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Glen Turpin
glen.turpin@firstdatacorp.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LODESTAR Supercharges Performance
of its Customer Choice Suite™ Software for Utilities
Solution leverages ADO.NET to increase
performance; customers see a 2-4x improvement
PEABODY, MA. - April 9, 2007 - LODESTAR Corporation,
a leading developer of software for the energy industry, today announced
significant technical enhancements to its LODESTAR® Customer
Choice Suite™ (CCS™) software. The upgrades are designed
to give utilities improved ease and speed of access to data.
LODESTAR’s CCS is a comprehensive suite of applications developed
exclusively to help energy companies drive costs down and increase
efficiency in critical business operations. CCS is built upon LODESTAR’s
Energy Information Platform (EIP™), a robust platform that
includes an interval data management tool, process management console,
reporting framework, security, the LODESTAR Rules Language (which
allows the separation of business rules from applications), and
other robust functionality. The EIP allows for accurate and quick
import, storage, organization and validation of large amounts of
complex usage data.
LODESTAR’s EIP has historically employed Open Database Connectivity
(ODBC) and classic ActiveX Database Objects (ADO) for database access.
As a result, database requests needed to travel multiple layers
between the database and the application, which slowed the entire
process. With today’s announcement, CCS now leverages ADO.NET
for database access, which eliminates the multiple layers between
the application and the database. ADO.NET enables CCS customers
to realize the following benefits:
- Allows for more direct communication between applications and
databases
- A performance increase of 2 – 4 times faster
- The system now can more quickly and easily manage massive amounts
of data and allows for users to save large numbers of records
simultaneously
“When it comes to utilizing data, utilities are among the
most sophisticated companies in the world. As a result, they require
world class technologies that let them quickly access data to streamline
operations,” said John Hovan, chief technology officer of
LODESTAR. “The technical enhancements we’re unveiling
today provide huge value to customers and extend our leadership
in the marketplace.”
In addition to the new underlying data access technology, LODESTAR
also announced several other key enhancements to its CCS solution,
including:
- Revised Interval Data Structure - Lets users associate interval
data - such as meter, pricing, weather, etc. – with any
entity, allowing for much greater flexibility.
- Updated Graphical User Interface - Enables users to easily
view and edit interval data.
- Process Management Console - Announced separately today, LODESTAR’s
Process Management Console is completely integrated with its CCS
solution, enabling utilities with more robust tools and graphical
interfaces to configure and manage the various business processes
that are implemented within LODESTAR’s system.
About LODESTAR Corporation
LODESTAR Corporation is a leading provider of energy software solutions.
Our customers include 125 of the largest energy companies in North
America, Europe, and Australia. LODESTAR Corporation’s headquarters
is at Two Corporation Way in Peabody, MA 01960 USA. LODESTAR and
LODESTAR’s other marks are either trademarks or registered
trademarks of LODESTAR Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective holders and should be treated as such.
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