PR -- SAP AG
today announced its ongoing engagement in the SAP(R) AMI Integration for
Utilities software. The advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) software from
SAP -- a pioneer solution in this area -- is envisioned to bring the utilities
industry one step closer to solving one of the most important technological
challenges it faces over the next decade: implementing and integrating smart
meter technology to provide energy more intelligently and efficiently.
The implementation of the SAP AMI Integration for Utilities software is
planned to allow utility companies to perform on-demand reads of a customer's
meter through a call center, manage remote disconnects and reconnects to
support the dunning process and outage reporting, and implement time-of-use
rates. Additionally, the software shall provide integration of processes
between the meter and the back-end systems in the intent to reduce a company's
total cost of ownership for AMI infrastructure.
In August 2007, SAP and seven participating utility companies formed the
SAP AMI Lighthouse Council to address AMI from the back office to the meter,
with the objective of integrating the SAP(R) for Utilities solution portfolio
to market-leading AMI systems (see April 21, 2008 press release, titled "SAP
Utilities Customers Lead the Charge Toward Integrated AMI"). During the last
15 months, the SAP AMI Lighthouse Council has been shaping the integration of
SAP solutions with AMI solutions for business processes, including customer
relationship and billing and enterprise asset management. The council also
includes several strategic vendors including eMeter, Itron and OSIsoft. These
vendors offer meter data unification and synchronization solutions that act as
a powerful hub for meter and event data between AMI systems and the downstream
SAP solutions. With AMI technologies and their integration with SAP, utility
companies can improve energy efficiency and increase service reliability,
optimize asset utilization and improve service to their customers.
"Beyond the IT integration issues, there is an operational technology
aspect of AMI which is being driven by energy efficiency initiatives in North
American and Asia Pacific-Japan markets and market restructuring initiatives
in the European Union," said Zarko Sumic, vice president and distinguished
analyst, Gartner. "AMI also serves a role as a bridge to integrate consumers
in energy markets and as an enabler for inclusion of consumer technology such
as appliances into the overall utility technology space."
"AMI is part of a trend that will change the conventional business model
of a utility company and mark a giant step forward for the utilities
industry," said Jeroen Scheer, member of the SAP Advisory Customer Council for
Utilities (ACCU) and manager of IT Strategy & Architecture for Nuon, a Dutch
energy company serving more than 3 million private and business customers in
the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. "This is a trend that has only just
begun, and by taking the lead, SAP has once again demonstrated its commitment
to a high level of innovation."
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