For Immediate Release
December 2001

Block to Conduct Utility Automation Project Research for InfoNetrix
Sacramento, CA (Dec. 1, 2001) – InfoNetrix™ has selected Donald E. Block of D.E. Block & Associates (Phoenix, AZ) to conduct the tactical market research component of its recently announced Market Intelligence Information Services Suite. Block, a veteran utility automation industry consultant, will be responsible for conducting and coordinating research interviews with over 1,000 utilities during calendar 2002, serving as a key member of the InfoNetrix team. The interviews will identify and document automation projects being planned by North American electric utilities as a key element of the InfoNetrix market research offering.

"Tactical (project) research is tedious work but provides an invaluable service to the entire utility automation community," says Mike Smith, InfoNetrix co-founder and Director of Tactical Market Research & Development. "Suppliers get perhaps the biggest benefit by freeing their sales force to pursue actual projects rather than having to spend valuable time and resources prospecting and making ‘cold calls’ on utilities that might not have any automation plans or funding. However, others benefit too. Utilities, for example, benefit by having access to a broader set of suppliers from which to choose, and engineering firms gain valuable insights about utilities needing assistance with procurement, installation and support. Communications equipment providers, system integrators and other technical support companies get an early indication about where their products and services will be needed. Moreover, the entire industry gets to see where things are headed from an automation investment standpoint," Smith concluded.

Smith, who has personally conducted thousands of research interviews and previously managed teams of market researchers, designed the plan under which about 200 utilities per calendar quarter will be contacted by Block during the first half of 2002 and about 300 per quarter during the balance of the year. Block will be asking substantially all of the 200-300 large investor-owned utilities and about half of the municipal public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives about their current and future automation plans and existing automation infrastructure as well as gathering other pertinent technical information and contact data.

"In the past, this kind of research was often conducted by individuals with only a cursory knowledge of the market issues and technologies involved and frequently lacked any technical background," said Block, who holds bachelors and masters degrees in electrical engineering from M.I.T. and has spent the majority of his career in the utility automation field. "This absence of relevant knowledge and experience by research staff can lead to gross misinterpretations of what they are being told. When that happens, the value of the research is substantially diminished in the eyes of clients even though the rest of the information might be very accurate," Block observed. "I know that this has been a problem with reports from other firms in the past because I used to buy those reports when I worked for suppliers to this market," Block recalled, "and when you find a glaring mistake in something like that it makes you question the validity of everything else as well."

Block held engineering, sales, marketing and senior management positions at several leading automation companies prior to becoming an independent consultant and holds U.S. patents in the fields of binary storage elements and data transmission methods. A widely acknowledged expert in utility automatic meter reading (AMR) and communications, Block is a member of the Automatic Meter Reading Association’s SCC-31 Standards Coordinating Committee and the AMRA Program Committee and participates regularly in professional association activities and events.

The initial market focus of InfoNetrix is on electric utilities, but plans are already under way to expand coverage into oil and gas, water/wastewater and municipal government automation markets, both domestically and internationally. InfoNetrix clients receive periodic executive briefings, research reports, market news updates and proprietary consulting services throughout the year in a package that they can customize to suit specific needs and interests.

InfoNetrix™ is a market research and consulting firm with dual headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana and Sacramento, California. Target clientele includes energy and utility automation suppliers; energy companies; electric, gas and water/wastewater utilities; technical and financial consulting firms; and others with automation market interests.

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Press Contact Mike Marullo, Principal 504.466.2220 mam@infonetrix.com

Press Contact Mike Smith, Principal 916.984.7430 mfs@infonetrix.com

 

 

 

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