Leading gas meter vendor Apator Metrix selects Phoenix-RTOS operating system

2017-07-18

Apator Metrix, leader on the European gas meter market, signed the license agreement with Phoenix Systems. According to the contract, Phoenix-RTOS realtime operating system will constitute the basis for its next generation smart gas meters.

Apator Metrix S.A. is one of the biggest gas meter vendors in Europe. Next generation smart gas meters will be dedicated for Western Europe markets, in the first place offered in Italy.

Phoenix-RTOS operating system was selected as the basis for the smart gas meter software resulting in the rapid software development. The software was developed in the very similar way as in the case of traditional operating systems. However, the resulting code is very compact and the power consumption was substantially minimized resulting in 10-year lifetime on a single battery. The certification process has already started and will continue for the several next months.

“The rapid development of the intelligent building and network markets results in involvement of the largest IT players in the adaptation of the communication technologies. The consequence may be shift in the R&D resources management priorities by the meter vendors. The traditional model, where the whole products design process was kept internally, is becoming ineffective. The network AMR/AMI technologies are heading quickly toward standardization and the main priority now is to shorten the product time-to-market. It can be achieved only by partial outsourcing of the R&D activities and focusing on fast system solutions implementation and customization. We are gradually migrating from meter vendor towards becoming a hardware vendor. The cooperation with Phoenix Systems concerning the Phoenix-RTOS operating system is of the strategic character and fully complies with our new R&D resources management strategy. We outsource external competences to minimize the product time-to-market, meet the specific market requirements and participate in the meter exchange program. At the same time the smart gas meter architecture must be flexible enough to allow for modifications required by other markets”, said Arkadiusz Chmielewski, Apator Metrix CEO.

“Smart gas meters are just another example of the IoT devices successfully powered by Phoenix RTOS. Few are aware of their rich functionality and at the same time rigorous construction and power consumption requirements. It makes me proud that Phoenix-RTOS was selected as the basis for the smart gas meter software”, said Paweł Pisarczyk, Phoenix Systems CEO.

Apator Metrix S.A. is part of the Apator Capital Group and one of the largest gas meter vendors in Europe. In 2016, Apator Metrix exported, mostly to Western Europe markets, 87% of its products, most of them being the smart gas meters.

Phoenix Systems sp. z o. o. is a technology start-up, which developed and commercialized the real time operating system Phoenix-RTOS for the needs of the Internet of Things (IoT) market and in particular the Smart Utility market.

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