CLP Power Tests Next Generation Itron Technology as Part of Its Smart Metering Pilot

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Aug. 5, 2014 — Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), a world-leading technology and services company, announced today that CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd (CLP Power), the largest vertically-integrated electricity generation, transmission, distribution and retail company in Hong Kong, will test Itron's new Adaptive Communications Technology, running on CLP Power's installed OpenWay® smart grid platform and network. Itron's latest technology provides flexible communications, computing power and intelligence at the edge of the network.

With these new capabilities, meters and other grid devices can process, analyze, communicate and react in real time, intelligently switching communication modes between Power Line Carrier (PLC) and radio frequency (RF) to provide optimal network performance with assured connectivity. This intelligence at the meter also supports new, real-time analytic applications at the device and field area network level, such as load management and distribution automation.

Itron's Adaptive Communications Technology combines RF mesh and PLC communications on the same chip set, which is powered by an advanced microcontroller running a Linux-based operating system. This enables dynamic selection of the optimal communications path based on network operating conditions, data attributes and application requirements. With adaptive communication capabilities, deployment of network infrastructure is easier, faster and less costly. It also greatly reduces the amount of time and effort needed for upfront network design and propagation studies. Itron is first in bringing this new technology to the Asia-Pacific market to address the deployment and network performance challenges presented by dense, urban environments.

CLP Power is the first utility to test Itron's Adaptive Communications Technology. Hong Kong's urban environment with many high rise buildings and enclosed meter rooms presents a number of network connectivity challenges for any smart grid solution. CLP Power and Itron are working closely together to test the technology, which brings together RF and PLC mesh to simplify deployment and improve connectivity across the Hong Kong environment. The technology will also be tested in Hong Kong's less dense rural villages.

"We are very pleased to continue working with CLP on their smart metering pilot," said Simon Pontin, Itron's chief technology officer. "It gave us valuable insights into the unique challenges of Hong Kong's extremely dense urban environment. Adaptive Communication Technology has been designed to overcome these challenges with optimized communication that happens dynamically, intelligently and continuously at all levels of the network for every link, every message and every device. Hong Kong is an ideal testing ground for this new technology, and CLP Power continues to be an ideal partner with which to collaborate on next generation technologies."

To learn more, visit Itron in Booth 0014 at Asian Utility Week, August 5-6, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.