Radian Research, Inc.

Beginning a New Chapter with WECO Acquisition

Since its inception and initial product launch, RADIAN Research has vastly expanded its utility solutions portfolio. A major part of this expansion stemmed out of the strategic acquisition of Watthour Engineering Company (WECO) in 2011. WECO was the established leader in automated meter test systems at both electric utilities and meter manufacturers. Having expertise in meter testing hardware put WECO in in a unique position to expand into software. Along with developing the industry standard test board control and management platform, WECO garnered a reputation as a software company by managing test data collected by electric utility meter shops and site operations. WECO pioneered meter shop software for electric utilities over 35 years ago by installing the first commercial database for electric meter test data management that soon grew into a complete meter asset management system.

WECO Software Solutions is now a dedicated business unit that completes the RADIAN offering to electric utilities. Their flagship WATT-Net^TM Meter Test Data and Asset Management software provides configurable and scalable out-of-thebox solutions to utilities of any size or type. WATT-Net also integrates with a utility’s existing solutions, including advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), customer information systems (CIS), and work order management system (WOMS), enabling it to maintain a seamless data flow amongst systems and departments. “We understand that a customer’s needs change and grow with time, so we provide highly configurable products that adapt to utility business rules and not the other way around. WATT-Net is the only configurable software that can be maintained and managed by the utility themselves to meet their objectives efficiently,” touts Everidge.

Metering Expertise Leading the Road Ahead

WECO worked very closely with electric meter manufacturers to provide production test equipment. Literally every electric meter manufacturer in North America used WECO meter test boards. As Smart Meters became the norm, WECO was in a great position to offer software to test and calibrate those meters. RADIAN recently expanded that expertise by hiring David Schamber as Software Solutions Manager. Schamber adds 15 years of electric meter manufacturer and utility experience to an already deep development team. His insights into the workings of nextgeneration smart meters enable WECO Software Solutions to further increase its capability in testing and managing today’s utility meters.

WECO Software Solutions brings to bare OVER 200 years of collective electric utility metering software experience. That unmatched pedigree uniquely distinguishes the WATTNet offering and team that supports it. The vast and deep utility metering knowledge of the WECO Software Solutions team enables RADIAN Research to offer highly specialized meter asset management systems in place of the otherwise general asset management or native EQP-type systems. With Smart Meters and Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) projects being such a huge linchpin to today’s utility growth and success, that metering expertise is essential to maximizing the utility’s benefit from asset management software.

“Our knowledge of utility metering, relationships with meter manufacturers and control of industry leading test system hardware set WATT-Net apart from any other utility Asset Management solution” concludes Everidge.