“Go East Utility Software Company!”

"Go West young man" was a popular saying in the United States about Manifest Destiny and it was popularized by American newspaper editor Horace Greeley in the effort to encourage expansion across the North American continent in the 1800s.

Fast forward 200 years.

The world is different today with utilities (and companies in other industries as well) seeing vast new opportunities in rapidly growing Asian-Pacific markets. “Go East Utility Software Company,” may not have quite the same ring but its meaning is clear: We see great opportunities for expansion of the utility business in Asia, and so do our partners. (You’ll read about our senior utility technology strategist’s visit to India in a future blog.)

The most recent overture to Asia comes from two of our partners in the announcement this week by Ferranti Computer Systems, a leading systems integrator for companies in the transport, energy and utility industry and NCS, a leading IT and communications engineering solutions provider in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions.

Ferranti works with utilities through its flagship Metering and Contract Management Solution (MECOMS™), to handle all major elements of distribution, including billing and customer care. MECOMS™ features full integration, short implementation time, and a user-friendly interface and is based on Microsoft Dynamics AX. MECOMS™ is highly customizable and well-suited for deployment in rapidly growing and fast-changing environments, which is the dominant condition in the fast growing economies of Asia.

Here’s the tell-tale paragraph from their press release:

Rapid economic development over the last decade in the Asia-Pacific has injected dynamism into the region’s energy markets, but it has also created new challenges for the utilities industry. Deregulation is forcing gas and water companies to find new ways to manage resources and control their facilities. The collaboration between Ferranti and NCS will lead to the development of new and differentiated products that meets the new technology needs of the region’s energy and utilities suppliers.

You can read more about the Ferranti – NCS agreement here at CNBC.

So today we salute our partners Ferranti in their new commitment to expansion and we congratulate the Asian economies on their focus on growth with such great partners. – Jon C. Arnold