History

The history of ADD GRUP dates back to 1992 when Alexey Lazarev, a young specialist with a degree in physics-mathematics, creates the company ADD GRUP (at that time ADD). At the beginning the number of employees was not more than 15 people. Between 1992 and 1998 ADD GRUP works on different projects, the main being the solution for the tariffication of telephony conversations. ADD GRUP launched a simple and cost efficient solution, which didn’t necessitate an essential upgrade of the stations. These characteristics of the product have raised ADD GRUP to the level of market-leader and have brought contracts for the tariffication of millions of telephone subscribers. In 1998, the company reoriented towards the energy market by starting the development of ADDAX IMS. Two objectives were set: simplicity and cost efficiency. The first version of the system was oriented towards remote data collection from electromechanical meters using add-ons – readers of pulse and digital outputs. The idea behind this basic AMR solution was a low cost integration of the existing meters into a one-way communication network. After the first implementation, the system demonstrated robustness and stability, but it lacked functionality and flexibility. It was clear – one cannot build a future proof solution on an old foundation: induction meters and one-way communications. The utility needs were going beyond the collection of raw data, which was not giving any information on the time of consumption or load peaks. Besides, the system was not offering any means of control over the consumption. The old inductive meters were not allowing the implementation of saving incentive tools, such as time-of-use metering or demand side management, which would motivate consumers to decrease the level of consumption.

In 1999, ADD GRUP started the development of digital meters. The meters were equipped with built-in PLC modems and breaker relays. The internal clock tied the amount of consumed energy to the time when it was consumed.

After demonstrating good performance in the first projects, PLC remained the primary communication media used in the ADDAX network. The structure of the system comprised three levels: metering equipment, communication equipment (routers) and the data management software. The GSM channel was the primary medium used for data exchange between the routers and the data management centre.

Integrated metering was introduced in 2003: the meter interface units designed by ADD GRUP enabled the integration of other resources into the metering system, such as water, gas and heat. It was followed by the launch of ADDAX Light – the solution for street lighting management. In 2004, the number of employees came to around 300 people. In the same period we started the certification of our production process in accordance with ISO 9001:2000 standards.

The same year, 2004, ADD GRUP launched the MV PLC modems, which allowed to exclude the use of expensive GSM/GPRS communications. The new media was very well received by customers, as it allowed a significant decrease in operational costs. Since then, every new implementation has employed MV PLC as the basic media for communication between routers and the data management centre and the other media (including GSM/GPRS).

The first European mass rollouts have revealed that the most advantageous and efficient approach to automated metering is the one based on multi-vendor platforms. In 2008 ADD GRUP started the development of a more advanced communication solution, based on open protocols. The new development involves the use of new techniques, such as S-FSK ad OFDM modulation, which increase the carrying capacity of the communication network and enable the integration of new tools and features.