LONDON, UK -- Based on its recent analysis of the smart metering market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Cyan Technology ("Cyan") with the 2014 Europe Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation Leadership. Cyan collaborates with utilities, system integrators and meter manufacturers across the globe to develop cost-effective smart metering technologies that will aid energy providers and consumers alike. Its smart metering technology provides a feasible upgrade from automated meter reading ("AMR"), offering benefits such as collection of data through radio from walk-by devices, to full-scale advanced metering infrastructure ("AMI").
CyLec®, the standards-based smart metering solution developed by Cyan, is a highly efficient communication and control platform. The system enables secure two-way communication with significant range and penetration, and is equipped with data concentrator units with embedded software for the remote management and control of multiple meters.
CyLec® helps the utility to read each and every meter, ensuring the timely dispatch of bills, which translates to cost savings. CyLec® also aids timely fault detection and prevention, and allows utilities to disconnect meters from remote locations in cases of theft. Additionally, CyLec® facilitates the shifting of loads between industrial and domestic consumers during peak hours with the help of tools such as real-time Time of Use tariffs and incentives.
"CyLec® has already demonstrated its practicality in India and Brazil, and has proven to be compatible with the existing static meters in these countries," said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Avimanyu Basu. "The retrofitting is achieved with the help of a compact retrofit module that connects with the existing communications interface on the meter."
In countries such as India, 25 percent to 30 percent of the generated power is lost during transmission and distribution, so optimizing the system by reducing losses can provide a significant boost to the economy. It will also allow utility companies to invest in the improvement of infrastructure, which will bring the outlying areas that are without service into the grid network. The company envisions that in the next five years, smart grid technology will help to address aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses and completely eliminate load shedding.
Cyan is part of a consortium that provides the manufacturing and supply of 5,000 retrofit modules to Essel Utilities in India, each containing Cyan's CyLec® 865MHz RF device. Along with this, Cyan offers additional software and hardware support such as Data Concentrator Units, custom antennas, CyLec® Head End Server software licenses and onsite software implementation services. A similar consortium, led by Larsen & Toubro, has also been selected by Tata Power for the deployment of a Cyan based smart metering solution to 5,000 homes in Mumbai. These programmes will give significant impetus to the goal of deploying 130 million smart meters across India by 2021.
In the meter manufacturer market in various emerging economies, systems with incongruent communication protocols are not appropriate for data transmission through a wireless network. In this scenario, Cyan's smart metering technology is a welcome tool. It supports interoperability by enabling meters from various manufacturers and suppliers to be integrated into an 'open system'. The Open Meter Protocol can be customized to the requirements of the local utilities and support real-time monitoring through wireless mesh networks.
"The company has directed its efforts toward providing solutions in the most cost-effective way, with the help of effectual demand forecasting, demand-side management and accurate billing," noted Basu. "Cyan's efforts will go a long way in helping end users accrue cost savings through its meter retrofit solution, and utilities reduce AT&C losses."
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated uniqueness in developing and leveraging new technologies, which significantly impacts both the functionality and the customer value of the new products and applications. The award lauds the high R&D spend towards innovation, its relevance to the industry and the positive impact on brand perception.
For more information, visit http://www.cyantechnology.com and http://www.frost.com