Auburn, Ind., Utility Chooses Tantalus for Smart Grid Over FTTH

VANCOUVER, BC - The city of Auburn, Ind., selected Tantalus to provide the communications backbone for its smart grid. The technology will support the city's plans for an automated metering system.

Auburn operates a number of utility services for city residents and businesses, including electric, water, wastewater and a fiber optic telecommunications network. The smart grid deployment will allow the fiber-to-the-home network to be used for automated metering of electricity and eventually of water.

"Tantalus is a forward-thinking company, just like the city of Auburn, and the fact that we can add applications over the years to come is a big factor that grabbed our attention," said Stuart Tuttle, Auburn's superintendent. "We don't want to have to change our [metering] system any time soon."

The city plans to install an optical network terminal - a device that connects customer premises to the FTTH network - at nearly every home so that all residents have the option of accessing the network.