As a sign of the ongoing, steady growth in the field and heightened interest in the association, AMRA, the international voice of the automatic meter reading industry, announced a 28% growth in membership in a ten month period.
"This large increase in membership makes us very optimistic for the future of the industry," said AMRA President Brian Pollom. "We're seeing growth despite decreases in utilities' IT spending. It's a testament to AMRA's efforts to show utilities that AMR technologies go beyond the meter read and can truly improve the business."
This year, these efforts include enhanced educational opportunities for members to learn more about the capabilities and optimal uses of AMR technologies. For example, the new AMRA legislative updates, shared online in the content-rich AMRA newsletter, keep members up to date on the legislation and regulations that might affect utilities and AMR technologies.
The number of utility members in AMRA also increased over this time last year. This 20% growth in utility representation may be attributable to AMRA's new All Access membership, which allows everyone in an organization to benefit from member services for one affordable membership fee.
Also new this year, AMRA helps members more easily connect and learn online. Web-based seminars featuring presentations by AMR experts share knowledge about industry fundamentals as well as advanced topics. AMRA's new online chat and message posting service helps utility members quickly and easily get in touch with their colleagues, share experiences and seek solutions to AMR technology and business questions.
"We're really leveraging AMRA's position as a non-profit association, allowing us to be an open, unbiased forum. The new services draw from members who are not only implementing AMR for the first time, but also those who have been running a system for years and are squeezing every ounce of benefit from it," said John Brett, AMRA membership committee chair.
This range of AMR experience is also an important element at Autovation 2005: the AMRA International Symposium, Sept. 18-21, 2005 in Long Beach, Calif. The event is the industry's most important opportunity to learn about utility automation technologies and the business results they can deliver. Registration is now available online at http://www.amra-intl.org/autovation/register.cfm. Learn more about the conference events, keynote speakers and exhibit hall at www.amra-intl.org/autovation.
Source: AMRA
