Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) and Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) announced a collaboration to develop integrated smart grid offerings.
The company’s will integrate Convergys’ scalable real-time billing system with Echelon’s advanced metering infrastructure.
The combined systems will allow for integrated metering, rating and billing, while providing real-time data to both utilities and customers.
Bob Lento, President, Information Management, Convergys, said: “We believe that by collaborating with Echelon through its NES System, we can help improve the relationship between utilities and their customers by providing real-time energy usage information and a more integrated customer experience.”
Echelon’s Networked Energy Services (NES) System consists of a family of electricity meters accessed via a Web services-based network operating system over an IP networking infrastructure. The NES System provides utilities with information about the status, operation, and health of the grid that helps them to reduce operating costs while increasing service quality.
In December 2009, Echelon selected Green Energy Options Ltd. (GEO) to develop user interface displays for its NES System.
Convergys is a company focused on relationship management between clients and their customers. The company has approximately 70,000 employees in 74 customer contact
centers and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin
America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.