Aclara's Thompson to Chair Smart Grid Task Group of Wi-Fi Alliance

CLEVELAND, Nov. 11  /PRNewswire/ -- Aclara is pleased to announce that Mark Thompson, Vice-President of Strategic Communication Networks, has been elected by member companies of the Wi-Fi Alliance® to chair the newly formed Smart Grid task group. The Aclara(TM) brand represents leading utility networking and advanced metering infrastructure technologies and is part of the Utility Communications Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE).

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The Smart Grid task group will provide technical expertise to utilities and government officials on the properties of Wi-Fi® that make it suitable for the Smart Grid, and assess how the long-standing Wi-Fi CERTIFIED(TM) testing program might be extended to support Smart Grid devices and applications. One of the first actions taken by the group was creation of a report entitled Wi-Fi for the Smart Grid describing the suitability of Wi-Fi technology for use in the Smart Grid infrastructure.

"Aclara is committed to bringing solutions to utilities based on the proven technologies promoted by the Wi-Fi Alliance," said Thompson. "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED technology is an excellent choice for utilities because devices have been tested for security and interoperability. Aclara is working with the task group to ensure that utilities have access to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Smart Grid technologies."

By participating in the task group, Aclara hopes to promote Wi-Fi technology and certifications in Smart Grid solutions. Aclara believes that Smart Grid networks will be heterogeneous ones based on many different standards, including Wi-Fi. The latter is especially suited to for Smart Grid applications in part because of the ongoing roadmap of innovation and established mechanisms for collaboration developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance as well as IEEE.

"We are pleased to see Aclara and other Wi-Fi Alliance member companies coming together to explore how our industry can support the ongoing use of Wi-Fi in Smart Grid applications," said Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. "It's clear that Wi-Fi will be as important in both in-home and outdoor Smart Grid applications as it is today in consumer and enterprise networks. Our new activities in this area will help make sure that Smart Grid users will have an excellent experience with the technology."

In addition to certifying interoperability to the baseline functions defined in the IEEE 802.11 LAN standards, the Wi-Fi Alliance writes and executes test specifications for features including power saving, peer-to-peer communications, and security to enhance the usability of Wi-Fi technology.

About Aclara

The Aclara brand represents the industry's leading Intelligent Infrastructure(TM) technologies for providing device networking, data-value management, and customer communications to water, gas, and electric utilities globally. Over 500 utilities in nine countries rely on proven Aclara solutions to connect with their customers. Aclara is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE), St. Louis. Create Your Intelligent Infrastructure(TM) http://www.aclara.com/.

About the Wi-Fi Alliance

The Wi-Fi Alliance is a global non-profit industry association of hundreds of leading companies devoted to the proliferation of Wi-Fi technology across devices and market segments. With technology development, market building and regulatory programs, the Wi-Fi Alliance has enabled widespread adoption of Wi-Fi worldwide. http://www.wi-fi.org/. 

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DATASOURCE: Aclara



CONTACT:  Nancy E. Talley, Marketing Communications Manager of Aclara,

[phone], ; or Karl F. Stetson of Edelman,

[phone], , for the Wi-Fi Alliance



Web Site:  http://www.wi-fi.org/

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