ProSyst providing OSGi Middleware and Integration Experience

ProSyst Software GmbH, an OSGi pioneer, announced today that a consortium consisting of RWE Energy, Siemens Energy, ef.Ruhr, Miele, SWK Energie (Krefeld Group of Municipal Utilities) and ProSyst began practical implementation of their joint project “E-DeMa”. The consortium had been one of the winners of the technology competition “E-Energy: ICT-based Energy System of the Future” sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology.

The main goal of the E-DeMa project is to set up a market place for commercial and private electricity customers and to control and monitor the entire energy supply and demand based on modern information and communication technologies (ICT). In the course of this project, these customers will be linked via communication technologies to an open electronic marketplace, and will thus be connected to energy traders, distribution network operators and other active players within model regions.

The central element of the project is the design and development of an integrated ICT – Gateway which is part of the customer’s sub-distribution system, reading out and controlling smart meters and processing pricing signals from the power provider. Based on those price alerts, customers can shift their consumption of energy to low-load times and thus enjoy lower tariffs. Also customers may generate energy and will be able to upload it to the distribution grid. Moreover, the ICT – Gateway will be connected to a number of domestic appliances and provide access to new service offerings.

The active market participation of private and commercial electricity customers will result in new product offerings and services and allow utilities to develop expanded business models. Modern, reliable management of power distribution networks, in-house applications as well as the acquisition and provision of consumption data are all part of the scope of the project. The goal is to combine power technology with information and communication technology to create an “energy information hub.” The pilot projects will be implemented in the distribution network areas of RWE Rhein-Ruhr AG and SWK Energie.

Within the E-DeMa project, ProSyst will mainly focus on providing the OSGi middleware software for the ICT – Gateways and taking care of the device integration. ProSyst’s mBedded Server is a high performance and low footprint OSGi container, which is R4 certified. mBedded Server allows dynamic deployment of services and applications after manufacturing. Those new components can be remotely installed, started, stopped, updated on the fly, removed, re-installed, etc.

“In this project, standardization and interoperability are key success factors” said Thomas Hott, CEO of ProSyst. “Since the ICT-gateway will function as a service delivery platform, the use of a standardized OSGi – platform was an obvious choice and we are pleased that ProSyst was selected to provide its respective products and services.”