Salzburg Orders OpenWay Smart Grid Solution From Itron

Itron has been awarded a contract to supply its OpenWay smart grid solution for Salzburg’s Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) pilot project.

The solution includes IPv6-based architecture designed jointly by Itron and Cisco, which addresses the technical and business requirements of utilities in many European countries.

Under the contract, the company will install its IPv6-enabled smart meters and Cisco's connected grid routers, and will also provide hosted environments for meter data management software and Cisco's network management system.

Itron will be responsible for the establishment, maintenance and monitoring of the network testing environments, while Salzburg and Fachhochschule Salzburg University of Applied Science (FHS-S) will manage the day-to-day operations of the solution.

Salzburg smart metering head Thomas Rieder said Itron's smart grid solution aligns with the company's smart grid vision.

"We look forward to evaluating the solution and realizing the benefits of a robust, secure, multi-service smart grid network," Rieder added.

Itron electricity business unit president Mark de Vere White said Salzburg will benefit from true plug-and-play interoperability and increased quality of service with the multiservice IPv6 smart grid network.

"With smarter technologies, we are helping utilities use resources more wisely to create a resourceful world for us all," White added.

As part of IPv6 project, Salzburg will evaluate the robustness of the new IP-based technology, which will enable it to test smart grid use cases, including remote service switch capabilities, on-demand meter reading and network resiliency, over the next year.