InService™ Solution Will Help NorthWestern Energy Improve Outage Response and Restoration and Mobilize Field Crews

--NorthWestern Energy selects Intergraph® Corporation's InService™ solution for its multi-state integrated outage and mobile workforce management system. NorthWestern Energy provides electricity and natural gas to the upper midwest and northwest United States, serving approximately 661,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.

During the 18-month implementation project, NorthWestern Energy will deploy 35 dispatch seats and 360 mobile seats across the multi-state territory. Using Intergraph's InService Outage Management System (OMS) Web Portal, operations, managers and executives can have instant access to outage information. The project includes interfaces to SAP, eCIS and other back-office applications using an IBM MQ Message Bus. With Intergraph's InService solution, NorthWestern Energy can provide estimated restoration times to its customers and provide more efficient and accurate outage statistical reporting.

"NorthWestern Energy will reap significant benefits from Intergraph's InService solution, from increased outage prevention and efficient outage restoration, to improved customer satisfaction," says John Carmody, Director of Asset Management, NorthWestern Energy. "With the large territory NorthWestern Energy covers, Intergraph's InService solution will result in significant cost savings and will contribute to customer service index improvement."

Intergraph's InService solution for outage management systems and mobile workforce management provide the foundation for improving outage response and restoration times, quickly analyzing and diagnosing trouble and efficiently dispatching and mobilizing field crews. These benefits directly improve overall operational efficiency, increase reliability and provide better information for accurate and timely customer communications. Intergraph's consolidated smart grid command, control and response helps reduce loss of service through improved network monitoring and maintenance, leading to significant cost savings. InService also helps reduce the potential for human error and improves network system efficiency, reliability and coordination between the operations control center and the field. 

"We are happy with NorthWestern Energy's selection of Intergraph's world-leading InService solution," states Bill Campbell, Senior Vice President, Security, Government & Infrastructure, Intergraph Corporation. "As NorthWestern Energy marks one hundred years of service to its utilities customers, we expect InService to strengthen its abilities to achieve a clearer picture of its infrastructure and easily share data both internally and externally, leading to improved planning and more efficient response to incidents."

About Intergraph

Intergraph is the leading global provider of engineering and geospatial software that enables customers to visualize complex data. Businesses and governments in more than 60 countries rely on Intergraph's industry-specific software to organize vast amounts of data to make processes and infrastructure better, safer and smarter. The company's software and services empower customers to build and operate more efficient plants and ships, create intelligent maps, and protect critical infrastructure and millions of people around the world.
 

Intergraph operates through two divisions: Process, Power & Marine (PP&M) and Security, Government & Infrastructure (SG&I).  Intergraph PP&M provides enterprise engineering software for the design, construction, operation and data management of plants, ships and offshore facilities. Intergraph SG&I provides geospatially powered solutions including ERDAS technologies to the public safety and security, defense and intelligence, government, transportation, photogrammetry, and utilities and communications industries. Intergraph Government Solutions (IGS) is an independent subsidiary for SG&I's U.S. federal and classified business.

Intergraph is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hexagon AB, (Nordic exchange: HEXA B) and (Swiss exchange: HEXN).For more information, visit www.intergraph.com and www.hexagon.com.

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