SITRONICS TS Opens a Pilot Project for Real-Time Smart Metering System in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Prague, March 27th 2007 – SITRONICS Telecom Solutions (formerly STROM telecom) today announced the launch of pilot operation the company’s UTILIS Real-Time Smart Metering System in the electricity network of J.P. ELEKTROPRIVREDA HZ HB MOSTAR, a regional electricity supplier in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The pilot will last for seven months during which the functionalities and performance of the UTILIS Real-Time Smart Metering System from SITRONICS TS will be tested with 184 metering devices in households. The UTILIS Real-Time Smart Metering System functionalities include remote read-offs, service control and data collection. The system could potentially be adopted for management of about 200,000 metering points within the J.P. ELEKTROPRIVREDA HZ network.

“The utilities industry is undergoing a revolution in operational management and customer services. Accurate, real-time information on energy consumption, quality of service and flexible billing are becoming an ever more important part of the business“, explains Mirko Jelčíć, manager of Utilities Solutions Business Unit at SITRONICS TS. “And thanks to our extensive and highly successful experience with management of telecommunication networks and real-time billing systems, this is our strong point.”

“Infrastructure modernisation is the only way to lower operational costs and offer better services to our customers“, says Džemal Hadžiosmanović, Head of the Metering Department of J.P. ELEKTROPRIVREDA HZ HB MOSTAR. “In our job we often have to deal with problematic customers and modern methods of remote meter reading enable us to identify fraudulent in time to prevent potential revenue losses more effectively.“

SITRONICS TS launched its UTILIS Real-Time Smart Metering System together with Echelon meters and PLC technology last year. The first utility to adopt the system was Stadtwerke Feldkirch of Austria which has begun replacing all existing meters and implementing the system of UTILIS from SITRONICS TS.

The UTILIS Real-Time Smart Metering System performs remote readouts of utility consumption, retrieves vital operational data in real time and performs remote service control. In conjunction with a CRM and billing solution from SITRONICS or third party vendor, UTILIS system offers end users reliable information on energy or commodity (electricity, gas water) consumed and its exact price, while Utility providers benefit from real-time data to effectively protect against fraud and unauthorised intervention into their system.

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About J.P. ELEKTROPRIVREDA HZ HB MOSTAR
J.P. ELEKTROPRIVREDA HZ HB MOSTAR is an electricity producer and supplier in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company has over 1500 employees and supplies about 200,000 customers.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ephzhb.ba

About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) is a pioneer and world leader in control networking — networks that connect machines and other electronic devices — for the purpose of sensing, monitoring and controlling the world around us. Echelon is based in San Jose, California, with international offices in China, France, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Further information regarding Echelon can be found at http://www.echelon.com.

About UTILIS
UTILIS is a business-transforming smart metering and business support solution for utilities developed by SITRONICS TS. It enables remote data reading and remote service control in utilities networks in real-time and features a range of network quality, network management, revenue assurance and customer care features. UTILIS unites the provider’s metering network with its ERP and CRM applications and supports full utility convergence.

About SITRONICS Telecom Solutions, Czech Republic
Founded in the Czech Republic in 1993, SITRONICS Telecom Solutions Czech Republic develops and produces high-end communications equipment and ICT systems with proven performance and reliability. The company also provides diverse services to enable its customers to effectively plan network development and to optimize business processes. SITRONICS TS Czech Republic now has over 1300 employees, 70 % of whom are dedicated specialists and developers working at the company’s locations in the Czech Republic, Russia, France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. SITRONICS TS Czech Republic products are installed in over 50 networks in 14 countries, serving over 65 million subscribers. The company is a member of SITRONICS JSC (LSE: SITR), a subsidiary of AFK SISTEMA, the largest diversified holding company in Russia. For more information, please visit: http://www.sitronicsts.com

Contact Information

Aziz Jahić

Communications manager

SITRONICS Telecom Solutions

Contact via E-mail