outsourcing business services

 T1
Billing & Bill Payment
T3
Customer Care & Business Operations
T19
T&D Automation
T38
Asset Management
T44
Metering, AMR and Data Management
T52
Generation Technologies
T62
Mobile Work Force Management
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EnErgyBiz magazinE 49
sa fe ty . i n te g ri ty . d i ve r si ty . suc c e ss
sa fe ty . i n te g ri ty . d i ve r si ty . suc c e ss
sa fe ty . i n te g ri ty . d i ve r si ty . suc c e ss
sa fe ty . i n te g ri ty . d i ve r si ty . suc c e ss
Safety ... our number one value - our safety goal is to prevent all injuries both on- and off-the-job.
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Based on these values ... it's no coincidence that, for the past two years, Day & Zimmermann NPS®
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48 EnergyBiz
magazine May/June 2006
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www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 43
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44 EnergyBiz magazine May/June 2006
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www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 45
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46 EnergyBiz magazine May/June 2006
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Turning Outside
nstar’s outsourcing story
By Martin Rosenberg
With a century of history, NSTAR has its ways of doing business.
Yet it is open to innovation. It has moved 40 percent of its information
technology operation and maintenance work outside the company. The
shift has been executed in the name of efficiency and savings.
To explore NSTAR’s outsourcing philosophy and experiences,
EnergyBiz submitted questions to Eugene Zimon, senior vice president
and chief information officer of the company, Massachusetts’ largest
investor-owned electric and gas utility. It serves 1.4 million customers
and employs 3,200. Zimon’s responses follow.
T r a n s m i s s i o n & D i s t r i b u t i o noAuuttsoom
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What is role of information technology at NSTAR? Describe
your organization.
ZIMON: IT is integral to NSTAR’s operations and plays a critical role in
supporting the company’s strategic plan. The mission of IT at NSTAR
is to accelerate business performance by providing reliable service;
delivering value-added solutions, and guiding and influencing change.
NSTAR’s IT budget, which includes all data and voice communications along with yearly IT capital projects, amounts to 1.8 percent of
company revenue. This is below industry averages and reflects NSTAR’s
prudent and selective approach to investing in technology.
NSTAR’s IT organization currently has 165 full-time equivalents,
65 of which are part of the company’s outsourcing relationship with
IBM and Wipro. The majority of the contractor FT’s are located at the
company’s administrative offices but also includes outsourced staff
at our helpdesk in Edmonton, Canada, our mainframe data center in
Southbury, Conn., our network operating center in Boulder, Colo., and
development centers in Delhi and Hyderabad, India.
What part of IT do you view as strategic and unlikely for you
to outsource?
ZIMON: NSTAR has two sets of strategic services. The first set represents our core services, those that include services that define, design,
integrate and manage the delivery of new solutions as well as those
that oversee the controls, security, data and external interfaces of
our existing environment. The second set involves managing our business relationships with our outsourcing partners, vendors, internal
customers and employees.
What share of your IT operation is outsourced today, and
how does that compare with five years ago? How will it compare with
five years from now?
ZIMON: Currently about 40 percent of our O&M budget is outsourced.
This includes mainframe operations, UNIX and LINUX monitoring,
storage area network management, help desk and about 70 percent
of applications maintenance.
Over the last five years, we added new outsourced services and
increased the number of applications supported in an outsourced
model. However, our absolute outsourcing expense has decreased
50 EnergyBiz magazine May/June 2006
NStar’s Eugene Zimon, in his
Westwood, Mass., office.
Photo Courtesy of NSTAR
over time. Funding for new outsourced services and new in-sourced
services has been generated from savings in other outsourced
services. For example, NSTAR has worked with its outsourcing partners to reduce the cost of help desk services by 50 percent by reducing
call volume and relocating the help desk to Canada. Moving to an ondemand model for mainframe operations saved nearly 20 percent
annually. Migrating to a global-sourcing model for application maintenance is also generating savings.
Five years from now, I would expect spending on outsourcing to
remain about the same. However, I would expect additional services
being added, with funding generated from use of additional ondemand outsourcing services, ASPs and global sourcing options.
What has been your experience in outsourcing mainframe
computing? What has worked well? What problems have you encountered? How do you measure success?
ZIMON: Mainframe computing is a non-core activity and has been
outsourced since the inception of our agreement with IBM in 2000.
Service levels have been excellent for the last three years. To improve
the value proposition, NSTAR converted to an on-demand model in
2005. In addition to adding flexibility and lowering annual cost, the
on-demand model also enables improved hardware and software
currency and the resulting increase in performance and capabilities.
We have also been able to work with IBM to drive down batch windows
and processing time which have yielded direct business benefits.
After the initial stabilization period with the new mainframe service,
we encountered and overcame problems of ensuring that IBM’s standard data center procedures are adjusted to meet our unique procedural, security and control requirements. For example, IBM had to
modify its procedures to support NSTAR’s problem escalation, change
management and Sarbanes-Oxley control procedures.
What has been your experience in outsourcing interactive
voice recognition for outage management?
ZIMON: The outage management IVR is currently outsourced to a
service provider who also answers overflow outage calls through
direct access to our outage call-taking system. To support outage call
handling via an IVR, we had to integrate the outsourcer’s IVR directly
with NSTAR’s outage management and customer relationship management systems. To do this, we leveraged our enterprise application
integration (EAI) infrastructure to exchange messages in near-real
time. This integration with a hosted IVR system has worked extremely
well, enabling NSTAR to provide up-to-date information on outages to
our customers through either an agent or the IVR.
One issue that did not work as smoothly relates to the limited
capacity of the outsourcer to allocate resources to support our needs
for enhancing our processes. This has inhibited the speed with which
we can add and change functionality.
Success of this project is measured by the customer experience and
includes the percentage of calls the IVR answers and the percentage
of customers who receive a specific estimated time to restore power
when they called NSTAR.
NSTAR is now in the process of reengineering its entire IVR capability and is partnering with a major telecom vendor to assist in the
development of this capability. This will be a hosted solution which we
plan to begin deploying by the end of the year.
What has been your experience in outsourcing work
management?
ZIMON: We have outsourced application support for work management for several years. However, we are currently analyzing an
option to outsource not only the application support but also
hosting of the solution to an ASP. Under this ASP, NSTAR is interested in a third party assuming total responsibility and ownership
of the software and the technology stack as well as operating the
entire system in a hosted site. The ASP would be responsible for
maintaining all software and hardware, and ensuring the solution
remains current. NSTAR would be responsible for paying a variable
fee based on usage.
Have you — or are you likely to — outsource billing and
customer care?
ZIMON: NSTAR has made a strategic decision to maintain a core competency in customer service and has invested significantly in customer
facing systems and processes. NSTAR will continue to explore outtasking and automation of specific components.
What is going on in meter reading?
ZIMON: We have moved the majority of our meter reading to automated time of use meters or drive-by AMR. By the end of the year we
expect to have 95+ percent automated.
Many utilities must deal with an aging workforce. Is that a
major factor driving outsourcing?
ZIMON: NSTAR is also expecting a large number of retirees in all areas. This
coupled with a limited number of qualified applicants in many of our craft
trades has resulted in active and integrated workforce planning effort led
by our human resource organization.
To address this, we are developing various partnerships to train
workers in the needed skills; improving our workforce utilization
processes, increasing the level of automation; and outsourcing of
specific construction services after reaching agreement with our
unions. In addition, we are developing retention and retiree hire-back
programs to address immediate issues.
Utilities are ever more concerned about security issues. Does
outsourcing make the utility enterprise more secure — or more vulnerable?
ZIMON: Outsourcing is a means of extending an enterprise; therefore,
it presents new security risks regarding the exposure of an enterprise
network and protecting access to sensitive company and nonpublic
information. Managing this risk requires building the security infrastructure and skills to support an environment where an enterprise is
connected to outsourcing partners around the world. In addition to
managing the physical and cyber security risk, utilities must manage
the legal risk through contracts that assign liability for security or
data breeches. In NSTAR’s case, we have built this capability, but it
has taken a significant investment in building a secure, connected
infrastructure and acquiring a skilled security staff to support and
control that infrastructure.
Where do you think the utility industry is headed in IT
outsourcing? Which utilities are leaders?
ZIMON: The utilities are no different than any other industry with
the exception that they are more unionized. Therefore, I expect a
continued and increasing trend towards outsourcing of non-core
activities or components with an increasing share of the outsourced
services being globally sourced. This does not necessarily mean that
utilities will outsource to the traditional IT and BPO outsourcers.
Rather, I see the emergence and growth of outsourcers who specialize
in specific tasks such as credit card payment processing, logistics
and scheduling, credit checking, inventory management, payroll
processing, and such.
In the utility space, there are leaders in IT outsourcing such as Xcel;
and in BPO, there are emerging leaders such as NiSource and TXU.
However, we must look outside of the industry for component-based
outsourcing leaders such as Dell as the emerging standard.
What do you care to say about outsourcing that we may not
have touched on in the questions above?
ZIMON: Outsourcing is not a panacea. Successful outsourcing relationships require a significant amount of time by senior management to plan, negotiate and manage the relationship. NSTAR has
gained significant value from its outsourcing arrangements, both
on the IT and the business side. We have worked with our partners
to establish relationships that add value to NSTAR and yield margin
contribution to our partners. However, any partnership needs to
be built on a sound commercial arrangement that enables a winwin relationship. Further, despite what any vendor says, partnerships are not awarded. They have to be earned in terms of trust and
performance.
www.energycentral.com EnergyBiz magazine 51
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Success of the mainframe outsourcing arrangement is measured by
three components: meeting service levels and control standards, running
under budget, and executing their annual technology upgrade plan.
The View From Germany
growth in it outsourcing
By Dirk Briese
T r a n s m i s s i o n & D i s t r i b u t i o noAuuttsoom
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Competition within the energy
sector is currently forcing utilities to ensure
efficient and effective business operations,
resulting in greater focus on the outsourcing of
meter reading, billing, customer call centers and,
in particular, information technology activities.
Basic legal requirements stipulated by
regulators and the increasing complexity of IT
systems are also pressing utilities to rethink
the source of their IT functions. For example, in
Germany, utilities must adapt their IT systems
to legal requirements — primarily unbundling
- which became operative in 1998 and which
demands the installation of an efficient riskmanagement system for capital companies.
This has resulted in additional costs.
As the emphasis on outsourcing the IT
function rises globally, companies are increasingly asking themselves whether it is more
efficient to perform services in-house or to
outsource some or even all of these tasks. A
recent report on IT outsourcing in the energy
industry gives a review of the market, based
on 70 interviews with industry experts. It
analyzes the advantages and disadvantages
of outsourcing and identifies several sourcing
strategies for various processes.
The research report indicates that 68
percent of the utilities interviewed expect
a general increase in IT outsourcing in the
German energy industry by 2010. Only onethird of the respondents assume no rise.
Service providers also support this: 64 percent
anticipate an expansion of outsourcing in IT,
whereas 20 percent have the opposite view.
About 15 percent of service providers forecast a stagnating market development.
The total volume of the German IT market
in the utility industry represents 1.9 billion
euros, or $2.3 billion. A scenario analysis, based
on assumptions, suggests that the market
for IT outsourcing will show an increase of
12 percent between 2005 and 2010. Eighty
52 EnergyBiz magazine May/June 2006
percent of the utilities interviewed expect an
increase in investment in this particular area;
20 percent anticipate that investment will
remain constant.
Choice of Service Provider
Most respondents to the study said that
the decision to appoint an external service
provider for IT solutions is mostly determined by competence and price. Most service
providers consider references and recommendations, specific expertise in certain
processes and flexibility are becoming more
important for utilities.
However, service providers and utilities do
not always have the same priorities regarding
the requirements of energy companies. For
example, many service providers believe that
utilities give more importance to references
than to a low price, yet this is not borne out in
interviews with utilities. Taking into account
the interviews, it becomes apparent that the
requirements of utilities are diverse.
Service providers must make every effort
to identify and — if possible — meet customer
needs. To win a customer, even if the price of a
service is comparably high, service providers
should set out their calculations as transparently as possible so potential customers are
able to see exactly what they will get at what
price. By pointing out added value, a service
provider is often able to persuade a utility to
accept the quoted price.
Most of the utilities and service providers
interviewed believe that unbundling has the
strongest influence on the development of IT
outsourcing. In this context, utilities consider
the rate of customer change and the legal
requirements most important.
At present, many utilities organize their IT
as an in-house department, and outsourcing
into a subsidiary company or to an external
service provider only occurs in isolated cases.
A complete outsourcing effort is unlikely
to occur in the energy industry, as utilities
generally prefer selective solutions, or partial
outsourcing.
It is expected that an increase in the
rate of outsourcing will particularly concern
the billing, software and accountancy divisions, and this means that the requirements
of utilities for optimum expertise, flexibility
and individual solutions from their service
providers will grow. At the same time utilities will demand more of their IT systems,
for example regarding quality and cost,
complexity or compatibility of systems.
IT service providers should be able to
provide multifaceted skills to meet actual
legal requirements for utilities regarding IT.
Only in this way will it be possible for service
providers to meet customer requirements for
consulting services, as well as range of products. In the long term, the service providers
likely to succeed will be those that can develop
individual IT solutions for utilities.
Dirk Briese is a German writer and CEO of
trend:research. This article was prepared for
Metering International and EnergyBiz.
[case study]
Transformational Business Process Outsourcing:
Streamline, Consolidate and Add Value through Innovation
A TXU–Capgemini Case Study
The Situation
The Results
TXU provides electricity and related services to 2.4 million retail
electricity customers in Texas, producing approximately 18,300
megawatts of electricity, the second largest deregulated generation output in the U.S. TXU Electric Delivery, the sixth largest
Transmission & Distribution company in the U.S., operates the
distribution and transmission system in Texas across more than
100,000 miles of distribution lines and 14,000 miles of transmission lines.
In 2004, TXU management recognized that the company must
improve cost and service, largely due to:
In its first year, Capgemini Energy met its objective of reducing
operating costs by 30 percent -- a $150 million benefit to the
company’s bottom line.
Capgemini Energy has worked collaboratively with TXU to:
• Erratic customer service with call response times
measuring at more than 100 seconds
• Loss of shareholder value that substantially exceeded the
S&P Electric 500
• Heavy debt load and weak credit rating
• Inefficient cost structure
The Solution
Ad v e r t i s e m e n t
In May 2004, TXU and Capgemini formed a joint venture, Capgemini Energy. The objectives were to reduce TXU operating
costs by 30 percent while delivering services at, or superior to,
historical service levels; dramatically improve customer experience; and create a flexible approach for responding to the changing
business environment.
To achieve this vision, beginning in July 2004, Capgemini
Energy embarked upon a business transformation journey that
reengineered TXU’s business processes, provided services
through Capgemini’s distributed delivery platform and leveraged
the latest in process and technology.
In this $3.5 billion transformational business process outsourcing
(BPO) agreement, TXU turned over many key support services
to Capgemini, including: Information Technology, Customer Care,
Revenue Management, Supply Chain, Finance & Accounting, and
Human Resources. It was the most expansive scope of service of
any outsourcing deal in the professional services industry.
TXU has utilized Capgemini’s Collaborative Business Experience
to drive results. That collaboration has been far-reaching and has:
• Reengineered billing and customer care functions to
streamline the “meter-to-cash” process
• Renegotiated more than 600 third-party contracts
assigned to Capgemini Energy
• Outsourced selected services such as networks and
human resources to lower cost providers
• Improved the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System
to reduce total call volumes
• Improve ‘meter-to-cash’ cycle time by 14 percent
• Achieve 99 percent same day payment posting
• Reduce delayed billings by 46 percent
• Reduce net bad debt by 44 percent
• Reduce by 52 percent the number of active delinquent
accounts greater than 60 days
• Improve call centers’ average speed-to-answer to 11
seconds (a 73 percent improvement from 2004 levels)
• Receive the TXU Partnership Award for Supplier Diversity, by surpassing TXU’s minority and women business
enterprise spend target
For TXU, transformational business process outsourcing with
Capgemini has led to more responsive customer service, a substantially reduced debt load, a much more efficient cost structure,
and significant gains in shareholder value.
In its first year, Capgemini
met its objective of reducing
operating costs by 30 percent
– a $150 million benefit to
the company’s bottom line.
About Capgemini
Capgemini, one of the world’s foremost providers of Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing services, has a unique way of
working with its clients, which it calls the Collaborative Business
Experience. Through commitment to mutual success and the
achievement of tangible value, the company helps businesses
implement growth strategies, leverage technology, and thrive
through the power of collaboration. Capgemini employs approximately 61,000 people worldwide and reported 2005 global revenues of 6,954 million euros. For more information, please visit
www.us.capgemini.com.
Through distributed delivery, new technology, and more consistent end-to-end processes, Capgemini is helping TXU to transform its business.
www.energybizmag.com EnergyBiz magazine 53
Utilities Go Slow on Outsourcing
By Warren Causey
T r a n s m i s s i o n & D i s t r i b u t i o noAuuttsoom
ua
rt
ci o
nn
g
Outsourcing of information technology, or subsets of it such as customer
information systems, is not a new phenomenon among utilities. Some utilities, especially a significant group of smaller ones, have
outsourced their CIS on an application service
provider basis for a number of years.
Recently, several major utilities including
Xcel Energy, Minneapolis; TXU, Dallas; Entergy,
New Orleans; and NiSource, Merrillville, Ind.,
have outsourced their entire IT departments.
New Jersey-based PSE&G also outsources a
significant portion of its IT, not including CIS
operations. And, NSTAR of Boston outsources
several functions, including CIS to IBM;
however, it’s keeping customer care in house.
Despite this activity, outsourcing of IT
functions still is not as widespread among
utilities as it is in some other industries. And,
while the high-profile, billion-dollar deals such
as those at TXU and NiSource attract a lot of
attention, they still are the exception, rather
than the rule.
Outsourcing of core IT functions remains
relatively rare among utilities.
Prior to 2000, utility companies and energy
service providers were rendering only about
1.67 million monthly bills on an outsourced
basis. About half of those customers also
received customer care, through call centers
that the utility or ESP had outsourced.
In mid-2004, that number stood at more
than 19 million bills. It exceeded 20 million by
the end of 2005. An unknown, but probably
higher, percentage of utility customers also
now receive their customer care through call
centers that are outsourced.
This is a significant growth rate. However,
these numbers still represent only a tiny
fraction of the total number of utility bills
rendered in the United States each year. Less
than 10 percent of total utilities currently
outsource CIS functionality.
54 EnergyBiz magazine May/June 2006
A slightly higher percentage of the respondents indicate their companies outsource call
centers and customer care operations.
The fact that a higher percentage of utilities would outsource call centers and other
aspects of customer care isn’t a surprise,
considering that a number of utilities use
overflow call centers during outages or at
other times when call volume is too high to
handle internally.
Various analysts have currently been
talking about the promising future of
outsourcing by utilities. These optimistic
projections may be somewhat overblown.
Utility survey respondents are not quite
as enthusiastic, as only 13 percent of the
companies indicate that they have plans to
outsource CIS in the future.
Outsourcing potentially offers a number
of benefits to utilities, including cost savings
and service guarantees. However, utility executives have been somewhat wary of turning
over portions of their companies that they
consider core to other firms. That reluctance
seems to be dissipating over the last five to
six years, but not to an extent that would
be very encouraging for vendors seeking to
expand rapidly. Utilities remain a relatively
tough sell for outsourcers.
DOES YOUR COMPANY CURRENTLY
OUTSOURCE YOUR CIS ON AN
APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDER (ASP)
BASIS, OR OTHERWISE OUTSOURCE CIS?
NO
90.80%
YES
9.20%
DOES YOUR COMPANY CURRENTLY
OUTSOURCE YOUR CALL CENTER/
CUSTOMER CARE OPERATIONS?
NO
87.7%
YES
12.3%
IS YOUR COMPANY CONSIDERING
OUTSOURCING IN THE FUTURE?
NO
87%
YES
13%
IS YOUR COMPANY CONSIDERING
OUTSOURCING CALL CENTER/CUSTOMER
CARE OPERATIONS IN THE FUTURE?
NO
85%
YES
15%
Source: Sierra Energy Group, March 2006 survey.
INFORMATION
THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF INFORMATION
by Uday Karmarkar
Outsourcing and offshoring are the most
visible and politically charged symptoms
of a deep change in the U.S. economy. We
are now in the middle of a process that can
be thought of as the industrialization of
information intensive services. Manufacturing
companies have faced these issues for a long
time. Now, technological developments in the
processing and logistics of information over
the past five decades have made information
services look a lot like manufacturing. So we
can now standardize information products and
services, package and ship them, build them
from components, automate processes, and
create global service and production chains.
We need to rethink organizations and industries. We don’t need to
co-locate, and we can de-integrate,
automate, outsource and offshore.
Uday Karmarkar is a professor and
research director at UCLA’s Center for
Management in the Information Economy.
[case study]
Twenty First Century Communications Supports Dominion With
automated Field Crew Management and Real-Time Reporting
THE OPPORTUNITY
In an environment of increasingly longer and more devastating
storm seasons, customer service demands placed on utility companies have grown exponentially. Dominion is one of the nation’s
largest producers of energy and serves 2.4 million customers in
nine states. One of it’s greatest challenges was retrieving critical
information from the field in a timely manner in order to provide
progress reports during a storm, update its customers, validate
today’s work, and plan tomorrow’s work.
Work crews responding to outages and downed lines needed
to be able to call in without receiving a busy signal. Members of
mutual-aid crews, regardless of equipment type, needed to be able
to connect with Dominion to report job status and receive assignments. And demands on call center staff need to be alleviated.
Immediate data collection and real time reporting were also necessities so the utility did not have to wait until an end of shift — or even
after an event — to analyze performance and customer service.
For typical day-to-day work management, Dominion also
needed a simple, non-hardware solution to progress work from
one status to the next; so that once a job was complete the next
team could be dispatched to perform follow-up work.
Ad v e r t i s e m e n t
THE APPROACH
After evaluating its options, Dominion decided to go with Field
Connect, by Twenty First Century Communications (TFCC).
TFCC has provided Dominion with exemplary automated outage
reporting management services since 1997. Field Connect is a
fully hosted, automated job-tracking system that uses the latest
in advanced speech technology and direct real-time interface to
allow field personnel to report job status quickly, easily and in realtime by simply speaking into their phones.
Dominion presented TFCC with a rather specific and demanding set of functionality needs. Through successful collaboration
with TFCC’s technical team, a long list of requirements was pared
down into a series of questions with reasonable responses to get
the data needed from the work crews. Says Tim Kesler, Dominion
Technical Advisor, “we were very pleased we had a good partner
with whom to effectively work through that process.”
Dominion is scheduled to go live in late April on the heels of a
company-wide work management system deployment. TFCC customized Dominion’s program to ensure that it would be fully integrated with the new system. Field Connect will be used to facilitate
every day operations as well as restoration work during storms.
Field personnel simply identify themselves, speak what work
order they want to close, and the system takes it from there. Field
Connect asks the questions to be answered for the type of work
reported, prompting proper responses when appropriate and
passively confirming responses as the conversation moves along.
Key for Dominion is that they are able to use Field Connect over
multiple systems within the company. Outage management and
day-to-day work management exist on different platforms. The tool
is transparently talking to multiple systems (Validation, Scheduled
and Emergency work), and multiple jobs of multiple types can be
reported within the same call.
THE RESULT
Field Connect allows both Dominion’s teams and mutual-aid crews
to communicate via cell phone, so incompatible radio systems or
mobile data terminals are no longer an issue. Advanced Speech Recognition eliminates the communication bottlenecks that occurred
while field crews were waiting to reach a human CSR. The system
takes the burden off both dispatch and customer service staff.
Progress reporting through the day is a critical barometer
during storms – both for validating today’s plan and for projections beyond today. Analysis without a thorough picture of events
doesn’t tell the whole story. Field Connect’s real time interface
provides immediate reporting and allows for improved in-day and
post-storm analysis, actually filling in data gaps through automation. Utilities need the resources to continue to meet their customer commitments during a storm. Utilities can’t just wait and
hope, – they have to ‘know now and adjust. Real-time reporting
through this tool provides a mechanism for that.
“We are positioned now to
turn busy signals and field
frustration into valuable
information for ourselves
and our customers. Field
Connect is another tool
in our toolbox for providing
customers with information that lets them plan
their lives.”
– Tim Kesler, Technical Advisor, Dominion
For more information visit:
www.tfcci.com
or call 1.800.382.8356
www.energybizmag.com EnergyBiz magazine 55
PERSPECTIVE ON STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS IN ASSET
INTENSIVE BUSINESSES
By Benadetto G. Bosco, Senior Vice President - Outsourcing and Business Development, Quanta Services Inc.
are you the best at every service you provide?
what if your competition is? utilities are not the only organizations challenged to maximize the profitability from their core
strengths while minimizing the ongoing costs of maintaining
their assets. an effective strategy to improve both is an industryproven outsourcing partnership.
strategic outsourcing partnerships have long resided in
capital-intensive industries such as telecom, energy, technology
and healthcare, among others. in these partnerships, the roles of
asset manager and asset service provider have evolved as a result
56 EnErgyBiz magazinE May/June 2006
of many factors. such partnerships have strived to balance the
costs of building and maintaining an in-house capability against
the amount of work anticipated and other competing demands
for capital and management focus.
Many outsourcing relationships began with high volume
repetitive tasks such as bill print, payroll and other back-office
operations. the scope then expanded to a wider range of specialized areas, including front-office operations. Design, engineering, construction and maintenance services were provided
by firms that specialized in these fields and could provide the
THOUgHT LEaDErSHiP — SPOnSOrED By QUanTa SErViCES inC.
same high-quality operations with attractive returns for both companies. and, in
STRATEGIC
REGULATOR
PARTNERSHIP
most cases, the same workforce is utilized.
OPPORTUNITY
More recent trends find asset managers,
service providers and regulators evolving
still further to work together in strategic
ASSET
ASSET
partnerships. “these partnerships balance
SERVICE
MANAGER
PROVIDER
the asset manager’s need to achieve their
asset returns with the regulator’s need to
oversee the economic, public health and
safety interests of consumers,” said John
EMERGING STRATEGIC
colson, chairman and chief executive
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
officer of Quanta services.
an examination into the history of these relationships in different industry sectors can provide insight into how these relationships are now viewed, what lessons
can be learned from the past and where they are heading for energy.
TELECOM SECTOR
outsourcing and strategic asset partnerships have a long history of creating value
in the telecom sector. since the breakup of at&t and the development of private
networks within the past thirty years, these partnerships have proven useful because
they provide the telecom asset manager with the ability to focus on reducing costs
and increasing service levels, while allowing senior management to shift from a tactical to a strategic perspective of its operations.
in the last decade, easy access to capital resulted in many telecom companies
significantly growing their asset base and launching new products and services to
maintain or attain a leadership position in their industry. in this growth-oriented
environment, companies such as at&t, Lucent, Ericsson, and Pirelli expanded from
their equipment manufacturing competency to include equipment installations.
Many discovered that installation and maintenance is a different type of business
than manufacturing and cannot readily be managed by cross-training staff from
elsewhere in the company. they began to experience installation challenges and
strategically realized their business created greater shareholder value by focusing on
their core competencies and shift support functions to others through asset management partnerships to manage construction and installation.
THOUgHT LEaDErSHiP — SPOnSOrED By QUanTa SErViCES inC. www.energycentral.com
EnErgyBiz magazinE 57
IN THE FUTURE, NUMEROUS INDUSTRIES WILL ADVANCE
THE STR ATEGIC ASSET PARTNERSHIP CONCEPT IN MORE
IMAGINATIVE AND COLL ABOR ATIVE WAYS TO ADDRESS THE
EMERGING NEEDS OF OUR NATIONAL INFR ASTRUCTURE.
an example of this is the relationship
between Ericsson and Quanta services.
the two companies entered into a
multi-year contract to manage construction and installation as Ericsson chose
to withdraw from its recent entry into
equipment installations. Quanta provided the engineering, design, installation and materials management services
to support Ericsson’s wireless and switch
customers nationally. over 600 Ericsson
and contract employees were transitioned to Quanta services along with their
tools, equipment, and vehicle leases. this allowed Ericsson to focus its intellectual
capital on the equipment manufacturing business that it knew best.
another example involved the cable and long-haul fiber sector, which in the late
1990s faced the challenge of how to keep up with exploding demand for their products.
in this case, the companies realized from the outset that they were better off with an
asset management partner to help them meet their growth targets. Various companies
entered into large-scale outsourcing deals to have service providers bundle all required
services such as right-of-way acquisition, permitting, splicing and testing in order to
provide a cost-effective means to support their rapid deployment objectives.
ENERGY SECTOR
Electric and gas utilities were slower to embrace the outsourcing concepts that were
adopted by other industries, as their cost-based businesses were largely immune to
competitive threats. as deregulation approached in the 1990s, more utilities began
to scrutinize all elements of their value chain to define areas that were core versus
areas that could be performed less expensively by others. initially, their focus was on
back-office services, but this quickly expanded as privatization of energy utilities around
the world sparked a large turnover in asset ownership. in addition to this turnover,
restructured business models, cost pressures and regulatory commitments increased the
need to reexamine past practices.
the result was a global increase in knowledge transfer of asset management
practices among energy utilities. the retreat of many u.s. utilities from international
diversification efforts and the entry of new financial players caused yet another
change in asset ownership and additional scrutiny on opportunities to lower costs.
notable transactions occurred in australia and the united Kingdom as utility businesses were sold off. Financial players expanded beyond their initial infrastructure
investments and have now been pursuing investments in utilities around the world.
the financial requirements for these acquisitions have forced the new owners to turn
to asset service providers to achieve their cost and service targets.
in the u.s., the strategic asset partnership concept continued to evolve. For
example, in 2001 Puget sound Energy signed a five-year contract with Quanta
services to manage their transmission and distribution system, including installation
58 EnErgyBiz magazinE May/June 2006
REPRESENTATIVE CUSTOMERS
IN THE ENERGY INDUSTRY:
Alabama Power Company
American Electric Power
CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
Entergy Corporation
Florida Power & Light
Georgia Power Company
Intermountain Rural Electric Association
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Puget Sound Energy, Inc.
San Diego Gas and Electric
Southern California Edison Company
Xcel Energy, Inc.
and maintenance, engineering, storm
management and materials management.
in this partnership, PsE retained first
responders, call centers, and substation
operations, while the planning and budgeting processes were performed jointly by
PsE and Quanta.
Major features of this relationship
included the transitioning of 400 PsE
employees to Quanta, identifying shared
resources and creating service agreements
that defined the scope, service levels, and
unit pricing on many services.
since the PsE-Quanta partnership
began, however, the u.s. utilities sector
has coped with stalled deregulation,
numerous bankruptcies, increased
THOUgHT LEaDErSHiP — SPOnSOrED By QUanTa SErViCES inC.
financial and credit requirements and
security threats. the result is that over
this period, strategic partnerships saw
greater innovation internationally than
in the u.s. this is changing however, as
more u.s. utilities look aggressively for
new opportunities to create value.
FUTURE TRENDS
in the future, numerous industries will
advance the strategic asset partnership
concept in more imaginative and collaborative ways to address the emerging
needs of our national infrastructure.
Many of these concepts are already
being funded with private equity and
other new financing sources which will
provide much needed capital.
one example involves homeland
security requirements. Many regulators
have recognized that while our critical
infrastructure represents a target to
potential terrorists, it also represents
a key defense platform against such
attacks. a utility’s scaDa system is
vulnerable to widespread voltage surges
harmful to many customers’ computer
and telecom systems, resulting in significant economic damage. however, a
utility’s distribution system could also be
used to position security cameras or biohazard detection devices at key locations
that could improve security preparedness. these ideas and others are actively
being developed as many states’ public
utility commissions partner with state
law enforcement and Federal homeland
security officials to define their emerging roles and responsibilities.
“as asset managers and asset service
providers become more comfortable with
sharing operational risk and reward, the
“AS ASSET MANAGERS AND ASSET SERVICE PROVIDERS BECOME
MORE COMFORTABLE WITH SHARING OPERATIONAL RISK
AND REWARD, THE SCALE AND SCOPE OF THESE PARTNERSHIP
DEALS WILL INCREASE. MORE COMPANIES WILL CHOOSE TO
CONCENTRATE ON THEIR STRONGEST SKILLS, WHILE STAYING
TIGHTLY LINKED TO A PARTNER WHO PROVIDES IMPORTANT
SUPPORTING SERVICES.”
– JOHN COLSON, CHAIRMAN & CEO, QUANTA SERVICES INC.
scale and scope of these partnership deals will increase,” said colson. “More companies
will choose to concentrate on their strongest skills, while staying tightly linked to a
partner who provides important supporting services.”
the future evolution of strategic partnerships between asset managers, service
providers and regulators is an exciting prospect as all parties cooperate to achieve common goals. Quanta services is proud to participate in this evolution and looks forward to
working with existing and future utility clients to make this change happen.
ABOUT QUANTA
Quanta Services is the industry leader in the engineering, construction and
maintenance of power and communications infrastructure. With an unmatched
collection of knowledge resources, proven outsourcing strategies and an
innovative approach to integrating people, processes and technology, Quanta
delivers comprehensive services including design, installation, repair and maintenance of network infrastructure nationwide.
QUANTA SERVICES is the host for Utility Perspectives, an invitation-only event for executives of the utility industry. This symposium brings to the table industry thought-leaders
and outside experts from various perspectives. This year’s event, being held October 1-3 in
San Francisco, will focus on the timely and high-impact topics affecting our nation’s energy
infrastructure. For more information, contact Ben Bosco or Reba Reid at 713.629.7600 or
email [email protected].
THOUgHT LEaDErSHiP — SPOnSOrED By QUanTa SErViCES inC. www.energycentral.com
EnErgyBiz magazinE 59
Outsourcing SOURCEBOOK
Listing Categories
construction
Page 60
consuLting
Page 60
custoM e r car e & B i LLi ng
Page 60
custoM e r su PPor t & caLL ce nte r
Page 61
e ng i n e e r i ng
Page 61
F i nanciaL
Page 61
g e n e r ation se rVice s
Page 62
i n For Mation tecH noLogY
Page 62
Powe r Mar keti ng
Page 64
tr ansM ission Fu nc tions
Page 64
constr uc tion
Carina Technology Inc.
690A Discovery Drive N.W.
Huntsville, AL 35806
(256) 704-0422
www.carinatechnology.com
consu Lti ng
Energy Management Resources
700 S. 291 Highway, Suite 208
Liberty, MO 64068
(816) 883-1000
www.energymgmtresources.com
custo M e r car e & B i LLi ng
Alliance Data Systems
17657 Waterview Parkway
Dallas, TX 75252
(800) 748-1289
www.alliancedatasystems.com
Capgemini
ouTsourcing
7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Suite 600
Irving, TX 75063
(972) 556-7415
Fax (972) 556-7006
www.us.capgemini.com
Contact
Amin Bishara, VP, North America Utilities
Practice, Business Development Leader
[email protected]
Mark Fronmuller, VP, North America
Utilities Practice
[email protected]
Capgemini, one of the world’s foremost providers of Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing
services employs approximately 60,000 people
worldwide and has global revenues of 6,954
million euros. With more than 10,000 consultants
dedicated to energy, utility and chemical projects
across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific,
Capgemini brings industry-specific expertise to its
clients. Through commitment to mutual success
and the achievement of tangible value, Capgemini
helps businesses implement growth strategies,
leverage technology, and thrive through the power
of collaboration.
BillMatrix Corp.
8750 N. Central Expressway, 20th Floor
Dallas, TX 75231
(800) 596-0221
www.billmatrix.com
Capgemini
SEE COMPLETE LISTING ON PAGE 60
Cellnet
30000 Mill Creek Ave., Suite 1000
Alpharetta, GA 30022
(678) 258-1500
www.cellnet.com
Civica CMI
52 Hillside Court
Englewood, OH 45322
(800) 686-9313
www.civicacmi.com
Donald R. Frey & Company Inc.
40 N. Grand Ave., Suite 303
Fort Thomas, KY 41075
(800) 659-3739
www.drfrey.com
FirstData Corp.
692 Pine St.
Omaha, NE 68106
(888) 565-5990
www.firstdataclients.com
60 EnErgyBiz magazinE May/June 2006
Itron
2818 N. Sullivan Road
Spokane, WA 99216
(800) 635-5461
Fax (509) 891-3932
www.itron.com
Contact
Tamara Degitz, Marketing Communications
Manager
(800) 635-5461
Tim Wolf, Strategic Marketing Manager
(800) 635-5461
Scott Dixon, Strategic Marketing Specialist
(510) 844-2820
Itron is a leading technology provider and critical source of knowledge to the global energy and
water industries. Nearly 3,000 utilities worldwide
rely on Itron’s award-winning technology to provide the knowledge they require to optimize the
delivery and use of energy and water. Itron creates
value for its clients by providing industry-leading
solutions for electricity metering; meter data collection; energy information management; demand
response; load forecasting, analysis and consulting services; distribution system design and optimization; Web-based workforce automation; and
enterprise and residential energy management. To
know more, start here: www.itron.com.
J & B Software Inc.
510 E. Township Line Road
Blue Bell, PA 19422
(215) 641-1500
www.jandbsoftware.com
Matrix Imaging Solutions Inc.
6341 Inducon Drive East
Sanborn, NY 14132
(716) 504-9700
www.matriximaging.com
Nexus Energy Software
16 Laurel Ave.
Wellesley, MA 02481
(781) 694-3300
www.nexusenergy.com
Olameter Inc.
1255 Nicholson Road
Newmarket, ON L3Y 9C3 Canada
(800) 903-7003
www.olameter.com
PAR3 Communications
100 S. King St., Suite 1000
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 902-3900
www.par3.com
ESI Inc. of Tennessee
1250 Roberts Blvd.
Kennesaw, GA 30144
(770) 427-6200
www.esitenn.com
525 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 963-5600
Fax (415) 963-5601
www.splwg.com
Contact
Steve Murphy, Regional Services Director
(973) 451-4243
Quentin Grady, Senior Vice President &
General Manager Americas
(415) 963-5661
Bob Eddy, Vice President
(763) 694-4480
SPL delivers proven solutions to the global
utility market. Our software applications in
customer care and billing, enterprise asset and
work management, outage management, mobile
workforce management, distribution management
and enterprise business intelligence are specifically designed for energy, water, and service
companies. Working with systems-integration and
technology partners, SPL has an unparalleled
record of implementation success. SPL focuses
on clients’ return on investment and fosters longterm relationships based on confidence and trust.
Visit www.splwg.com.
StarTek
100 Garfield St., Suite 300
Denver, CO 80206
(303) 262-4500
www.startek.com
Striata
48 Wall St., Suite 1100
New York, NY 10005
(212) 918-4677
www.striata.com
Terasen Utility Services
126 N. Jefferson , Suite 300
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 291-6537
www.terasen.com
The Active Group
10501 S.E. Main St., Suite 200
Milwaukie, OR 97222
(888) 357-2131
www.theactivegroup.biz
Twenty First Century Communications
760 Northlawn Drive
Columbus, OH 43214
(800) 382-8356
Fax (614) 442-4226
www.tfcci.com
Contact
Janet Mushrush, Director of Utility Sales
(800) 382-8356 x244
We’re not just for outages anymore! In addition to superior database accuracy and customer
self-service solutions, TFCC now offers best-inclass Advanced Speech Recognition applications for field operations. Our speech solutions
are delivered with the same level of service and
reliability you’ve come to expect from Twenty First
Century, but without the risk and up-front costs of
specialized on-site speech programs. Call (800)
382-8356, ext. 244 for more information, or visit
our Web site at www.tfcci.com.
M.E.H. & Associates
7975 Pfeiffer Road
Cincinnati, OH 45242
(513) 793-1721
www.mehassociates.com
Quantum Gas & Power Services
11767 Katy Freeway, Suite 1040
Houston, TX 77079
(281) 920-3898
www.quantumgas.com
F i nanciaL
Capgemini
SEE COMPLETE LISTING ON PAGE 60
Electric & Gas Industries Assoc. (EGIA)
3800 Watt Ave., Suite 105
Sacramento, CA 95821
(866) 367-3442
www.egia.org
Virtual Hold Technology
137 Heritage Woods Drive
Akron, OH 44321
(800) 854-1815
www.virtualhold.com
Working Solutions
1820 Preston Park Blvd., Suite 1150
Plano, TX 75093
(972) 964-4800
www.workingsol.com
custo M e r su PPo r t & caLL ce nte r
Center Partners
4401 Innovation Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80525
(800) 519-3532
www.centerpartners.com
Energy Federation Inc.
40 Washington St., Suite 2000
Westborough, MA 01581
(508) 870-2277
www.efi.org
e ng i n e e r i ng
Dynamic Energy Systems
740 Springdale Drive, Suite 208
Exton, PA 19341
(610) 363-3503
www.des-ems.com
QC Data Inc.
8000 E. Maplewood Ave.
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
(303) 783-8888
Fax (303) 783-4787
www.qcdata.com
Contact
Frank Roberson, Regional Vice President
(404) 879-6871
Doug Stanford, Regional Vice President
(404) 879-6873
QC Data manages, maintains and improves
vital engineering and asset data for some of the
world’s largest Utility, Telecommunication and
other infrastructure-based companies through
Business Process Outsourcing and Project
Service delivery models. We deliver exceptional
operational and financial value through longterm partner relationships and SLAs ensuring
mitigation of client risks. QC Data enables you
to provide improved service to customers by
empowering your organization to repair sooner,
plan and procure more efficiently and provide
services faster.
StratCom Advisors
562 Kingwood Drive, Suite 16
Kingwood, TX 77339
(281) 973-4471
www.stratcomadvisors.com
www.energycentral.com
EnErgyBiz magazinE 61
ouTsourcing
SPL WorldGroup
Computer Aid Inc.
The ConTech Group
332 Sunset Road
Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
(973) 839-6847
www.thecontechgroup.com
Universal Field Services Inc.
1418 Pine Gap Drive
Houston, TX 77090
(281) 586-9919
www.ufsrw.com
g e n e r ation se rVice s
Apex CoVantage
198 Van Buren St.
120 Presidents Plaza
Herndon, VA 20170
(703) 709-3000
www.apexcovantage.com
Day & Zimmermann NPS
1866 Colonial Village Lane, Suite 101
Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 481-5600
Fax (717) 481-5615
www.dznps.com
Contact
Brian C. Hartz, V.P., Business Development
(717) 481-5600 x211
Mark G. Friedmann, Director, Business
Development
(717) 481-5600 x215
Brad Mizell, Director, Business Development
(717) 481-5600 x243
Day & Zimmermann NPS (DZNPS) is one of
the nation’s leading union labor contractors dedicated exclusively to safely performing full-service
maintenance and modifications at nuclear and
fossil-fired power plants. Multi-site, system-wide
partnerships focused on reducing their customers’ Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) are a DZNPS
specialty. In both 2004 and 2005, DZNPS was
ranked as the No. 1 Operations & Maintenance
contractor in the U.S. Power industry by the
Engineering News Record (ENR).
ouTsourcing
OES Management Consulting
P.O. Box 8581
Northfield, IL 60093
(312) 909-5586
www.oesconsulting.com
Turbine Generator Maintenance Inc. (TGM)
1490 N.E. Pine Island Road, Building 5
Cape Coral, FL 33909
(800) 226-7557
Fax (239) 573-8110
www.turbinegenerator.com
Contact
Marty Magby, Director of Combustion Services
(800) 226-7557
Dan Hoffman, VP of Sales & Marketing
(800) 226-7557
Lisa Woodhart, Sales Manager
(800) 226-7557
Turbine Generator Maintenance Inc. (TGM)
performs turnkey inspections and repairs on
steam turbines, combustion turbines, generators
and associated equipment for the majority of segments within the utility and heavy industrial markets. Quality and service, combined with integrity,
have made TGM the OEM alternative for turbine
and generator maintenance clients throughout the
United States, South America and Caribbean for
more than 20 years.
i n Fo r Mati o n tecH no LogY
Accenture
180 Fountain Parkway, 2nd Floor
St. Petersburg, FL 34698
(727) 897-7000
www.accenture.com/utilities6
ADS Systems Inc.
Deloitte Consulting
127 Public Square, Suite 3300
Cleveland, OH 44114
(216) 589-1300
www.deloitte.com/us
Equinox Software Design Corp.
204-267 W. Esplanade
North Vancouver, BC V7M 1A5 Canada
(604) 988-7598
www.equinox.ca
Intelsys Inc.
99 Mineola Ave.
Roslyn Heights, NY 11577
(516) 621-5200
www.intelsysinc.com
LogicaCMG
10375 Richmond Ave., Suite 1000
Houston, TX 77042
(713) 954-7000
www.us.logicacmg.com
QC Data Inc.
SEE COMPLETE LISTING ON PAGE 61
UMS Group
20 Waterview Blvd.
Parsippany, NJ 07054
(973) 335-3555
www.umsgroup.com
5022 Baily Loop, Suite 123
McClellan, CA 95652
(916) 922-3532
www.adsystems.com
Cadence Network Inc.
105 E. Fourth St., Suite 250
Cincinnati, OH 45202
(866) 223-3623
www.cadencenetwork.com
Capgemini
SEE COMPLETE LISTING ON PAGE 60
Central Service Association
P.O. Box 3480
Tupelo, MS 38803
(662) 842-5962
www.csa1.com
CGI Inc. (Utility Solutions)
11 Duke St., 3rd Floor
Montreal, QC H3C 2M1 Canada
(800) 390-6033
www.utilitysolutions.com
62 EnErgyBiz magazinE May/June 2006
1390 Ridgeway Drive
Allentown, PA 18104
(610) 530-5000
www.compaid.com
Wipro Technologies
Doddakanelli, Sarjapur Road
India
www.wipro.com
Contact
Michael Murphy, Practice Manager
(828) 526-1841
Dev Singh, Business Dev. Manager
(630) 613-2308
Gaurav Talwar, Marketing Manager
+91 984-508-9540
Wipro (NYSE:WIT) is a global provider
of consulting, IT Services, outsourced R&D,
infrastructure outsourcing and business process
services, delivering technology-driven business
solutions that meet the strategic objectives of our
clients. With more than 25 years in the information
technology business, Wipro is one of the pioneers
in the remote delivery of services, and has
constantly innovated to provide a comprehensive
range of integrated services.
Plan to attend Canada’s only T&D
Conference and Exposition
June 13, 14 & 15, 2006
Palais des Congrès de Montréal
Montréal, Québec
Conference: June 13, 14 & 15, 2006
Exhibition: June 14 & 15, 2006
N E T W O R K S
•
S Y S T E M S
•
T E C H N O L O G Y
•
E Q U I P M E N T
21st Century Business Strategies for T&D
3 days packed with education, networking,
more than 150 exhibitors, entertainment,
vendor forums “Practically Speaking” and much more...
• Listen to the most unique presentations most of which have never been
presented at any other T&D conference
• Hear utilities and suppliers present papers feature unique business case studies
and solutions at more than 40 sessions
• Listen to Keynote speaker, Andre Boulanger, president of the Hydro-Québec
Distribution Division
• PLUS, have a chance to win a trip for two to Mexico or FREE Cirque du Soleil
vouchers for anywhere in North America
This is the most important professional development opportunity of the year.
Check out our website for a complete listing of conference sessions.
Register now at www.natd.ca and guarantee your spot in Canada’s premier
T&D Conference and Expo. For exhibit information contact Lee Baker at 888-253-1718
Supporting Association:
www.natd.ca
Corporate Sponsors:
Host Utility Sponsor
Presented by:
Produced and managed by:
EXPO MANAGEMENT INC.
“Showing You the Way to Success”
a common vocabulary through which applications
and business processes across the enterprise
can communicate and share data, both now and
far into the future.
outsourcing
Xtensible Solutions
6312 S. Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 330E
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
(720) 240-0510
Fax (720) 240-0599
www.xtensible.net
Contact
Greg Robinson
(321) 777-3789
Joe Zhoe
(303) 229-4328
Terry Saxton
(763) 473-3250
Xtensible Solutions is a global service
provider of systems integration frameworks and
methodologies, which enable utilities and their
partners to dramatically simplify the integration
of complex IT systems. Xtensible’s solutions are
designed using the industry-standard Common
Information Model (CIM) and other relevant models to resolve costly semantic issues. The result is
64 EnergyBiz magazine May/June 2006
Powe r Mar keti ng
EC Power International Inc.
5120 Woodway, Suite 5005
Houston, TX 77056
(713) 626-8700
www.ec-power.com
Great Lakes Engineered Sales
3233 Michele Ruella
Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223
(330) 283-0548
www.greatlakesengineeredsales.com
Pace Global Energy Services
4401 Fair Lakes Court
Fairfax, VA 22033
(703) 818-9100
www.paceglobal.com
Tr ansm iss i o n Fu nc ti o ns
ABB
940 Main Campus Drive
Raleigh, NC 27606
(800) 919-4995
www.abb.com/us
Real Time Utility Engineers
8417 Excelsior Drive
Madison, WI 53717
(800) 297-1478
www.realtimeutilityengineers.com
For the latest T&D
Automation news,
events and articles
go to topics.energycentral. com.
Itron Demonstrates Distribution Design and Analysis
Breakthroughs at Annual GITA Conference
Collaboration with ESRI, Xcel Energy Helps Drive Innovation
SPOKANE, WA – April 27, 2006 – Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) announced today it demonstrated breakthrough technology that makes distribution design and analysis both easier and more powerful, at the GITA
Annual Conference 29, April 23-26, in Tampa, FL.
As a partner in the Utility Innovations initiative at Xcel Energy, Itron distribution design technology has delivered Builder’s Portal. This Internet-based tool allows builders and developers to submit plans directly to the
utility and collaborate in the approval process. Based on Itron Distribution Design Studio, Builder’s Portal has
cut the approval process from 20 weeks to just two weeks. An Xcel Energy representative was present in the
Itron booth (booth #617) to help answer questions about this revolution in power distribution design.
In working with ESRI, a world leader in geospatial information systems, Itron has added visualization tools to its Distribution Asset Analysis Suite (DAA Suite™). By reconciling hourly SCADA data at the substation level with end-use
customer and other sources of data, DAA Suite provides an engineering basis for predicting transformer loading and
actual system-wide asset loads. By combining DAA Suite analytics with ESRI GIS tools, Itron now gives distribution
managers a way to see exactly which portions of the distribution network are over- or under-utilized under actual or
simulated conditions.
About Itron
Itron is a leading technology and services provider, delivering critical knowledge to the global energy and
water industries. Nearly 3,000 utilities worldwide rely on Itron’s award-winning technology and professional
services to provide the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron
creates value for its clients by providing industry-leading solutions and services for electricity metering;
meter data collection; energy information management; demand response; load forecasting, analysis and
consulting services; distribution system design and optimization; Web-based workforce automation; and
Ad v e r t i s e m e n t
enterprise and residential energy management. To know more, start here: www.itron.com.
For more information, contact:
christina kelly
marketing communications specialist
(509) 891-3268
[email protected]
www.energybizmag.com EnergyBiz magazine 65