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Vodafone and Alcatel-Lucent’s smart meter play in Germany

Tony Chan | December 17, 2009 | 0 Comments

Vodafone Germany and Alcatel-Lucent says they will work together to develop a smart metering offering for the German market. The new product will leverage Alcatel-Lucent’s Smart Metering Management System SMM8617 while Vodafone will provide the connectivity between consumer premise devices and the management system.

According to the companies, the smart metering managed service will enable German utilities to adhere to recent and forthcoming European Union’s rules and will be implemented for the first time by Stadtwerke Pasewalk, a municipal utility that operates in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Interestingly, Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile operator behind China Mobile, is relying not solely on its mobile network, but also on DSL. In fact, the press release suggests that DSL is the priority.

“This type of Machine-to-Machine-Communication (M2M) will be realized over a fixed-line DSL connection or a wireless GPRS connection and will be managed over a highly available M2M service platform,” the companies said.

“The Machine-to-Machine communications market is expanding and smart metering is one of the most promising segments in the future, not alone because of EU rules. We are present in this segment in Germany with strong partners like Alcatel-Lucent and our specialized M2M product portfolio,” says Thomas Strehl, Senior Business Development Manager Industry & New Business, Vodafone Germany.

In addition to the energy sector, the German subsidiaries of Vodafone and Alcatel-Lucent intend to develop smart metering solutions that will apply to the health care field, specifically in patient monitoring or for applications in the development of electric cars.

The joint-offering will be brought to market by both companies, with sales being pushed forward by both Vodafone and Alcatel-Lucent.