Itron : Reaches Industry Milestone, Ships 50 Millionth Gas Communication Module
September 18, 2014 at 09:38 am EDT
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LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. - Sept. 18, 2014 - Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) announced today that it reached a significant milestone and industry first, shipping its 50 millionth gas communication module in North America. CenterPoint Energy, Inc.'s natural gas distribution business received the communication module, which is an important part of the utility's automated meter reading deployment.
Itron's advanced gas metering solution enables CenterPoint Energy to remotely collect up to 10,000 meter readings per day per vehicle with mobile data collection. This platform has also positioned CenterPoint to be able to migrate to an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network should their operational needs and customer expectations grow over time.
CenterPoint Energy's history with Itron dates back to 1986 when the first gas communication module was developed by Enscan, which was owned by one of CenterPoint's predecessor companies. Enscan was acquired by Itron in 1992.
"The communications module was originally designed to solve the problem of reading indoor gas meters in Minnesota. We are delighted that this has come full circle and we're receiving Itron's 50 millionth gas communication module," said Joe McGoldrick, executive vice president and president of Gas Operations at CenterPoint Energy.
To date, CenterPoint Energy has installed 2.7 million of 3.3 million gas communications modules across its six-state service territory, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. The deployment is expected to be complete in 2015. The solution provides CenterPoint Energy with more accurate meter readings and enhances customer satisfaction because there is no need to access customers' premises.
"Itron is proud to celebrate this significant milestone with CenterPoint Energy," said Carl Porter, vice president of sales, marketing and delivery for Gas North America at Itron. "For years, we have led the industry in gas module accuracy, reliability, battery life longevity and safety. Our gas modules have always been designed to meet the industry's most stringent intrinsic safety requirements. Itron strives to meet the needs of our customers, delivering products and solutions to help them better manage gas resources."
Itron, Inc. provides energy, water, smart city, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and intelligent infrastructure services. The Company operates in three segments. The Device Solutions segment primarily includes hardware products used for measurement, control, or sensing. Its Networked Solutions segment primarily includes a combination of communicating devices, network infrastructure, and associated head-end management and application software designed and sold as a complete solution for acquiring and transporting application-specific data. Its Outcomes segment includes its value-added, enhanced software and services, artificial intelligence, and machine learning in which it enable grid edge intelligence and manage, organize, analyze, and interpret raw, anonymized data to improve decision making. It is also engaged in embedding real-time, high-resolution grid edge data into the grid planning, operations and engineering process. Its solutions include technology, software and services.
ITRON, INC. 
