Comverge's Maingate® S4 is an underglass version of the Maingate C&I gateway installed in a Landis+Gyr S4/S4e meter. This plug-and-play solution can be retrofitted into existing S4/S4e meters in several simple steps, or is available pre-installed as well. The underglass unit couples a compact design with the rich feature set of the external box configuration.

The Maingate S4 Underglass gateway is fully integrated and warranted by the meter manufacturer, giving the utility a single point-of-contact for all maintenance concerns and ensuring that the device will function as designed. Gateway messages, for troubleshooting or verification, appear on the meter's LCD. The Maingate S4 is fully ANSI compliant and has undergone rigorous testing by both Landis+Gyr and Comverge.

Maingate S4 communicates via CDMA or packet switched cellular, offering Packet Assembly/Disassembly (PAD) and proprietary "MMS" mode communications protocols on both networks. The MMS mode is designed to drastically reduce communications costs by decreasing each message size by up to seven times. A gateway using MMS mode also enables extremely fast data collection, up to 100 reads per second.

Maingate S4 is designed so that the utility will never have to visit the meter site again, offering robust over-the-air programmability, even enabling the utility to change communications modes over the air. An upgrade server also enables the utility to broadcast upgrades to the entire installation of gateways, to a section of gateways, or to an individual gateway.

Key features include:

• CDMA 1xRTT
• Circuit-switched or packet-switched operation
• Internet Protocol (IP) in the Packet Assembly/Disassembly (PAD) mode or the advanced UCA/MMS mode
• Internet protocol using fixed or dynamic IP address
• Over-the-air transitions to different network modes
• Advanced power quality functions
• Complete range of installation options available, including external antennas, RF attenuators, and directional antennas
• Reduced communications charges
• Over-the-air patches respond to changes in network operation
• Watchdog timer
• Power outage detection and indication
• Provisioning and signal strength indicators for easy installation
• Gateway messages appear on meter LCD
• Fully-integrated design
• Retrofit kit available