Press Release
URMC Partners with Arbonaut to Deliver State-Of-The-Art Imaging and Assessment
URMC incorporates Finnish company’s proprietary algorithms to convert LiDAR data into actionable intelligence for utility companies’ asset and vegetation management
Stowe, VT - September 29, 2008—Utility Risk Management Corporation (URMC) announced today an exclusive partnership with Arbonaut Ltd. URMC has added Arbonaut’s algorithms and technology to its utility-focused risk management platform. Through the partnership, Arbonaut’s technology is customized for the utility industry, providing leading utility companies with a first-of-its kind solution to convert raw LiDAR data into actionable intelligence for more effective and reliable asset and risk management.
Based in Joensuu, Finland, Arbonaut is a technology company that develops information management and GIS solutions for inventorying forests and other natural resources. Working directly with URMC, the company has customized its technology to serve the utility industry. When added to URMC’s utility-focused risk management solution, the partnership delivers to leading utility companies a new generation of remote sensing technology. The combined solution, when coupled with proprietary business analytics, provides clear visibility into vegetative risks that threaten the North American power grid.
“The combined solution of Arbonaut’s technology and URMC’s proprietary business processes is literally the missing link that technology and utility companies have long sought to improve their asset and risk management operations,” says Adam Rousselle, President and CEO of URMC. “Tuomo and his team play an integral role in assisting URMC’s conversion of raw data into actionable intelligence for utilities. The combined solution not only gives utilities unparalleled analysis of their power line assets and corresponding risks, but also allows them to mitigate those risks almost immediately.”
Under the terms of the exclusive partnership, URMC will leverage Arbonaut’s algorithms that can convert URMC’s raw data into actionable intelligence in the form of geometric imagery using Bayesian mathematical principles. The result is a conversion of raw data into 3-D images that clearly define a utility’s transmission and distribution assets, as well as the vegetative threats to those assets. Those images, when integrated with URMC’s proprietary processes, make LiDAR actionable and serve as the core technology that powers numerous engineering and operational services provided by URMC. URMC, and through its exclusive partner ArborMetrics Solutions, delivers its data directly to the desktops of utility company managers who can view vegetative threats in real-time and immediately act to mitigate them.
“The partnership between Arbonaut and URMC is almost seamless from a technological standpoint,” says Tuomo Kauranne, President and Chairman of the Board of Arbonaut, Ltd. “We have successfully introduced our technology in various business models with Adam Rousselle and his team over the past decade, and our joint development led us to a solution that meets the unique needs of the utility industry. It’s an honor to play such a vital role in URMC, contributing to the delivery of efficient and precise technology to manage both power line assets and threats.”
Rousselle’s relationship with Arbonaut dates to 1998, when he began searching for ways to use aerial and remote sensing technologies to inventory forests as part of a sawmill operation he owned in Honduras. His search led him to Arbonaut, where he found a technology that could convert aerial LiDAR and color infrared imagery data into easy-to-use 3-D maps. Rousselle quickly realized the implications the technology held for utilities in the management and control of vegetation along utility rights of way and led to his founding of URMC in 2005.
Rousselle continued, “Our exclusive partnership uniquely serves the North American Electric Transmission industry by applying the best of Finnish remote sensing technology with a service provider that understands the dynamic needs of each individual client. It’s the technology match that the utility industry has needed for years, and we are excited to announce that Arbonaut makes such a critical contribution.”
About URMC
URMC is a utility-focused risk management services company dedicated to improving the reliability and productivity of utility companies around the globe. We produce and deliver empirical, risk-specific inventory and analysis via advance remote sensing technology and process methodology.
URMC's proprietary and patent-pending technology and tools allow us to define, analyze and understand vegetation-related risk with a speed, accuracy and consistency unmatched by traditional approaches. URMC goes beyond technology to provide the tools to identify risks, mitigate and audit them for complete asset management. URMC is an exclusive partner of ArborMetrics Solutions, Inc. Learn more about URMC by visiting www.utilityrisk.com.
About Arbonaut Ltd.
Arbonaut offers enterprises and associations products and services to manage forest and other natural resources.
Arbonaut’s applied technology and industrial-interface devices accelerate our ability to leverage the data our clients need to collect and manage while Arbonaut’s ultra long term business view provides unique value to its customers by applying only those technologies that will serve the industry over the next 30 years.
As an applied technology thought leader, Arbonaut delivers substantive technology that will stand the test of time.
For more information visit: www.arbonaut.com.