Itron, Inc. has announced the release and initial shipment of an enhanced security version of its OpenWay Collection Engine that enables strong authentication and enhanced security for use in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) deployments.
While the current version of OpenWay software is fully compliant with security and encryption to meet industry and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) C12.22 standards, the optional enhanced security version exceeds these requirements by providing industry-leading security consistent with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Cyber Asset requirements.
Based on elliptic curve cryptography, Itron is utilizing Certicom's AMI 7000 series of meter communication encryption and key management appliances in OpenWay to secure end-to-end network messages from the OpenWay Collection Engine down to the OpenWay CENTRON meter.
The security architecture inherent to OpenWay, combined with these enhanced signing and encryption capabilities, is designed to meet the two-way command and control needs for AMI and Smart Grid network platforms. It provides strong integrity of control, non-repudiation, availability and confidentiality.
"Our customers are demanding a level of security that is currently not provided by anyone in this industry," said Philip Mezey, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Itron North America. "With the release of our optional enhanced security version, Itron now offers unparalleled network and metering system security, further enhancing our energy management and measurement technologies as we work toward development of the Smart Grid."
Source: Itron, Inc.
