The IT service provider, headquartered in Gütersloh and with competence centers in Leipzig and Cologne, among other locations, serves a wide range of utilities processes with its proven industry expertise in the Arvato Systems Energy Portfolio (AEP). This also includes Smart Meter Gateway Administration (SMGWA) as a fundamental building block for the sustainable digitalization of utilities.

Proven practical experience

The IT service provider’s experts see good market opportunities for the new technical basis of the AEP.GWA product, not only in the utilities sector. The product was developed “from practice for practice”: Proven components of the previous MBSE solution were adopted, expanded with new functions, and transferred to a modern, highly scalable hybrid architecture. This consists of a self-operated public cloud based on Microsoft Azure, while security-critical components run in Arvato Systems’ data centers.

Experience in cloud migration projects

Arvato Systems sees its extensive experience with migration projects in the utilities industry, as well as with projects in other regulated sectors such as healthcare (telematics infrastructure for electronic health cards) and administration (operational management of the sovereign cloud based on Microsoft Azure for the public sector), as a major advantage. “There are only a few providers who have as much comprehensive expertise and know-how in this field as we do,” affirms Dr. André Hoffmann,Head of Product Portfolio Energy. He also emphasizes the relevance of BSI certification: "The first certification in the public cloud according to the new BSI guideline, which was carried out in close cooperation with a neutral auditor and the BSI, represents a seal of quality for security and compliance in the highly regulated German market. As a SaaS solution, AEP.GWA enables metering point operators to meet the complex requirements of smart metering systems in a cost-effective, scalable, efficient, and secure manner. This contributes significantly to the digitization, stability, and, above all, cost efficiency of a sovereign energy infrastructure in Germany."

Value-added products from a single source

Arvato Systems is strengthening its market position in the GWA environment through comprehensive expertise and additional value-added services in related areas. The company has in-depth SAP know-how, which ensures the smooth integration of GWA software with customers‘ backend systems. In addition, a solution for operational monitoring based on the new HTML 5 interface technology has been developed in collaboration with customers, which already includes many of the recently published requirements of the VDE-FNN association.

As a platform provider with a broad, modular solution portfolio, Arvato Systems is also one of the few providers on the market that can offer end-to-end processes from a single source. This includes not only gateway administration, but also essential market communication topics with solutions such as AEP.AS4, AEP.API, AEP.DataHub, AEP.B2B, AEP.MaKoCloud, customer management with AEP.EnergySuite, and the billing solution AEP.EnerS4 based on SAP S/4HANA for Utilities. These synergies create a significant advantage for customers.