London, UK - CalAmp and Sierra Wireless announced that Sierra Wireless embedded modules have been selected to provide 3G wireless broadband connectivity for CalAmp’s recently launched WiMetry Internet Protocol-based wireless communications platform used in Automatic Meter Reading / Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMR/AMI) applications.

Available for 3G cellular network technologies, CalAmp's WiMetry offers utility companies a wireless communications link for real-time acquisition of critical usage and rate data from electric, gas or water meters via public wireless networks and the Internet.

Leveraging CalAmp's more than 20 years of experience with wireless data networks, WiMetry addresses the needs of utilities that require secure wireless data communications and networking platforms that provide cost-effective and reliable service for advanced metering, demand response and other smart grid applications.

The WiMetry platform, through the use of Sierra Wireless embedded modules, supports the latest in EV-DO Revision A cellular high-speed data communications and is backward compatible to existing EV-DO Rev. 0 and 1X networks.

“The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 made the creation of a smart grid and demand response network a policy of the United States,” said Mark Christensen, Vice President and General Manager of CalAmp's Industrial Monitoring and Controls unit. “Driven by this new regulation and the global energy crisis, utilities are looking for standards-based, reliable and future-proof communication platforms. CalAmp has been involved in supplying wireless communications systems into the utility market for over a decade. The high standards we set for ourselves and our suppliers to deliver mission-critical data communication systems to the utility market are well-known and were a key factor in our selection of Sierra Wireless modules for the CalAmp WiMetry platform.”

“Quality and reliability are of critical importance for large-scale, mission-critical communications systems for utilities,” said Mike Ardelan, vice president of Embedded Module Sales for Sierra Wireless. “We’re pleased to collaborate with CalAmp to provide this vital communications link, giving utilities the ability to implement the data infrastructure needed for smart grid applications.”

CalAmp is exhibiting the WiMetry platform in booth #101 at the Utilimetrics Autovation 2008 conference in Atlanta, GA through September 10, 2008.