Atmel and Wasion Group To Develop PRIME PLC Smart Meter Solutions

News provided by

Jan 15, 2013, 08:00 ET

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel^®Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, and Wasion Group, a leading supplier of advanced energy metering products and solutions, today announced the two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop smart electricity meters and data concentrators utilizing highly integrated power line communication (PLC) solutions developed by Atmel.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120530/SF15228LOGO)

According to market research firm Pike Research, 17.9 million smart meters have been deployed since Q2 2012, with China as the largest driver*. The joint development between Atmel and Wasion will help drive adoption of standards-compliant smart metering solutions in worldwide markets based on field-proven and cost-effective PRIME narrowband PLC technology.

"Working with a leading supplier like Atmel who has in-depth understanding of smart metering technologies will enable us to bring electricity meter and data concentrator solutions to market more rapidly," said Wang Xuexin, General Manager of Overseas Division, Wasion Group. "Through our collaboration, we will be able to accelerate development, field testing and roll-out of smart metering solutions."

Atmel and Wasion Group will collaborate on product developments based on the Atmel ATPL210, ATPL220 and recently announced SAM4SP32A, the world's first single-chip PRIME compliant system-on-chip solution based on an ARM® Cortex™-M4 processor-based microcontroller (MCU) core with 2MB of Flash memory, supported by Atmel Studio 6 integrated development platform (IDP).

"We greatly appreciate Wasion Group's decision to select Atmel as their partner and believe our mutual efforts will ultimately help utilities achieve their energy and environmental policy goals," said Kourosh Boutorabi, Sr. Director of Smart Energy, Atmel Corporation. "China is the fastest growing market for smart meters with some of the most demanding requirements and specifications. We are pleased to have an opportunity to meet these challenges through our close collaboration with Wasion Group."

More Information:

Atmel PLC Solutions: http://www.atmel.com/products/other/power_line_communications/default.aspx
Atmel Blog: http://atmelcorporation.wordpress.com
Atmel YouTube Channel: www.atmel.com/youtube
Twitter: www.atmel.com/twitter
LinkedIn: www.atmel.com/linkedin
Facebook: www.atmel.com/facebook

About Atmel

Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory, power line communications (PLC) and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets.

About Wasion Group

Wasion Group is the leading supplier of advanced energy metering products and solutions, which has been listed in Hong Kong Stock & Exchange Market since 2005. By the end of 2011, Wasion has had approx. 3,000 employees, in excess of 2.5 billion RMB net sales. In August 2008, Wasion Science and Technology Park, the biggest manufacture base and the most advanced R&D center of electricity meter in China, was put into operation. By the end of 2009, it has had production capacity of 3 million units of three-phase electricity meters, 10million units of single-phase meters and 1million units of data collection terminals per year.

©2012 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel^®, Atmel logo and combinations thereof, and others are registered trademarks or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM^® and Cortex™ are registered trademarks or trademarks of ARM Ltd. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Press Contact:

Agnes Toan, PR Manager

[email protected]

1-408-487-2963

*According to Pike Research "Smart Grid Deployment Tracker 2Q12": http://www.pikeresearch.com/research/smart-grid-deployment-tracker-2q12

SOURCE Atmel Corporation