Luxoft, a leading global provider of advanced application and product development services, announced today at the 4th European ZigBee Developers Conference in Munich, Germany, the first prototype of its demand response solution, the DRFusion. The new software-based solution helps to resolve the bottleneck in data exchange and to speed up the automated decision making process.

Today’s Energy and Utility industry is going through a substantial transformation towards a grand vision of Smart Grid,” said Vasiliy Suvorov, VP Technology Strategy at Luxoft. “In order to make long needed practical steps the companies have to invest heavily into Information Technology. Now the systems have to collect and process data from the millions of Smart Meters and enable two-way communications required by Demand Response while maintaining reliability and dependability for its customers and partners. At Luxoft, we saw this as an area in urgent need of solution. Our DRFusion software-based solution optimizes data flow and streamlines the operation of a Demand Response system.”

The DRFusion solution includes interfaces with metering data collection systems and implements a unification system and the Demand Response message broker. It integrates seamlessly with wireless gateways and in-home displays by fully embracing ZigBee Smart Energy profile. The DRFusion is capable of collecting metering data from different vendor’s head end systems. The processed data is visualized in business automation solutions through integration platform. The Diffusion’s message broker receives shed messages from Utilities systems, converts them into an appropriate format, makes a decision on which commands have to be sent to various Home Area Network (HAN) devices, and then dispatches them via a gateway.

Demand Response programs allow shifting load peaks and modifying customer base load profiles. Essentially, such programs represent a flow of messages between market participants’ systems, created by different vendors on different platforms. Their successful operation hinges on a precise integration and thorough compatibility of the market players’ data exchange. The amount of data is increasing in proportion to a number of smart meters and the data collection rate. At some point, the amount of data can overwhelm the system. In order to avoid this, an intermediate level of software capable of processing huge amounts of data and making decisions needs to be deployed.

The DRFusion eliminates a critical gap between a Utility issuing shed commands and wireless ZigBee network on a customer’s end by converting these commands into ZigBee messages. The exact actions required to decrease the load in response to a Utility’s shed messages are determined at the time of the Demand Response program’s setup. The DRFusion also addresses the inverse problem of getting the load data back from consumers to utility or an Energy Service Provider. Additionally, the DRFusion can be implemented with minimal impact on the company’s existing IT and business environment.

An effective Demand Response program cannot be deployed as a stand-alone application. It requires integration of Head End systems, unification of metering data, as well as integration of various business automation systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Luxoft possesses a unique skill set to handle this task. By partnering with the leading vendors, such as TIBCO, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, and developing in-house expertise in complex event processing and other cutting edge technologies, Luxoft can deliver a solution for a Demand Response system of any complexity level. Please visit us online at www.luxoft.com/energy to learn more on how we can help make your business more efficient.