INT seems to be making some very good alliances with the trial of it's Automated Meter Reading solutions both here in Australia and O/S. Coupled with the hospital software/hardware contract earlier this week a major re-rating of this stock is on the cards if they can pull off a big contract in Malaysia.
Cobby
Completion of Major AMR Installation in Malaysia 12-12 1708
The Board of Directors of Intermoco Limited ("Intermoco") is pleased to announce that the pilot installation of the Company's Utiligy Automated meter Reading ("AMR") solution for Malaysia's national electricity provider, Tenaga Nasional Berhad ("Tenaga") has been successfully completed.
The installation was handed over to Tenaga in Kuala Lumpur yesterday by Intermoco's managing Director, Mr Martin Yii. This installation provides Tenaga with full access to real time data generated from approximately 400 electricity meters via its own secure website.
The Tenaga installation comprises both single and three-phase meters for domestic residences, commercial businesses, shop premises and industrial factories, located in the areas of Sea Park and Dormitory in Petaling Jaya, and Puchong Industrial Park in Subang, both suburban regions of Kuala Lumpur.
The Company is particularly excited by the opportunities made possible as a result of this installation. Tenaga is a significant Malaysian company supplying electricity to in excess of 5.3 million meters across pennisula Malaysia, representing more than 80 percent of the country's total number of electricity meters. In a press release made in August this year, the then Chairman of Tenaga, Datuk Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, is reported as saying that the company planned to implement an AMR system in a number of stages, commencing with its 40,000 largest customers and progressively rolling it out across its entire 5.3 million customer base over a five year time-period.
Over the coming weeks Tenaga, in conjunction with Intermoco, will fully evaluate the success of the pilot and the many features of the Utiligy solution. Given a successful outcome, the Company expects to commence negotiations for its participation in a full scale, staged roll out of its AMR technology across the Tenaga network in early 2003.
The Intermoco technology deployed in the Tenaga project is the same as that installed in Australia for key utilities CitiPower and Integral Energy. The Tenaga project uses the GPRS communications network provided by Maxis Communications, one of Malaysia's largest wireless telecommunications providers.
Key features of the Tenaga installation include:
* Provision of real-time kilowatt hour consumption and demand information;
* Real-time Quality of Service reporting, including individual phase voltages, current , power factor and outage reporting; and
* Theft detection capabilities that will assist in addressing the significant problem of electricity pilferage, which costs Tenaga an estimated 400 million ringgit (A$200 million) annually.
In addition to these features, two new products are being incorporated into the solution. The first of these new products detects power failure at the feeder pillar level and instantly reports this back to an operations centre. This feature significantly improves response times, thereby reducing the duration of power outages or blackout periods.
The second device provides a Demand Side management ("DSM") capability, which enables the connection and disconnection of services to be undertaken from a remote location. This feature can be used for load shifting within the network, thereby controlling demand and reducing the risk of blackouts during critical periods.
The information generated by these features is monitored and controlled from a secure, customised Internet website accessed from the client's IT system, without the additional cost of specific software or hardware systems.
The Board of Directors believes that the Tenaga installation will provide further valuable evidence of the capabilities of Intermoco's Utiligy solution and will become another significant reference site for prospective clients in the region. Intermoco is well advanced in discussions with a number of utilities in the South East Asian region, many of which are particularly interested in the solutions which have been offered by the Company as part of the Tenaga installation.
Any questions relating to this announcement should be directed to Mr Martin Yii, Managing Director, or Mr Thomas Howitt, Company Secretary, on Melbourne (03) 8080 8788.
G W Shearer CHAIRMAN
AHL Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held