ABB To Provide Portland General Electric With AMR Meter Data Management System

RALEIGH, North Carolina – May 18, 2000 – ABB Electricity Metering announced today that Portland General Electric (PGE) has agreed to purchase ABB’s EnergyAxis AMR Server. This comprehensive large-scale meter data collection and management system provides the platform for meter data operations, addressing advanced energy information management demands ranging from collection, communications, storage, management and publishing of meter data. The system will also support new customer services such as preferred billing due date.

The contract provides PGE with a comprehensive approach to a complete meter data management system, including: remote metering, high-volume data warehousing and management for metered data; ABB’s market-leading ALPHA® electronic meters; ALPHA STARS™ communications software and hardware for accessing data remotely from the meter; an interface with Whisper Communications’ e-Telemetry network management software and other PGE enterprise systems; and the ability to add a variety of communications services in the future based on PGE’s needs.

“We are pleased that PGE has chosen ABB’s AMR Server as its meter data management solution,” said Dr. John Reckleff, executive vice president and general manager of ABB Electricity Metering. “PGE has been a leader in the utility industry, moving beyond the boundaries of the typical electric utility by developing innovative services that meet the growing needs of its customers.

How the AMR Server Works. The AMR Server represents a new model for utility business transactions in regulated and deregulated energy markets. The AMR Server is scalable and allows functions and business processes to be distributed over systems and geographical areas. Timely energy information is collected, processed, stored and published as each business process requires -- such as scheduling coordination, load forecasting, billing and customer service. The AMR Server is designed to support the quick and accurate distribution of data to other business entities as new businesses or applications are developed.

Communications of the Meter Data. ABB has joined forces with Whisper Communications, Inc. to deliver a multi-faceted system solution to PGE. Whisper's wireless network delivers e-Telemetry solutions for remotely monitoring, measuring, messaging and controlling devices at fixed locations. As part of contracts with PGE, Whisper will deliver the fixed communication network that will interface with ABB’s ALPHA meters and AMR Server.

ABB Electricity Metering of Raleigh, N.C., a unit of ABB, creates information technology solutions and infrastructure for meters and meter data management systems.

ABB serves customers in automation; power transmission and distribution; oil, gas and petrochemicals; building technologies; and financial services. With novel IT applications, tailored software solutions, growing eBusiness, and a fast-expanding knowledge and service base, ABB is building links to the new economy. The ABB Group, which reported revenues of $25 billion in 1999, employs about 165,000 people in more than 100 countries.

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