/> “Utilities are faced with numerous regulatory and internal business issues when running a Smart Grid pilot program,” said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Digi International. “We have tens of thousands of residential energy gateways deployed in real-world Smart Grid applications. Our cost-effective Smart Grid Now bundles make it easy for utilities to take the next step in Smart Grid deployment and engage consumers in real-time energy decisions.”

“Smart Grid Now” bundles allow utilities to offer a broad range of demand-side management services with or without Smart Meter deployments. Two configurations are available including the Smart Energy (SE) bundle for AMI networks and the AMR Plus bundle. Both bundles include 25 ConnectPort® Smart Energy Gateways, iDigi® cloud service and iPhone and Android applications. The AMR Plus bundle includes an additional 25 ERT/Ethernet Bridges which make real-time AMR/ERT metering data available to an energy service provider via broadband. The ERT products enable online access to gas, water and electric metering data from Itron’s widely deployed ERT meters.

“Smart Grid Now” bundles allow customers to create an extended grid. The extended grid then becomes the starting point for a Home Area Network (HAN) that can be joined by Smart Energy thermostats, load controllers, appliances, in-home displays and other devices. Consumers can access energy usage information via Google PowerMeter as well as Digi’s iPhone and Android Energy Day Trader applications. Smart thermostats can be controlled remotely via the same iPhone and Android applications.

“Smart Grid Now” pilot bundles allow utilities to connect their customers to a broad range of Digi X-Grid partner solutions and support ZigBee Smart Energy certified thermostats from Carrier, Energate, Computime and Radio Thermostat Company of America. Digi provides an open architecture solution that supports numerous innovative energy service application providers. To learn more about how Comverge, Cooper Power, Calico Energy Services, Ecofactor and other application providers work with the Digi X-Grid solution, please visit http://www.digi.com/solutions/partners/energy_dtech.jsp.