Arc Innovations' next generation metering data and services platform has gone live.  Based on Oracle^TM and utilizing service oriented architecture (SOA), the new metering data and services back office system will help Arc meet the constantly changing needs of its New Zealand customers. 

Arc CEO Simon Clarke says the next generation platform will allow Arc to develop new services for its customers rapidly and with a greater degree of flexibility.

"The platform has been designed with scale and reliability in mind," he says. "This is important considering Arc's advanced metered installation is receiving, processing and storing more than 120,000 readings and half hourly data every day.

"While our first generation platform did the trick from an operational perspective, the next generation platform takes us to a new level of sophistication.  We are now in a much better position to provide more innovative service and product offers. The data flowing through our meters is valuable to our customers and consumers, so reliability and data protection is an important component of the design and technology choice."

The new platform went live after 18 months of intensive work.  The result is a platform with a new data processing, storage and retrieval capability.  The system is based on Oracle^TM and uses SOA which makes the addition of new features and capabilities fast and efficient.  SOA also allows Arc to use standard development tools to bring value added services to life, without the risk of impacting other services already in place. 

 It also means different services can be tailored to different customer requirements. 

"New Zealand has a very competitive electricity retail market and different retailers want different things," says Simon Clarke. "Advanced metering solutions need to be flexible to meet that requirement".

 "Arc is leading the advanced metering market in New Zealand and we are determined to stay ahead of the pack in terms of what we can offer our customers and consumers. In only a few weeks, Arc has already seen benefits in the performance and operation of the new platform over its predecessor. "

 Arc Innovations is a business division of Meridian Energy and provides advanced metering services to all electricity retailers for 125,000 metered sites in New Zealand.