Vi Business partners with Trilliant to build IoT solutions for smart grids

Vodafone Idea’s enterprise arm Vi Business said that it will build and deploy integrated IoT solutions for DISCOMS in partnerships with Trilliant, a solution provider for smart grids. These Internet of things (IoT) solutions will be implemented at Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) projects in India. AMI is an integrated system that includes smart meters, communication networks, and data management systems. More DISCOMS are switching to it to reduce traditional operating costs incurred on meter reading, customer services, collections, and power theft management.  

Vi Business is currently working with 25 DISCOMS on various AMI projects and has connected 3 million meters in India. The company claims that two out of three smart meters in the country are powered by them.  

With Trilliant's help, Vi Business will create a bundled offering of connectivity, cloud, and headend systems (HES) with managed services for AMI projects. HES is used to automatically acquire data from smart meters and also monitor distribution patterns which come in handy for accurate billing, auditing, and analysis of power supply.  

“We strongly believe that our partnership with Trilliant will allow us to leverage their capability to deploy large-scale AMI projects and help us deliver advanced IoT solutions for the utility providers of tomorrow, driving the faster implementation of AMI in India,” Arvind Nevatia, chief enterprise business officer at Vodafone Idea Ltd, said in a statement.  

Trilliant has deployed more than 1.5 million smart meters for seven utilities in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, said Dan Lambert, chief solutions officer at Trilliant. He said that the partnership opens “significant opportunities” in the power utility space for both companies.  

Under the Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP), the government of India aims to replace 250 million conventional meters with smart meters across India.   

So far, 37.33 lakh smart meters have been installed across India, Power Minister R K Singh told Parliament in February, according to a Hindu Business Line report.