Aclara Announces Its Next Generation Advanced Metering Infrastructure Communication System for Electric Utilities at TechAdvantage

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Aclara Technologies LLC, a leading provider of intelligent infrastructure solutions and a member of the utility solutions group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE), today announced enhanced TWACS® (eTWACS™) at TechAdvantage 2013 in New Orleans. Aclara's TWACS power-line communications technology is the leading advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution nationwide, communicating with more than 13.5 million deployed smart devices and retrieving hourly data with a read rate higher than 99 percent for over 360 utilities.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100921/CG68648LOGO)

With eTWACS, utilities now can send and receive more data over power lines than they could with earlier generations of TWACS. The eTWACS protocol allows concurrent, bidirectional transmission of data on all three phases of an AC electrical distribution feeder as well as on all busses and substations simultaneously. The net effect in most cases can triple the communications capacity of an Aclara power-line communications system and add significant capacity for future communication needs.

What does this mean to the utility? Utilities now can use the additional capacity provided by eTWACS to handle smart grid applications above and beyond meter reading. Utilities deploying eTWACS now will have plenty of capacity to handle tasks such as outage management, load control, and distribution management. For example, testing by Aclara confirmed that with eTWACS the time to retrieve a full complement of "shifted" meter data from a 5000-meter bus, including intervals, voltages, kilowatt hours, tamper indicators, error flags, and demand, could be reduced from 60 to 20 minutes.

"For utilities that are looking for solid, reliable, high-capacity performance from an AMI system, Aclara eTWACS really cannot be beaten," said Ed Kobeszka, product manager for Aclara. "Each eTWACS-enabled meter is capable of providing significant data to the utility including interval reads, load profiles, voltage reads, outage data, and tamper notifications as well insight into power quality. With eTWACS this data is collected both quickly and accurately."

The two-way functionality of eTWACS also allows the utility to communicate effectively to each endpoint to issue on-request reads, control load-shed events, remotely connect and disconnect meters, and download feature enhancements. Aclara eTWACS is fully backward compatible with previous versions of TWACS equipment so that eTWACS-capable and earlier generation TWACS technology endpoints can coexist while maximizing communication capacity.

About Aclara

Aclara® represents the industry's leading Intelligent Infrastructure technologies for providing device networking, data-value management, and customer communications to water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Over 500 utilities in nine countries rely on proven Aclara solutions to connect with their customers. Aclara Technologies LLC is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE), St. Louis. Create Your Intelligent Infrastructure™ www.Aclara.com.

SOURCE Aclara Technologies LLC

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED