Korea-based NURI Telecom will soon introduce to the U.S. market a new automatic meter reading (AMR) system that will potentially save public utility companies millions of dollars by eliminating the need to manually read electric, gas and water meters at homeowners’ premises.
Using ZigBee-based wireless networking technology from Ember, NURI Telecom’s AMR system will also enable utilities to enter the emerging digital home market by offering new revenue-generating monitoring and control services such as home security, anti-fire systems and home appliance control. ZigBee is a wireless, standards-based radio technology that addresses the unique needs of remote monitoring and control, and sensor network applications.
The Ember-enabled AMR system is already being used in scores of Korean homes as part of a government-sponsored Digital Home Pilot Service aimed at turning houses into wireless “smart homes” with digital information, home automation and security services. NURI Telecom also has developed a ZigBee-based communication module as a OEM product for many other AMR and home network solution providers.
NURI’s AMR system is integrated with Ember’s ZigBee-ready semiconductors and networking software to create a bi-directional wireless mesh network that links meters with utilities’ corporate offices. They can remotely meter a home’s electricity, gas and water usage more efficiently with fewer errors and at lower costs, while giving customers greater insight into their energy consumption and better customer service.
“Our Ember-enabled meters form a complete mesh so that they can all communicate with each other and route data reliably,” said NURI CEO, Song Man Cho. “The ZigBee network works well because latency is not an issue, yet the network can be easily expanded as new buildings are brought into service. We partnered with Ember because it had the most mature ZigBee platform, enabling us to reduce our product development time dramatically.”
The NURI system, marketed under the brand name AIMIR, is based on the successful commercial remote metering deployment of more than 110,000 residential and industrial facilities. In addition to electric, gas and water usage metering, the system’s two-way communication offers new capabilities such as electricity overload control, gas leakage detection and power cut-off notification.
“Because it’s based on ZigBee, the industry standard for home automation networks, the AIMIR system will enable utilities to expand into new services beyond basic energy metering,” said Venkat Bahl, Ember’s vice president of marketing. “Ember’s technology is already helping buildings become safer, eco-friendly, more comfortable and energy efficient. The AIMIR system can leverage ZigBee to support new applications such as automatic closure of gas valves, digital door locks, and remotely controlled home devices and HVAC equipment over the Internet, among many other possibilities.”
About NURI Telecom
Founded in March 1992, NURI Telecom has become a leader in IT integrated management solutions, automatic remote metering solutions, and Home Network solutions in the Asian market. NURI Telecom is a network-centric professional solutions company which has achieved continuous growth without debts since its establishment. NURI Telecom has expended its competitive power to ubiquitous industry of home automation network and sensor network services and will lead the next generation IT industry. The company has 3 subsidiary companies and also maintains corporate offices in Japan and branch in America for global marketing. For more information, please visit www.nuritelecom.com.
About Ember Corporation
Ember Corporation develops wireless semiconductor solutions that help buildings consume less energy, manufacturing plants run with fewer breakdowns, and the country’s borders and infrastructure remain safe and secure. Its vision is to help create an “Internet of things” by enabling the eight billion microcontrollers built into products each year to support low-cost, low-power networking applications in any industry. Headquartered in Boston with offices and distributors worldwide, the company was named one of Fortune Magazine’s “Cool Companies” and Red Herring’s “Top 100 Innovators” for 2004. For more information, please visit www.ember.com.
