Utilities Grade Autovation 2010 A+

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Autovation, the Smart Utility Conference and Exposition received high praise from the nearly 1,400 people who attended the event Sept. 12-15 in Austin, Texas.

“A number of people said the lessons learned resulted in an exceptional return on their investment. They found the exchange with other utilities to be beneficial and the only event that provides networking with peers complemented by a showcase of the latest products and services.”

Representatives from electric, water and gas utilities as well as consultants and vendors enjoyed four days of education sessions focused on utility automation topics including systems process design, system integration, consumer engagement, meter data management, home area networks and more.

“Many attendees reported Autovation 2010 exceeded their expectations,” said Joel Hoiland, Utilimetrics chief executive officer. “A number of people said the lessons learned resulted in an exceptional return on their investment. They found the exchange with other utilities to be beneficial and the only event that provides networking with peers complemented by a showcase of the latest products and services.”

Autovation included more than 60 education sessions and panel discussions led by 100+ industry thought leaders including Nora Brownell, former FERC commissioner; Catherine Thompson, policy analyst, Information and Privacy Commission, Ontario, Canada and David O’Brien, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service.

Opening General Session featured speakers included Cheryl Mele, Austin Energy chief operating officer; who spoke on positioning an electric utility for the smart grid; Ben Koch, managing director, SWS Group/Southwest Securities who gave a state of the utility technology market address; Barry Smitherman, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, who spoke on open market regulatory perspectives and Robert Shapard, CEO of Oncor who discussed his utility’s strategies to transform a large investor owned utility by leveraging the benefits of smart meters to better serve customers.

The Closing General Session featured Nancy Gioia, Ford Motor Company’s director of global electrification, who discussed electric vehicle trends in the auto industry.

Utilimetrics, The Utility Technology Association has been producing Autovation for nearly 25 years. Utilimetrics is a trade association whose mission is to be the premier advocate for utility automation and metering technologies and the value they bring to utilities and their customers.

Autovation 2010 featured the largest trade show of utility technology exhibitors in North America and: Diamond Sponsor Itron; Gold Sponsors Silver Spring Networks and Sensus; Silver Sponsors Aclara, Airspan, Capgemini, Cisco, Deloitte, Landis+Gyr, Neptune and R.W. Beck, an SAIC Company; Bronze Sponsors Cooper Power Systems and Siemens and Contributing Sponsor Tantalus.