Itron and PrimeStone Collaborate to Expand Smart Metering Options in Latin America

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. and BOGOTA, Colombia—September 26, 2012—Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), a global technology company that helps utilities measure, monitor and manage energy and water, and PrimeStone, a leading smart grid solutions company, announced today that they have executed a non-exclusive agreement to jointly promote and sell their energy solutions to utilities in Latin America. The collaboration is dedicated to delivering a wide range of smart metering and smart grid benefits to utilities and end customers including reliable service delivery and energy conservation.

"We're constantly seeking ways to provide customers with a variety of technology choices to address their unique business requirements. Our agreement with PrimeStone clearly brings more options to the marketplace," said Gadner Vieira, general manager of Itron's Energy Group in Latin America. "This alliance presents an excellent opportunity for both companies to accelerate the adoption of smart metering to help utilities manage energy distribution and serve their customers."

With this collaboration, both companies will offer Itron's industry-leading smart grid solution, which enables utilities to meet business challenges they are facing, such as increasing demand, aging infrastructure and improving service while keeping costs down. Itron's technology provides the foundation for customer-focused programs that give consumers greater control of their energy use and costs. It also provides a platform for secure, reliable data collection and two-way communications between the utility and its customers, and includes robust revenue protection tools.

In addition, PrimeStone's PrimeRead Energy Suite for residential and commercial and industrial meters will become part of the expanded product portfolio and integrated with Itron's solution. Within the suite, utilities can take advantage of PrimeRead's Data Collection Engine, which provides a validation, estimating and editing engine to process the data. A robust reporting tool for posting user-defined reports for scheduled report generation and delivery is also included. In conjunction with PrimeGuard and PrimeGrid, utilities will have complete revenue protection against theft and undetected losses.

"Utilities are entering a new age; they need to reach higher efficiency in terms of distribution, loss reduction, engagement with their clients and demand response. As a technology company, we like to team up with our clients to understand their needs and work hard to deliver the best, timely solutions possible. This alliance with Itron will allow both sides to serve better and faster," said Javier Zarama, CEO of PrimeStone.

About PrimeStone:
PrimeStone is a well-established software development company since 1990 that is focused on providing sophisticated Smart Grid applications and solutions, for data collection, validation, management, control and information exchange between meters and other devices for the power industry. Our experienced staff is headquartered in Bogota, Colombia, with satellite offices and authorized distributors located strategically in many countries. Visit at: www.primestone.com.