Echelon Wins Advanced Metering and Energy Management Project with Austrian Utility LINZ STROM

(SAN JOSE, CA– May 2007) - Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON), a leading provider of networking technology that is used to manage and reduce energy consumption, today announced that its Networked Energy Services (NES) System has been selected by LINZ STROM, Austria to network 75,000 of its customers using advanced meters. The project includes an option for an additional 75,000 of their remaining 175,000 meters. NES Value-Added Reseller Ubitronix (also of Austria), will serve as the prime contractor under the terms of the recently concluded public tender offer. The project is the first large-scale NES win in Austria and demonstrates the power of the NES system and Echelon networking infrastructure products to provide comprehensive energy management systems to utilities and municipalities.
In addition to installation of the NES System, LINZ STROM, Austria will also install a LonWorks® based managed streetlight system in a segment of its territory as well as provide direct control of in-home appliances such as hot water heaters or furnaces. Echelon expects shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2007 and total revenue, without options, of approximately $7.5 million over the course of the initial three year project.
“We’re very excited to have successfully concluded a long and stringent public tender process so satisfactorily,” said Josef Heizinger, CEO of LINZ STROM. “The NES system, as supplied by Ubitronix, will provide us with substantial competitive advantages in our metering market. Additionally, by extending the electricity metering infrastructure to other residential meters, and through the direct control of high-consumption devices inside the home, I believe that LINZ STROM has embarked on a truly market leading project – not only in Austria, but globally.”
The LINZ STROM project includes in-home command and control via the NES meter’s EN 13757 (M-Bus) communications connection to existing gas or water meters. A Ubitronix developed Load Management Module with integrated M-Bus controller and corresponding enterprise applications specifically for use with the NES system manages up to four separate circuits – creating a cost-effective, two-way demand response and load management system for high-consumption in-home devices. The same Ubitronix controllers provide switching for street lights. Light level information is provided to LINZ STROM control centers over a broadband power line wide-area network or other IP connection using Echelon’s i.LON® 100 servers and light sensors based on Echelon’s power line communications technology. Switching of the street lights is controlled over the NES infrastructure and Ubitronix controllers. The system provides LINZ STROM with the opportunity to substantially reduce streetlight related operating and maintenance costs. For example, the City of Oslo uses a similar system that has resulted in energy savings of nearly 50% and maintenance cost reductions of nearly 30%.
“We are very pleased with this win in Austria, both for the widening of the advanced metering market that it represents and also because of the breadth of vision that LINZ STROM has shown,” said Frits Bruggink, Echelon’s senior vice-president and general manager, service provider group. “By combining the power of Echelon’s LonWorks infrastructure and NES product lines and working with a skilled partner such as Ubitronix to extend the functionality and integrate it into their business, LINZ STROM serves as a great example of how Echelon offerings can be leveraged to improve operations and lower costs across multiple functions and services within a utility.”
“We are proud to accomplish the comprehensive and forward-looking requirements of the tender,” said Christoph Schaffer, Ubitronix’s CEO. “LINZ STROM will benefit from our modular software suite and the powerful hardware modules for load management and street lighting which automatically integrate into the NES system by means of plug-and-play.”

About the NES System
Echelon's NES system provides an open, bidirectional, and extensible infrastructure that enables a comprehensive range of utility applications that can bring benefits to every aspect of a utility's operation, from metering, to customer services, to distribution operations, to value-added services. The system enables a comprehensive set of energy services, including: two-way automated meter reading; multi-tiered billing; time-of-use and real-time pricing; prepaid metering; remote electrical disconnect and reconnect; distribution system asset optimization; electricity outage detection and restoration management; blackout and brownout elimination; comprehensive revenue protection; real-time direct load control; power quality measurement; and extensive tamper detection features. Taken as a whole, this set of features yields significant installation, operational, and life-cycle cost savings—with a typical payback period of two to five years for most utilities.

About ubitronix system solutions gmbh
Ubitronix system solutions gmbh is a solution provider and system integrator which supports the concept of unified intelligent energy management that is able to integrate automated meter management, power quality monitoring, load management, home and building automation and remotely managed street lighting, all within one solution. Based on modern, expandable system architecture, ubitronix develops a series of communication, metering and load management products that will emphasize Echelon’s NES system and will integrate seamlessly with the NES system. Further information about Ubitronix can be found at http://www.ubitronix.com.

About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:ELON) is networking company that provides products and systems that can monitor and save energy, lower costs, improve productivity and enhance service, quality, safety and convenience by networking together everyday devices in utility, buildings, industrial, transportation and home control systems. Tens of millions of smart devices based on Echelon’s LonWorks products and Networked Energy Services (NES) systems are in use around the world today bringing benefits to consumers and industry. More information about Echelon can be found at http://www.echelon.com.

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This release was published on openPR.