Smart Utilities

Green Energy Options (GEO) has appointed Etneo Italia to distribute GEO’s home energy management systems within Italy.

While Vodafone Group’s adjusted operating profit for the year ended 31 March 2012 fell by 2.4% year-on-year to £11.5 billion (US$18.2 billion), due to the sale of its interest in SFR, the company has seen major growth in M2M connections, notably in the automotive and utilities markets.

Arnhem, The Netherlands – All 26 partners of the Smart Energy Collective have signed a renewed coop-eration agreement approval the second phase of its smart grid initiative, which involves the development of five large-scale smart grid demonstration projects in the Netherlands.

Boulder, CO, USA — Electric, gas, and water utilities have long used public cellular networks (pictured) to link field devices to the utility’s central operations systems. Until recently, however, the use of such networks in the utility sector has been limited, primarily due to restrictive pricing and perceived technical limitations. Yet there is now a

Transense Technologies plc (“Transense”) (AIM: TRT), a provider of sensor systems for the transportation and industrial markets, has announced that its trading division, IntelliSAW, a provider of next generation wireless sensor systems for smart grid applications, has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with EL PE Engineers (“EL PE”), headquartered in Vadodara, India.

Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) has announced the availability of the Convergys Smart Retail Energy Solution, a next-generation billing and customer care offering for retail energy providers.

Paderborn & Hannover, Germany. March 6, 2012: At this year’s CeBIT exhibition, an Energy & Service Billing Platform is being demonstrated at the Connected Living Hall 26 by Germany’s Orga Systems. The system bills for energy usage in line with fluctuating hourly spot market prices, and is being shown in a ‘Wind-to-Home’ scenario.

Capgemini, one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, has announced the launch of an off-the-shelf software-as-a-service (SaaS) product, that manages the entire smart metering lifecycle.

Project shows how smart water metering can help water companies to better manage their networks, reduce leaks and conserve water.

Touchwork has launched Utiviti – a suite of smart, multi-platform products to make a utility workforce more productive and processes more efficient.

Itron, Inc. has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire privately held SmartSynch, Inc. in a transaction valued at $100 million. The acquisition will bring greater choice to utility customers across the spectrum of smart metering deployments and strengthen Itron’s integrated cellular communications offering. The parties expect the transaction to close in the

Electricity distributor EDP, mobile operator Optimus and WeDo Technologies consider the M2M challenges and opportunities in the utilities and telecom sectors.

It’s hardly news that the smartphone is set to become the remote controller for pretty much everything in our day-to-day lives, says Georgina Elrington.

General Electric Co. (GE), has announced its intention to begin making sizeable acquisitions in Germany, as it looks to seize market share

Lantronix, a global provider of smart connectivity technology, and Quadlogic, a provider of Power Line Communications metering technology, has announced that the Mall of America has upgraded its smart metering systems

Siemens Industry, Inc. will buy eMeter Corporation this month, subject to necessary approvals and customary closing conditions. The parties will not disclose the terms of the agreement.