Element Manager integrates with existing NES systems and other enterprise applications. By implementing Echelon’s NES Element Manager, utilities can gain insight into critical network fault, performance, capacity and management metrics required to manage their project’s lifecycle, including installation, configuration, provisioning, management and monitoring.
Element Manager is designed to be easy to use for pilot projects, while providing the power and depth to support full-scale system deployments of millions of meters in an NES system. Through its web-based, dashboard-style graphical user interface, Element Manager provides insight into overall system performance, including network connectivity, data retrieval and the health of meters and power lines.
The intuitive software interface uses templates to pre-configure complex settings for demand, schedules, power quality, load profiles and time-of-use calendars to reduce the time required to set-up and copy configurations throughout the network. It also provides a high-level, system-wide view into all assets (meters and data concentrators) providing essential information such as location and hardware, software and firmware versions to help avoid conflicts amongst versions and to simplify network maintenance.
“As utilities look to move beyond simple automated meter reading and first generation advanced metering infrastructure to the smart grid, the enhanced functionality of these smart systems raises the expectations about what a utility’s network can do, both today and in the future. This means that the utility’s operations team must be able to better visualize and manage their networks, have the ability to immediately and proactively identify and resolve network issues, attain the highest level of customer service, and reduce operation costs. Element Manager will help them meet those high expectations,” said Bob Machlin, Echelon’s senior vice president, products.
About the Solution:
The NES advanced metering infrastructure from Echelon consists of a family of integrated, advanced electronic electricity meters accessed via a web services based network operating system over an IP networking infrastructure. Much more than a simple AMI system focused on billing related services, the NES System provides utilities with a wealth of information about the status, operation and health of the grid that enables them to reduce operating costs while increasing service quality.
