Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland
August 11, 2008

New York City Procures Aclara STAR® Network Advanced Metering System

By Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland

New York City recently joined Boston, Washington (DC), Corpus Christi (TX), and over 90 other municipalities by selecting the Aclara STAR® Network solution from Aclara RF Systems Inc., a Platinum Partner with The U.S. Conference of Mayors and member of the Mayors Water Council, as its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology for water. The STAR® Network system, one of the Aclara technologies of ESCO Technologies Inc., will read meters daily, reduce water losses, and encourage conservation.

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection chose the system, which is the industry’s most advanced fixed-network solution for water, gas, and electric utilities. The system will collect interval data to support current billing needs and programs to identify leaks and find equipment problems. More importantly, the STAR® Network AMI system also will provide New York City’s water customers with enhanced account information and accurate usage data that will help them reduce consumption and conserve resources.

“Aclara appreciates the opportunity to work with New York City to implement a seamless water AMI solution that provides many environmental benefits to the city,” said Ike Moss, vice-president of municipal sales for Aclara RF Systems Inc. “We believe our system will contribute significantly to the success of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s recently announced green initiatives by reducing water losses and encouraging conservation by consumers.”

The STAR® Network system will operate within a 307-mile area that encompasses the city’s five boroughs and will work on the New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN), a secure, 2.5-Ghz wireless system being installed by the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. The city developed NYCWiN as part of a comprehensive upgrade of its communications systems to meet growing operational and security requirements

Aclara won the contract after successfully completing a pilot in the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The pilot, which involved 200 meters in each location, was designed to prove the STAR® Network system’s effectiveness in an urban environment. Aclara successfully demonstrated that its radio-based system, which operates on 450-to 475 MHz frequencies, could transmit readings from meters in a variety of locations such as building basements and pits.

New York city’s AMI project is the industry’s largest to date and will be deployed over approximately three years. The radio-based fixed-network is expected to handle data from 875,000 water meters serving approximately eight million customers once it is fully installed and operational.

For additional information about Alcara, contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland at 301-460-5251 or send e-mail to kweyland@usmayors.org. You can also visit Alcara’s website at: www.aclaratech.com