SP AusNet taps Motorola & Unwired for WiMAX based smart-metering

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 22 October 2009 15:28

Business IT - Networking

Victorian power company, SP AusNet, has chosen Motorola Home & Networks Mobility business' mobile broadband technology to power what, according to Motorola, will be the world's first WiMAX-based smart metering network, using Unwired's spectrum.

Motorola will provide SP AusNet with a full measurement and collection system that includes customer meters, communication networks and data management systems for its smart metering programme that will monitor electricity usage in 680,000 for Victorian homes by 2013.

The system will used mobile WiMAX technology operating in 2.3GHz spectrum which SP AusNet will lease from wireless broadband service provider, Unwired. Motorola will start shipping and installing products by the end of 2009.

Unwired has been rather vague about its relationship with SP AusNet, saying that its agreement with SP AusNet gives SP AusNet access ot "part of Unwired's 2.3GHz spectrum in Melbourne to operate a WiMAX network," and that SP AusNet will build a number of base station sites in Unwired's coverage area.

It then says that this network would be used in any future 4G broadband network to be deployed in Melbourne, with Unwired CEO, David Spence saying: "Agreements with partners like SP AusNet will build a platform that will help us extend our Vividwireless mobile Internet services outside Perth."

Unwired and Motorola are just two of many organisations involved in the project. According to SP AusNet, its partner are: Landis+Gyr, GE and GridNet, UXC, Electrix, Motorola, Unwired, eMeter, Logica, Accenture, Enterprise Business Services, and Geomatic Technologies.

In addition, Select Solutions, a commercial arm of SP AusNet, will provide the overall management of the end-to-end meter exchange component for the programme, including the management of all field service providers and provisioning of required systems.

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