Liberty Lake, Washington-based smart meter manufacturer Itron, Inc. and Deutsche Telekom (News - Alert), the largest European telecommunications company, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, have agreed to combine their strengths to offer expanded smart grid solutions and services in target markets in Europe. The collaboration will leverage Itron’s innovative smart meters, together with Deutsche Telekom’s M2M capabilities, information and communication technology (ICT) solutions and Intelligent Networks Energy platform.

Specifically, Itron will embed Deutsche Telekom’s SIM cards in its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) meters, which will enable the company to provide a complete solution in more markets, building off of Deutsche Telekom’s communication network. The companies are dedicated to delivering the combined solution to European customers and have already committed to an initial quantity of SIM cards to be deployed.

Furthermore, both parties agree to cooperate for purposes of creating as well as responding to joint business opportunities in the area of smart energy (smart metering, smart grid, and smart home) in European markets. Joint business development approaches and necessary technological alignment of the energy management portfolios between the parties ensure the most robust solutions for utilities. This coordinated approach brings flexibility to the complexity of smart metering solutions to customers, which is needed for mass smart metering roll-outs.

“Working with a world-class organization like Deutsche Telekom is a true pleasure,” said Remy Brill, Itron vice president and managing director, EMEA Energy, in a statement. “This collaboration will give our customers more options and will deliver real business benefits as they roll out smart meter systems.”

“The smart metering industry is demanding end-to-end solutions for intelligent energy networks. Together with Itron we can offer a complete M2M based solution from hardware to managed connectivity, integration, roll-out and operations services,” said Jürgen Hase, head of Deutsche Telekom’s M2M Competence Center.

Repackaging for Russia

This represents the second telecommunications marketing partnership sealed by Itron within the past few days. On November 27, Itron and Teplocom Holding of St. Petersburg, Russia—a regional provider of thermal energy metering and associated services—signed on to jointly develop and market metering solutions technologies in Russia.

Taking into consideration the move of the Russian metering market towards high-end water and thermal energy metering products and systems, the two companies have decided to join forces in order to offer the most comprehensive and suitable global solutions dedicated to water and energy management.

As part of the agreement, Itron and Teplocom Holding will jointly develop and market a thermal energy meter consisting of Teplocom’s calculator and Itron’s ultrasonic flow meter. The companies also will customize Itron’s meter data management solution to meet Russian requirements and adapt Teplocom’s products to Itron’s data collection, data management and data utilization systems. In addition, Itron’s products and solutions will be distributed through Teplocom Holding’s affiliates, Trade House and Energy Complex Integrator, in Russia.

“With a federal law aiming at increasing energy efficiency, the Russian market is going through major technological changes which require high-end and multi-energy solutions,” said Andrey Lipatov, CEO of Teplocom Holding. “Combining Teplocom’s leadership position in the market with Itron’s global expertise in advanced metering solutions made it a natural fit to meet our country’s challenges”.

“We are very excited to bring our industry knowledge and value in the energy saving programs and modernization of public services to Russia”, said Mathias Martin, vice president business development for Itron Water. “Itron and Teplocom will jointly leverage our respective strengths to deliver best-in-class products, solutions and services to the water and energy market in Russia.”

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