women in the field, all the way through to the corporate office.

Recognized as the world's premier event focused on asset assessment, the conference agenda is designed primarily by Doble's clients. The event includes technical sessions on a variety of topics including: asset management, asset condition and replacement strategies, storm preparedness, operating concerns and asset diagnostic approaches.

"The electric power grid is facing a number of serious issues, and because of that, the industry is ripe for innovation and disruption. We're doing our best to facilitate this evolution by creating an environment for the industry to reflect on the past year, but more importantly, look to what's ahead," said David B. Zabetakis, president of Doble. "For several years, we've been working to secure the health, safety and reliability of the electric power grid by giving our customers the tools, services and peer community they need to be successful – this year's conference continues to execute on that vision."

On the State of the Electric Power Grid

While the US power grid is under tremendous pressure due to demand and aging infrastructure, utilities are faced with mounting challenges, including time, resource and financial constraints. As a result, organizations are relying increasingly on test and maintenance technology to keep systems up-and-running, warning when something could fail and explaining what went wrong when an issue arises.

At this year's keynote presentation, Teresa Mogensen, vice president of transmission at Xcel Energy, will encourage attendees to think not only about engineering and technical challenges, but about the broader business and societal environment that they're working in. Having this foundational understanding will help utilities to deliver the actual value that they were originally created to deliver.

"Public utilities are under immense pressure from stakeholders and regulators to balance many, often competing, factors in making decisions on investments and operating approaches. Their ultimate goal needs to be to provide real value to society, and to be able to demonstrate that value," said Mogensen. "Doble's Client Conference is a great opportunity for utilities to share their best practices and how they're using innovative tools and technologies to help deliver that value. I'm excited to be a part of such an established and industry-leading event."

Xcel Energy is a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company with regulated operations in eight Western and Midwestern states. Xcel Energy provides a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.5 million electricity customers and 1.9 million natural gas customers through its regulated operating companies.

Building Powerful Tools and Resources

Announced earlier this month, Doble released the Delphi Portable^TM, a portable dissolved gas-in-oil analyzer, and the newest member of the Doble Delphi product line. For use in routine and emergency testing situations, the Delphi Portable takes dissolved gas analysis (DGA) readings in 30 minutes or less, sharing actionable information on seven key diagnostic gases and moisture in insulating oil.

With nearly a century of providing industry-leading diagnostic and testing innovation and intelligence, Doble is the trusted, experienced and agnostic third-party authority in the electric power industry. The company's solutions are backed by the broadest and most comprehensive database of historical test data, and give energy providers unprecedented access to the tools, data and information needed to make educated decisions about the reliability and efficiency of the power grid.

Other Doble solutions helping organizations to maintain and secure their assets include:

• Field Force Automation: Standardizes testing programs by automating the downloading and saving of test data.
• Test Data Management: Ensures that historical test data is in a state that can be used for accurate predictive monitoring and assessment.
• doblePRIME^TM and dobleARMS^TM: Provide cutting edge online monitoring and asset risk management.
• Protection software and hardware: Helps utilities meet NERC PRC-005-002 compliance.

About Doble Engineering Company
Now in 110 countries, Doble Engineering Company has been helping clients in the electric power industry improve operations and optimize system performance for nearly a century. Doble offers diagnostic instruments, services, and the world's premier library of statistically significant apparatus test results for the benefit of energy generation, transmission, delivery companies and industrial power users worldwide. Doble is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE), St. Louis. For more information, visit: www.doble.com.

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