Comverge Announces Availability of New Maingate C&I Gateway Option for C&I AMR Programs.
Extensive testing completed for BPR Gateway
East Hanover, NJ, September 20, 2004 – Comverge, Inc., a leading company in the Energy Intelligence industry, announced today the completion of a six-month compatibility-testing program for their new Bag Phone Replacement (BPR) Gateway and the availability of this product for wide-spread deployment on both GSM and CDMA networks. The Maingate® C&I BPR Gateway is a drop-in replacement for analog cellular bag phones used for AMR communication by many utilities. The testing program involved over 30 utilities, and was intended to test the BPR gateway with a wide range of meters and legacy metering masters to assure that the product works the first time, every time.
The advantage of the Comverge BPR design is that it enables connection to existing meters and masters without changes to the system. Additionally, the BPR Gateway enables utilities to upgrade their system to more advanced cellular technologies without meter disruption. Electric utilities have been using analog cellular bag phones for AMR communication for many years. They were convenient and inexpensive. However two years ago the FCC gave the cellular carriers permission to start retiring the Analog Cellular Network. Specifically, on August 8, 2002, the FCC changed sections 22.901 and 22.933 of FCC rules to eliminate the requirement that cellular carriers provide analog service. The FCC provided a five-year sunset period, but many carriers are already collapsing analog cellular coverage, blacking out meters using bag phones.
John Rossi, Vice President of Engineering, said, “Our customers demand solutions that stand the test of time and work without fail the first time out of the box. Comverge has taken every measure including field deployments on over 30 systems to ensure reliable operation and compatibility. We will always work with our customers to field test our products, they are our true engineering test lab.”
Frank Magnotti, President of Global Sales and Marketing, said, “We are very excited to announce this development as it gives our customers more options and the ability to deploy solutions today that can evolve into the future. Comverge is committed to provide the most comprehensive solutions in the wireless C&I AMR marketplace.”
The BPR Gateway will play an important role in helping utilities avoid disruptions as the Analog Cellular system is retired. This product provides a proven solution from Comverge, a company that is noted for it’s innovative, award-winning AMR solutions. Come see the BPR gateway in action at the 2004 AMRA Symposium in Orlando, Florida on September 26th-28th, 2004.
About Comverge, Inc.
Comverge, Inc., The Power in Power Technology™, is a leading energy intelligence company whose investors include Nth Power, EnerTech Capital, Data Systems & Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSSI), E.ON Venture Partners GmbH (NYSE: EON), Ridgewood Capital, Easton Hunt Capital Partners, L.P., Norsk Hydro Technology Ventures (NYSE: NHY) and Shell Internet Ventures, an affiliate of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (NYSE: RD). Comverge has more than 500 energy supplier clients worldwide, with offices and research facilities in Atlanta, Georgia; East Hanover, New Jersey; Newark, California; Pensacola, Florida; and Tel Aviv, Israel. The Company’s PowerCAMP™ Group provides Endto-End Energy Intelligence™ software solutions. Comverge’s Technologies Group provides integrated, full-spectrum solutions for direct or voluntary load control programs, remote meter reading, price-responsive programs, time-of-use billing, distributed generation monitoring, theft/outage detection and more. Comverge’s Enterprise Group provides pioneering turnkey business solutions including owned and operated systems, Virtual Peaking Capacity™ “negawatt” contracts, and joint ventures. For more information visit
www.comverge.com.