AP Systems reduces costs and speeds up time to market with Sierra Wireless Embedded Modules

AP Systems develops Multi Metering Management systems for the utility market. AP Systems required a solution that would allow its customers, including some of the biggest names in the Italian energy market, to efficiently concentrate the data flowing from their energy meters and to remotely manage these meters from a central location.

To stay ahead of its competitors, AP Systems is focused on producing high quality and cost effective solutions. For its Multi Metering Management systems, AP Systems were looking for an architecture that would allow reducing the complexity of the system. This has been possible with the Sierra Wireless embedded wireless module that integrates the CPU and the 2G modem into a single device.

Davide Bassetto, product manager at AP Systems, explains: “Traditional architectures for meter concentrators have seen the CPU element placed externally to the wireless modem. If, for example, the CPU element goes end of life, it can produce an engineering headache for the utility as the entire board needs to be re-engineered to get the concentrator back online. Such additional engineering challenges amount to higher OPEX for our customers – something we have always been keen to avoid.”

Having worked together on some of Italy’s largest M2M projects (including the deployment of 500,000 Sierra Wireless-enabled energy monitoring devices to most Italian energy distributors), AP Systems was confident that Sierra Wireless could provide the elements it needed for a successful solution.

As Davide explains: “When we started to design this particular solution we went immediately to Sierra Wireless. Aside from the quality of its M2M wireless modules, the support they can offer as a true business partner is unique. They can provide us with value added support and counsel that we simply could not get anywhere else.”