• Solution designed to support 'smart' management of all utility assets, systems and services
VANCOUVER, BC, Canada, Nov. 4, 2009 -- Utilities Kingston (UK) today announced a partnership with leading-edge asset management technology provider Fuseforward to develop a comprehensive "Intelligent Utility" solution to support all aspects of utility management, including customer relations and billing, operations, service and maintenance management, financial management and reporting, and performance analysis. UK and Fuseforward will partner to market the resulting system to utilities throughout North America.
The development project is now underway and is scheduled for completion in 2011.
UK (www.utilitieskingston.com) provides water, wastewater, electricity, natural gas and broadband services to the City of Kingston, Ontario. Fuseforward (www.fuseforward.com) provides subscription-based advanced infrastructure management solutions for asset-intensive enterprises such as governments, utilities and businesses. It will supply its Intelligent System Management platform as the basis for the "Intelligent Utility" system, and will develop, source and integrate complementary technologies within UK's operating environment.
The "Intelligent Utility" solution will provide functionality to:
• Manage customer relations, including acquisition, billing and disconnection.
• Track projects from planning through execution and completion, including design and construction.
• Manage work orders for emergency repairs and regular maintenance.
• Track financial information to ensure compliance with energy industry regulations, international financial reporting standards, and public sector accounting standards.
• Track and manage labor, contractors, tools and materials for construction, service and maintenance projects.
• Support "smart metering" systems and "Smart Grid" technologies.
• Report and analyze service and system performance data.
• Display all information in a spatial context using Geographic Information System (GIS) data.
• Enable system and service data to be accessed via mobile devices in the field.
"Complex asset-intensive organizations such as utilities need 'smarter' solutions to help them manage their infrastructure, systems and services more efficiently and cost-effectively, and the technologies to help them do this are now within reach," said Mark Damm, CEO of Fuseforward. "We are excited to be working with a forward-thinking partner such as UK to develop and market a next-generation solution to support the 'intelligent utility.'"
"We see great promise in the vision of the 'intelligent utility' and we believe that in Fuseforward, we've found a partner with the technology and the expertise required to bring this vision to reality," said Jim Keech, CEO of Utilities Kingston.
Fuseforward has installed its Intelligent System Management platform at UK and is proceeding with integration and development of complementary components. The base "Intelligent Utility" solution is available now and will incorporate key components as they are released. Fuseforward and UK will market the "Intelligent Utility" solution to end-user utilities directly, through partners, and as a service to customers who choose to outsource back-office systems and support.
About Fuseforward
Fuseforward International Inc. (www.fuseforward.com), based in Vancouver, Canada, develops innovative infrastructure management solutions for governments, utilities, distributed energy plants, engineering firms, maintenance companies and other asset-centric enterprises. Our Intelligent Infrastructure Management™ platform supports advanced asset management, operations management, system performance analysis and optimization, smart metering technologies, carbon emissions management, and regulatory compliance in asset-intensive enterprises. Our platform offers mid-market customers enterprise-class functionality and rapid time to value for an affordable monthly per-user fee. We provide our solutions as on-demand services accessed through the Internet or from on-premise hardware appliances.
About Utilities Kingston
Utilities Kingston is responsible for supplying, distributing and metering electricity and natural gas in Kingston City Central. Utilities Kingston is also responsible for supplying, distributing and metering water and for collecting, pumping and treating sewage for the entire City of Kingston. Utilities Kingston also provides the community with a high-speed broadband network.
###