INDUSTRY

Reliance Energy Limited (REL), part of the Reliance Group, India's largest business house, has chosen ESRI and ESRI business partner Miner & Miner (M&M) to provide software and services for a major geographic information system (GIS) implementation in the company. The GIS will consist of a number of products including ESRI's ArcGIS Desktop software (ArcEditor and ArcView), ArcGIS Schematics, ArcSDE, and ArcIMS as well as M&M's ArcFM Solution product suite, which consists of ArcFM Viewer, ArcFM Editor, ArcFM Designer, Conduit Manager, and Responder. ESRI's ArcIMS Internet technology will play a pivotal role at REL in disseminating information stored in the utility company's geographic database. REL is India's leading private sector utility group, with aggregate estimated group revenues of Rs. 7,700 crore (US$1.8 billion) and total assets of Rs. 9,800 crore (US$2.2 billion). The group distributes nearly 16 billion units of power to more than five million consumers in Mumbai, Delhi, Orissa, and Goa across an area covering 124,300 sq. kms. REL generates 941 MW of power from its power plants located in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Goa. Mr. A. Ramanathan, Business Head at Reliance Digital World (P) Ltd., a newly formed Reliance Group company that implements GIS-based solutions throughout the Reliance Group, comments on the future of GIS in the electrical utility industry, "A well-planned GIS in the utility industry helps integrate diverse IT systems, such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, Interactive Voice Response, and Enterprise Resource Planning, resulting in the successful delivery of quality service at an affordable price and improved customer satisfaction." NIIT-GIS Ltd. (ESRI India) will be working with REL to ensure that the company is able to successfully leverage its geographic data and GIS knowledge across the organization. ESRI India will play an important role by providing local support in the form of training and implementation services for REL.