What's UP - Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2000

Utility Partners Announces "MR. FIELD" Product Addition to
its Mobile Work Suite
 

TAMPA, FL – (Feb. 23, 2000) – Utility Partners, Inc. announces a new addition to its Mobile Work product line, MR. FIELD, (MeterRead MobileField). MR.FIELD is an optional subsystem of MobileUP that supports the field processing of simple service orders on Itron/Husky and Schlumberger/DAP handheld terminals. It allows a customer to expand the users of MobileUP's scheduling and dispatching system to include meter readers, thereby leveraging existing equipment and training investment.

The origin of MR. FIELD was a product developed by Utility Partners for Southwest Gas called MRFOS. Southwest Gas (SWG) requested a modification to MobileUP that would enable their one or two point service orders to be worked on an ITRON handheld unit. SWG's definition of these orders included turn-offs and re-reads. MR. FIELD was put into production at SWG in December, 1999.

MR. FIELD is a scaled down version of UP's MobileField application. User logons/logoffs, order downloads, route re-sequencing, order completion, and order up loading is performed from a menu similar in function to the main menu of MobileField. Modified screen navigation, less extensive edits and supporting data, and limited RF communication support were the compromises made to enable the application to run on these two smaller platforms. Users of MR. FIELD upload and download their work in batch mode when docked, but can also do real-time completions via RF.

• MR. FIELD is a value-added addition to the MobileUP product line and is being offered as a "standardized option". It has the following characteristics:
• MR. FIELD is designed to fit the databases of MobileUP V5.2 or higher.
• MR. FIELD is designed as a closed set of processes, allowing it to be added to the V5.2 or higher system by changing the appropriate table data and starting the additional processes.
• MR. FIELD can be retrofitted to V5.1 or earlier "non-standard" MobileUP versions with minimal custom modifications, primarily to modify "non-standard" database tables.
• MR.FIELD operates on the latest versions of ITRON's Premier Plus and DAP's 9800 meter reading devices. These devices run a version of DOS as the operating system and utilize a LAN-based server for their standard functions. MR. FIELD uses this LAN connection and network access to MobileUP to achieve upload and downloads when placed in the hardware's docking base.
• MR. FIELD is priced as an "option" to MobileUP. If the customer is running standard product the option can be purchased and user installed and will require little customization. If the customer is running "non-standard product" the option price and customization fee is an additional cost.
• With MR. FIELD, current and future MobileUP clients can greatly leverage their meter reading and mobile data investments by combining functionality from both systems in a single device and field process.

Utility Partners, Inc. provides software solutions exclusively for the gas, electric and water utility industries, including mobile computing, work management and gas management. The company's customer list includes utilities throughout the United States, Europe and Canada. Currently, the MobileUP mobile computing solution is used by over 25 utility companies. For more information call Utility Partners at 1-800-280-8828. You can also visit the company's Web site at www.utilpart.com.

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