Elster, a global provider of electricity, gas and water measurement and control solutions, announced that REXUniversal meter, a truly integrated universal meter and radio platform, will be commercially available in North America in the second quarter of 2012.

REXUniversal meter is designed to simplify updates to local area network (LAN) communication functionality, company officials said. It enables significant operational efficiencies by eliminating the need to remove meters and physically change-out the communications board to accomplish a system-wide network change.

By delivering meter and network flexibility to utilities, REXUniversal meter allows EnergyAxis and other Smart Grid vendors' 900MHz radio frequency (RF) mesh communications to run natively on the identical REXUniversal meter hardware with integrated communications.

Elster REXUniversal meter platform features a highly advanced radio and communications processor, capable of supporting the future IEEE (News - Alert) 802.15.4g standard and IPv6 protocols. It supports multiple vendor protocols, allowing utilities to change or upgrade network systems with greater flexibility. The solution also offers exceptional security by embedding memory directly on the chip.

The company also announced Elster's REXUniversal meter platform will support other major 900 MHz RF mesh Smart Grid communications systems. Elster recently announced an agreement with Landis+Gyr to complete the first integration of outside firmware on Elster's meter platform. The Elster's REXUniversal meter also supports other communications modules. 

The smart meter platform operates in various 900 MHz RF mesh Smart Grid systems without the cost penalty and additional hardware risk associated with specialized radio communication option boards. This allows utilities to operate one vendor's communications on another vendor's meter without having a separate proprietary communications card physically installed in the meter.

The metering platform also allows changing communications protocol remotely to alter the device's personality, so the device can operate natively in different network systems without requiring hardware replacement.

With the ability to quickly and cost-effectively migrate endpoints to different communication systems, utilities are no longer locked in to just one network for their Smart Grid technology and system needs, company officials said.

"As a smart grid solutions innovation leader, Elster is committed to providing choice through the development of truly open products,” said Mark Munday, president and CEO of Elster Solutions, in a statement. “This pioneering platform builds on Elster's track record of providing industry firsts that are both reliable and economical for our customers."

Recently Elster announced it acquired gas chromatography assets, including sophisticated proprietary intellectual property, from German Company SLS Micro Technology. This acquisition strengthens Elster's position in the emerging biogas and shale gas markets, according to company officials.

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