November 2008

MECOMS Newsletter

Gartner Webcast

Gartner & Ferranti industry-specialists look at current and future challenges of utility companies and how to tackle them

Energy and utility companies are faced with constant change. Energy and water prizes are rising. There's greater attention on the environment. The market is restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions are the talk of the day. It all adds up to greater pressure on customer information, energy data management and other IT systems. Whether you're an electricity, gas or water utility. Whether you're in a regulated or de-regulated environment. Whether you're a supplier, grid operator or metering company the pressure's on to keep up with change and improve performance. But how do you best build a business application landscape that keeps pace with this changing environment?

Check out the Gartner webcast in which industry leaders from Gartner and Ferranti explore the challenges that utility companies face, and more importantly, offer solutions to increase competitiveness and agility. Learn how Ferranti's MECOMS® is helping organizations to increase efficiency and achieve greater control over their business processes.

Gartner Webcast

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MECOMS Roadmap

Every Electricity, Gas or Water Utility that operates in a regulated or de-regulated environment - whether you work as a supplier, grid operator or metering company – feels the pressure to keep up with change. It is a big challenge to continuously improve business performance while at the same time reducing operational cost.

The MECOMS® product faces these challenges by helping organizations to increase the efficiency of their system and to achieve a greater control over their business processes. We dedicate ourselves to make a continuous investment in understanding the market needs, technology advancements and business best practices.

In a rapidly changing and evolving market product evolution combined with product stability is certainly a big challenge. We are enthusiastic to announce that for the forthcoming release we are able to address key challenges in the utility sector in a solid structure that is extensible to fit customer needs. The major improvements have been done in the following business domains:-

Data Communication
The data communication capabilities of MECOMS® have been enhanced to support a fully open architecture that communicates with any meter communication platform including new smart metering technology or can provide communication directly to the meter in a controlled manner. This bi-directional capable data communication platform which we call the Smart Metering Communication Bus provides excellent meter communication, scheduling and on demand actions. It is built on a robust time series database optimized for time series storage and manipulation (profiles , curves). The technology moves beyond a classic relational model enabling a very large architecture that is fully distributed, scalable and can thus handle very complex, large AMI infrastructures.

Corporate Performance Management
Business analytics aren’t just for Fortune 500 companies anymore. In today’s fiercely competitive economy, leaders of small and midsize companies are turning to business-intelligence solutions to spot trends, so they can act quickly and capitalize on opportunities. MECOMS® understands these challenges and moves beyond a classic “there is a report” business intelligence approach. Information and business insight is only useful if people can consult the information tailored to their needs and are able to act on the information they see. MECOMS® corporate performance management combines two strong concepts to empower business users in their daily activities. Dashboards that are offered for every role in a utility company provide users with specific information to their daily activities. For example the call center manager with a clear overview on the overdue activities, call center occupation, summaries per type of call. These are just a few examples of how every person from the account manager, validation responsible to the cash collection employee have a personalized dashboard informing them of their tasks and  giving them insight on their business processes. Building on the Microsoft Dynamics Role Centers and Performance Point Server technology we provide a robust architecture that helps you improve business performance by giving users insight and empowering them to take action all from one clear dashboard overview.   

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Euriware Signs MECOMS Partner Agreement

Euriware, a subsidiary of the AREVA group, has entered into a partnership agreement with Ferranti Computer Systems to sell, implement and support MECOMS in the French Energy, Utilities and Water markets. 

Subsidiary of the AREVA group, energy expert and equipment manufacturer for electricity transmission and distribution, Euriware develops and implements on-site electric power supply solutions enabling power grid operators to:

• make the information systems supporting their operations, particularly real-time information systems, more reliable
• reduce recurring information system operating costs
• implement value-adding information solutions for different energy market players
• implement technical solutions for interoperability that accelerate information exchange among grid operators and between grid operators and other electricity market players (producers, brokers, suppliers, final customers).

Euriware provides its customers with advanced Consulting and IT services in energy, industry, defence and services sectors. Its expertise is based on the successful combination of its three core business activities: Consultancy, Systems Integration (Enterprise Systems Integration and Technical and Industrial Systems) and 'evolutionary' Outsourcing. EURIWARE's industrial approach delivers successful projects, harnesses innovation and ensures continuous forward planning.

Other MECOMS Partners...

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MECOMS Software & Brochures now available in French and German

Meet Ferranti @ Convergence 2008

Ferranti Computer Systems herewith invites you to Convergence 2008 in Copenhagen

Meet our experts on booth E55 to discover the current MECOMS product suite and get a sneak preview of the next generation applications, the Smart Home of the future.

We would be delighted to meet you in Copenhagen. Please contact us to arrange a meeting or demonstration or make an individual appointment through Convergence Connect.

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