SAN ANTONIO – Consert Inc., an intelligent energy management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace, has expanded its network operations center in San Antonio enabling it to monitor Consert’s database 24/7 for customers nationwide.
“A centralized operations center allows us to better serve our customers by monitoring the most up-to-the-minute information on our system from an installation, data and wireless communications standpoint,” said Jeff Fanning, vice president of operations. “This becomes even more important as we continue to scale and expand across the country. Our quicker response time and real time analysis will lead to greater customer satisfaction both for our utility customers and ultimately for the end consumer.”
The operations center is within Consert’s headquarters office in San Antonio and is staffed by highly-skilled technicians providing 24/7 monitoring of the network.
Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

About Consert Inc.
Consert Inc. is an intelligent load management technology company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace. Consert’s Virtual Peak PlantTM load management system is the only solution proven to provide reliable, real-time, fully-integrated load management through the pairing of utility and consumer offerings. Consert, recent winner of a CTIA E-Tech Award and CS Week Expanding Excellence Award and the recipient of the 2012 Going Green Award in the Leadership Private Sector category by the San Antonio Business Journal, is a partner with Hometown Connections and Texas Electric Cooperatives and is a member of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative. A demonstration of the application as used by a residential consumer can be viewed at http://bit.ly/ConsertAtHome. For more information, visit Consert.com. Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/consert. Follow us on Twitter @Consert Inc.

SAN ANTONIO – Consert Inc., an intelligent energy management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace, has added an AC T-Stat program that allows for real-time control and measurement of air conditioner cycling for residential and light commercial HVAC systems that is also compatible with mesh or cellular communications.

“Our AC T-Stat program gives utilities greater proficiency by wirelessly controlling outdoor central air conditioner or heat pump compressors using communicating thermostats to reduce demand during seasonal peaking,” said Consert Vice President Jeff Ebihara. “Not only does this benefit the utility, but it provides consumers with real-time consumption information for greater management of their AC usage.”

The new AC T-Stat program also provides:
• secure consumer portals with program management, energy usage snapshot, event indicator, incentive information;
• utility portals with conservation event scheduler and start/stop diversity;
• over/under VAR management;
• data visualization for historical and forecast load data;
• customizable parameters set by the utility;
• wide voltage range support 120-240 VAC;
• ZigBee, cellular and/or mesh communications; and
• firmware upgrades over-the-air.

The technical specifications and interfaces of the consumer and utility portal are available on the Consert website at Consert.com(). Consert also offers additional programs in its advanced load management product suite.

Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

About Consert Inc.
Consert Inc. is an intelligent load management technology company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace. Consert’s Virtual Peak PlantTM load management system is the only solution proven to provide reliable, real-time, fully-integrated load management through the pairing of utility and consumer offerings. Consert, recent winner of a CTIA E-Tech Award and CS Week Expanding Excellence Award and the recipient of the 2012 Going Green Award in the Leadership Private Sector category by the San Antonio Business Journal, is a partner with Hometown Connections and Texas Electric Cooperatives and is a member of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative. A demonstration of the application as used by a residential consumer can be viewed at http://bit.ly/ConsertAtHome. For more information, visit Consert.com. Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/consert(). Follow us on Twitter @Consert Inc.

SAN ANTONIO – Consert Inc., an intelligent energy management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace, has launched the Consert Stand Alone Gateway.

“Our new Stand Alone Gateway enables the Consert Virtual Peak Plant and A/C Thermostat solutions to be installed in residential and small commercial applications without replacing the electric meter,” said Consert Chief Technology Officer David Shaw. “We continue to bring innovative solutions to the industry.”

The Stand Alone Gateway is self-contained, and supports multiple WAN interfaces including cellular, Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

Consert’s Stand Alone Gateway utilizes two ZigBee® sub-systems. The first is used to communicate to an optional smart meter and the other is used as a communication conduit to the Consert Home Area Network which includes Device Controllers and Programmable Communicating Thermostats.

The technical specifications are available on the Consert website at Consert.com(). Consert also offers additional programs in its advanced load management product suite.

Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

SAN ANTONIO – Consert Inc., an intelligent energy management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace, announces that Charlie Mathys, business development manager at Consert, will be a panelist at the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) Independent Borrowers Executive Summit (IBES) Nov. 13th at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Va. Mathys, a 30-year industry veteran will present on automated demand response during the vendor panel.

“The CFC’s Independent Borrowers Executive Summit is a unique opportunity to network and share ideas, and I look forward to representing Consert,” said Mathys.

The IBES will focus on energy, electric utility and economic issues as well as leadership and management best practices and the panel discussions will emphasize practical and productive smart grid applications.

Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

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About Consert Inc.
Consert Inc. is an intelligent load management technology company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace. Consert’s Virtual Peak PlantTM load management system is the only solution proven to provide reliable, real-time, fully-integrated load management through the pairing of utility and consumer offerings. Consert, recent winner of a CTIA E-Tech Award and CS Week Expanding Excellence Award and the recipient of the 2012 Going Green Award in the Leadership Private Sector category by the San Antonio Business Journal, is a partner with Hometown Connections and Texas Electric Cooperatives and is a member of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative. A demonstration of the application as used by a residential consumer can be viewed at http://bit.ly/ConsertAtHome. For more information, visit Consert.com. Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/consert. Follow us on Twitter @Consert Inc.

Consert President and CEO Jack Roberts showcases Consert’s technology for Congressman Doggett during his tour of the Consert office.

SAN ANTONIO – Consert Inc., an intelligent energy management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace, has named Juan Gonzalez as director of technology.

“Juan has a wealth of knowledge in engineering and product management,” said Consert Chief Technical Officer David Shaw. “His experience in product development will provide invaluable technical insight to us as we continue to develop and introduce our load management suite of products to the electric utility marketplace.”

At Consert, Gonzalez will oversee technology development for new product offerings as well as manage new product testing.
Previously, Gonzalez was manager of embedded systems with Kinetic Concepts, Inc., where he led a group of electric and software engineers, technicians and circuit board designers in the development of wound therapy devices. Gonzalez received a B.S. in computer science from St. Mary’s University.

Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

SAN ANTONIO – Rockwood Electric Utility (REU) presented to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) the results of load control testing of its smart energy program with Consert Inc., an intelligent energy management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace.

REU was one of several distributors selected by TVA to participate in a direct load control project for peak load reduction.

The demonstration test event occurred on an 83-degree day in September and included 75 residential pilot participants utilizing Consert’s Virtual Peak PlantTM technology. Results of the conservation event showed an average peak load reduction of 2.0 kW per participant by managing air conditioners, water heaters and pool pumps. REU employed a dual meter base for direct comparison of the Consert meter to the existing meter.

“We found the results to be very positive,” said REU general manager Kendall Bear, “and expect Consert’s technology to reduce wholesale power costs from TVA, and ultimately help our customers reduce their energy bill.”

REU plans to deploy Consert’s Solution on 1,100-1,300 residential and light commercial installations in 2013, representing approximately 10 percent of its customers, which will result in significant demand reduction when fully implemented. Consert’s new Stand Alone Gateway (SAG) will enable REU to use the existing meters and reduce cost of installation.

Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

If innovation is where expertise and opportunity intersect, then San Antonio-based Consert Inc.(Consert) is a perfect case study.

Founded in 2008 by veterans of the telecom industry, Consert’s Virtual Peak PlantTM provides an energy management solution that gives consumers control of the highest energy-consuming electrical devices in their home or business and provides utilities with a low-cost way to tap into an unused energy source during key peak demand periods.

Read more…

SAN ANTONIO – Consert Inc. is helping Texas prepare for dwindling energy reserves by taking an active role in developing demand response initiatives with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Texas Demand Response Coalition.

Consert, along with other industry experts in the Texas Demand Response Coalition, are researching and developing the latest demand response technologies in order to address shortfalls in energy reserves that are expected to impact the ERCOT market beginning in 2014. In addition, the coalition will provide principles on how to enhance demand response resources throughout the utility industry for long term resource adequacy.

“Consert contributed its expertise with residential and small commercial load management to the Texas Demand Response Coalition and helped shed light on this mostly untapped segment of the demand response industry,” said Brett A. Perlman, former Texas Public Utility Commissioner and President of the Texas Demand Response Coalition.
Additionally, Consert participates in stakeholder working groups with ERCOT to help create more opportunities for demand response technologies.

“We are making a positive impact on the Texas energy industry through our partnerships with ERCOT and the Texas Demand Response Coalition,” said Jeff Fanning, vice president with Consert. “As a leader in intelligent load management, Consert is demonstrating the capability of residential and light commercial demand response technologies to address energy resource adequacy.”

Consert Inc. is an intelligent load management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace. Consert’s technology converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

Cutline for photo:
(L to R) Verizon Associate Director Patrick McLees, Rockwood Electric Utility
General Manager Kendall Bear and Consert Business Development Manager Charlie Mathys,
at the unveiling of the new Consert tablet web interface demonstrated on Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.

ROCKWOOD, Tenn. – Rockwood Electric Utility (REU) unveiled the new Consert tablet web interface on a Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 device which allows REU customers to remotely access their Consert web user portal and control their energy use on major energy consuming devices, such as heating and air conditioning systems, water heaters and pool pumps. REU is the first utility in the country to utilize the new tablet interface.

“The tablet interface represents our continued efforts to improve the ease with which utility customers monitor and manage their energy use,” said Consert Business Development Manager Charlie Mathys. “Now they can access and enjoy the same anytime and anywhere convenience of the Consert web portal from a tablet in addition to their personal computer.”

Consert helped provide REU pilot customers a simple and reliable way to reduce energy consumption by an average of 10% – while allowing them to maintain comfort and control around their lifestyle. Consert’s unique technology works to the benefit of both consumers and electric utility providers.

REU utilizes Consert’s Virtual Peak Plant™ technology for peak load reduction and has tested it during various conservation events. Results of a summer conservation event showed an average peak load reduction of 2.0 kW per participant by managing air conditioners, water heaters and pool pumps. REU employed a dual meter base for direct comparison of the Consert meter to the existing meter.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer our customers another convenient way they can access their account and manage their energy consumption, allowing them to save energy resources and at the same time reduce their energy bill,” said REU general manager Kendall Bear. “We are at the forefront of a new technology that will shape our industry for many years to come.”

REU plans to deploy the Consert Solution on 1,100 to 1,300 residential and light commercial installations.

Consert utilizes Verizon’s Wireless network to provide real-time connectivity from smart meters to the Consert data center. Verizon’s networks deliver on the performance, reliability, and high level of security required to power solutions for utilities, as well as other industries.

Patrick McLees, associate director for Verizon Wireless, said: “Rockwood is a great case of using advanced wireless technologies to benefit the public. Now with the launch of a tablet interface and through machine-to-machine technology, Verizon is working with Consert to bring innovative solutions to the industry and help change behavior to promote energy efficiency.”

Verizon Enterprise Solutions creates global connections that generate growth, drive business innovation and move society forward. With industry-specific solutions and a full range of global wholesale offerings provided over the company’s secure mobility, cloud, strategic networking and advanced communications platforms, Verizon Enterprise Solutions helps open new opportunities around the world for innovation, investment and business transformation. The Verizon Energy and Utilities practice helps energy and utility companies harness technology to operate more efficiently and intelligently while encouraging conservation.

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with nearly 96 million retail customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500. A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 184,500. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

About Consert Inc.
Consert Inc. is an intelligent energy management company that provides the most advanced high-value load management suite available in the marketplace. Consert’s Virtual Peak PlantTM load management system is the only solution proven to provide reliable, real-time, fully-integrated load management through the pairing of utility and consumer offerings. Consert, recent winner of a CTIA E-Tech Award and CS Week Expanding Excellence Award and the recipient of the 2012 Going Green Award in the Leadership Private Sector category by the San Antonio Business Journal, is affiliated with Hometown Connections, the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association, and Texas Electric Cooperatives and is a member of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative.. For more information, visit Consert.com. Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/consert. Follow us on Twitter @Consert Inc.

Tokyo, Japan, Atlanta, Georgia, and San Antonio, Texas – February 6, 2013 – Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) today announced that it has acquired privately-held Consert Inc., an intelligent energy management company that converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The purchase makes Consert a Toshiba subsidiary that will enhance Toshiba Group’s smart community business in the United States. Operations in North America will be integrated with Landis+Gyr, the leading global provider of integrated energy management products and a Toshiba Group company.

Consert, through its Virtual Peak PlantTM (VPP) offering, is able to deliver a fully-integrated, intelligent load management solution for utilities. VPP provides improved forecasting and capacity management, real-time outage management information, remote service connections and significantly improves customer service as well as end-consumer communications and energy efficiency.

“Consert is an ideal fit with Toshiba, a global leader in power generation, and the acquisition will add a new level of technology to our smart community business” said Takeshi Yokota, Toshiba Corporation Executive Officer and Corporate Vice President. “Smart community is a fundamental solution that includes energy management on both the demand and supply sides, along with management of transportation, water and in the medical field. Consert adds significantly to our smart community portfolio and advances our ability to propose industry-leading solutions in power supply and demand. We are now better positioned to support major utilities in generating and delivering stable power supply and to ensure end-user environments that optimize energy use and maximize energy savings”

“We are pleased to be integrating the business and employees of Consert into the Landis+Gyr America’s team, while their know-how and technology will be used throughout Toshiba—and in particular within the Smart Community Division,” commented Richard Mora, Landis+Gyr’s President and CEO for the Americas region. “We see the addition of the VPP as an important extension of our current offering and our first true demand response platform. Customer interest in this solution, allowing their consumers to manage energy better, is extremely high.”

Roy Moore, Consert’s Co-founder and Chief Development Officer added “This step by Toshiba and Landis+Gyr is a huge milestone for our employees, partners and owners. It validates what our customers already know about the VPP—it is a solution designed to create and leverage a smarter grid.”

About Toshiba
Toshiba is a world-leading diversified manufacturer, solutions provider and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products and systems. Toshiba Group brings innovation and imagination to a wide range of businesses: digital products, including LCD TVs, notebook PCs, retail solutions and MFPs; electronic devices, including semiconductors, storage products and materials; industrial and social infrastructure systems, including power generation systems, smart community solutions, medical systems and escalators & elevators; and home appliances.
Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 550 consolidated companies, with 202,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing 6.1 trillion yen (US$74 billion). Visit Toshiba’s web site at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm

About Landis+Gyr
Landis+Gyr is the leading global provider of integrated energy management products tailored to energy company needs and unique in its ability to deliver true end-to-end advanced metering solutions. Today, the Company offers the broadest portfolio of products and services in the electricity metering industry, and is paving the way for the next generation of smart grid. With annualized sales of more than US$1.6 billion, Landis+Gyr, an independent growth platform of the Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502) and 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, operates in 30 countries across five continents, and employs 5,200 people with the sole mission of helping the world manage energy better. More information is available at landisgyr.com.

About Consert
Consert converts electric consumption in homes and small businesses into cost-effective, clean sources of capacity and energy reserves for utilities. The Consert load management solution is based on real-time, wireless technology that allows participants to conserve energy using a web-based, home area network. Consert utilizes wireless networks to provide real-time communication to the Consert data center. These highly secure networks deliver fast data speeds and increased efficiencies for utilities.

For more information, please contact:
Toshiba: Naomi Furuya, naomi.furuya@toshiba.co.jp +81-3-3457-2105 or Kaori Hiraki, kaori.hiraki@toshiba.co.jp
Landis+Gyr: Stan March, +1-678-258-1321, Stan.March@landisgyr.com
Consert: Jeff Ebihara, 1-616-218-9444, JEbihara@consert.com