Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI)

Itron is a global leader in grid edge intelligence, energy and water management, smart city applications, Industrial Internet of Things and critical infrastructure and related services. Incorporated in 1977, the company began with meter reading services and has grown through internal development and strategic acquisitions to become a provider of end to end solutions for utilities and cities. Itron’s technology connects devices, data and people to improve efficiency, resilience and sustainability of essential resources.

Itron generates revenue through the sale of hardware such as sensors, switches and meters, as well as software, services and data analytics that enable customers to collect, analyze and act on data from energy, water and city infrastructure. Revenue also comes from recurring service contracts including software as a service, network as a service and managed support arrangements that provide ongoing value to customers. The company serves a diverse set of customers ranging from large investor owned utilities to small municipal water departments and industrial operators across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and other regions.

The company operates through the following segments: Device Solutions, Networked Solutions, Outcomes and Resiliency Solutions. Each segment is responsible for distinct product lines and services that together address the full lifecycle of smart infrastructure deployment.

• Device Solutions: This segment primarily includes hardware products used for measurement, control or sensing. Examples include standard endpoints shipped without Itron communications such as standard electricity gas and water meters for various global markets that adhere to local regulations and standards, heat and allocation products, communicating meters designed to operate outside of Itron end to end solutions and meet market requirements, and the implementation and installation of associated devices. This segment also includes related installation and commissioning services that ensure proper deployment of metering hardware in the field.

• Networked Solutions: This segment primarily includes a combination of communicating endpoints such as smart meters modules endpoints and sensors, network infrastructure, network design services and associated headend management and application software designed and sold as a complete solution for acquiring and transporting robust application specific data. The segment also provides products software and services for the implementation installation and management of communicating endpoints and data networks. Industrial Internet of Things solutions supported by this segment include automated meter reading and advanced metering infrastructure for electricity water and gas, distributed energy resource management, grid edge devices, distribution automation communications, smart lighting and smart city sensors and applications. The IIoT platform allows utility and smart city applications to be run and managed on a flexible secure and interoperable multi purpose network. Networked Solutions further supports smart lighting projects and sensor networks that enable cities to monitor traffic, environment and public safety.

• Outcomes: This segment primarily includes value added enhanced software and services that use distributed compute to manage organize analyze and interpret raw anonymized data using artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistical modeling and other analytics. This delivers new value for utilities municipalities and cities by improving decision making, maximizing operational profitability, engaging consumers, ensuring safety, enhancing resource efficiency and improving grid resiliency and reliability. Outcomes supports high value use cases such as data management, grid planning and operations, AMI operations, gas distribution safety, non revenue water reduction, revenue assurance, distributed energy resource management, energy forecasting, consumer engagement and smart payment. Utilities use these outcomes to unlock the capabilities of their networks and devices, improve workforce productivity, increase operational reliability, manage and optimize the proliferation of distributed energy resources, address grid complexity and enhance customer experience. Outcomes also provides consulting and implementation services that help customers derive actionable insights from their data. Revenue from these offerings is primarily recurring and may include direct management of Device Solutions, Networked Solutions and other third parties products on behalf of end customers.

• Resiliency Solutions: This segment primarily includes software and services focused on worker safety, emergency preparedness and response and damage prevention for critical infrastructure providers and their supporting contractors. These solutions are enhanced through the use of artificial intelligence based models to predict events to aid in compliance, incident remedy and prevention. Resiliency Solutions also supports workforce training and emergency response planning for critical infrastructure operators.

Itron holds a strong position in the global smart infrastructure market alongside competitors such as LM Ericsson Telephone Company, Landis+Gyr, Advanced Energy Industries and Xylem Inc. The company’s competitive advantage stems from its in depth knowledge of the utility and city sectors, its capacity to innovate and its ability to provide complete end to end integrated solutions at scale. Itron differentiates itself with an intelligent IIoT platform that is solution device and transport agnostic, backwards compatible, able to run a multitude of applications and solutions, highly secure, fully integrated into its portfolio, highly interoperable, capable of capturing relays and leveraging high resolution data for near real time decision making. The firm also benefits from an expanding ecosystem of partners and third party developers who create complementary applications on its platform. The company continues to invest in research and development to stay ahead of technological shifts and to expand its offerings in emerging areas such as distributed energy resources and AI driven analytics.

Itron serves a broad customer base that includes utilities, municipalities and industrial customers worldwide. The company’s revenue is diversified across many clients with no single customer accounting for more than ten percent of annual sales. Geographically, the company’s revenue is balanced with roughly half coming from the Americas and the remainder split between Europe Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific.