Ember Enables World's First ZigBee-Certified Water Meter

BOSTON, November 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Ember's ZigBee technology integrated into Elster's and Freestyle Technology's V200 digital water meters

The world's first ZigBee-certified wireless water meter developed by Elster and Freestyle Technology is using ZigBee technology from Ember to help utilities and consumers better manage their water cost and usage.

Elster and Freestyle have integrated Ember's ZigBee System-on-Chip and ZigBee PRO networking software into the new Elster V200 digital water meter to serve global markets. The V200 is one in a series of Ember-enabled smart meters from Elster, with ZigBee smart meters for gas and electricity also in development.

The Elster V200 meters enable households to monitor their water usage wisely, while also giving utilities the ability to provide more efficient billing and better service to customers. The meters integrate effortlessly into wireless home area networks (HANs), working seamlessly with other smart energy devices in the home to help households conserve water, electricity and other resources. A wireless ZigBee-to-IP hub communicates usage data back to the utility for billing and service applications.

The V200 combines Elster's proven measurement and smart meter technology, Ember's ZigBee chips and software, and a metering application developed with Freestyle's Microengine technology. As the meters are battery operated for easy maintenance and installation, the ultra-low power requirements of Ember's ZigBee chips were essential to the meter's design. The meters operate in "sleep" mode most of the time, awakening intermittently to communicate with the HAN and hub. Consequently, Ember's ZigBee technology enables the meters to operate reliably and securely for years using inexpensive batteries.

The V200 meters utilize the ZigBee Smart Energy (SE) version 1.1 profile to provide easy development, installation and operation, as well as interoperability with industry standard Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems and other ZigBee SE devices. Elster can continuously enhance and update the meters using the SE profile's over-the-air update feature. 

"Elster selected Ember's chips and software because of the company's market leadership, mature technology and robust application development tools," said Rob Campbell, managing director of Elster Metering Pty Ltd.

"Ember offered the best development platform so that we could bring this and future products to market quickly," said Richard Strickland, operations director of Freestyle. "With Ember's tools you don't have to worry about all the complex networking issues; you can just focus on creating great applications," he said. 

Ember's ZigBee networking systems - chips, ZigBee protocol software and tools - simplify the complexity of integrating embedded software, networking and RF for developing low-power, wireless products in the connected home, smart energy, and other remote monitoring and control applications.

"Elster and Freestyle Technology are leading the change to bring tailored metering solutions that comply with the European and other regulatory directives for smart gas and electricity metering," said Andy Man, Ember's vice president of sales for the Asia-Pacific region. "This partnership will enable the companies to continue to develop smart metering solutions for different markets across the globe."

About Freestyle Technology

Freestyle Technology is a company focused on delivering innovative, total technology solutions which meet customer, retailer, network provider and support services needs to the utilities industry. Incorporated in 2006, Freestyle Technology developed the Freestyle Application Environment as the standard platform for developments within the Utilities market. The Environment offers a reprogrammable capability which can be incorporated into new and existing equipment or systems enhancing functionality and enabling the seamless interface of the device with local and remote networks via the relevant communications medium.

About Elster

Elster (NYSE: ELT) is one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services - key components for enabling consumer choice, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets.

Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering devices deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications. For more information about Elster, please visit http://www.elster.com.

About Ember

Ember Corporation (http://www.ember.com) develops wireless mesh networking technology - chips, software and tools - for Smart Energy, connected homes, and many other monitoring and control applications enabling greener living and work environments. The Boston-based company is a promoter of the ZigBee Alliance with an IC design center in Cambridge, England, an office in Hong Kong and sales channels and distributors worldwide. Follow Ember on twitter @EmberCorp.