Power distributor Vector is making a play for the Australian smart grid market in partnership with Israeli company mPrest, which developed the software behind Israel’s Iron Dome anti rocket defence system.
The two companies have set up a joint team in Australia that, they sat, will support the Australian utility market in migrating towards a more intelligent grid, and “provideAustralia'sforward-looking utility industry with thought leadership and technology to unlock new energy solutions while reducing time to market, cost, and risk.”
mPrest says its vendor agnostic applications alleviate stress on utility networks, improve reliability, and reduce capital and operational investments while lowering the costs of delivering energy to consumers.
Vector and mPrest demonstrated their applications at the 2018 Energy Networks Conference and Exhibition in Sydney this week.
The two have a relationship initiated in 2016 during a New Zealand innovation mission to Israel.
Vector subsequently moved to use the mPrest technology in its own network and in May 2017 announced that it had secured exclusive Australasian rights to mPrest’s energy network monitoring, control and data analytics software.
Then, in October 2017 mPrest announced that it had received a ‘significant’ investment from Vector.
mPrest said the investment followed its successful collaboration with Vector to develop the mDERMS application, described as a vendor agnostic ‘system of systems’ that “unifies and optimises network assets and enables new and emerging customer needs and generation sources to be integrated into the way a network operates.”
In June 2017 mPrest cofounder Natan Barak told Computerworld NZ that the mPrest/Vector partnership had ambitions to provide IoT solutions beyond the utility industry and particularly in cyber security.
mPrest says its management solutions have been deployed in next-gen applications for carrier service providers, system integrators, smart cities, Internet of Energy, power utilities, defence and homeland security.