May 20, 2013, Updated May 22, 2013

Utilities and water companies around the globe need to thank IBM scientists in Haifa and the Arad Group for coming up with a new advanced analytics technology that warns of abnormal consumption, has reliable fault detection to determine when there is a leak or water waste, and gives optimized customer handling.

IBM researchers and the Arad Group, a world leader in the field of water measurement solutions and services, are working together to help water companies and utilities around the globe provide more effective and efficient management of drinking water through the use of Big Data and advanced analytics technology.

Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This means cities, water companies and utilities are facing new challenges in providing a high quality supply of drinking water while keeping costs and energy use to a minimum.

Many areas have already implemented automated meter infrastructures (AMI) to measure water consumption, providing highly accurate reading. However, employing advanced analytics on the collected data can provide an additional layer of insight.

“Highly specialized analytics from IBM provide an additional layer of insight into our technology, allowing us to provide utilities and water companies worldwide with the most advanced solutions and services to reduce water costs, improve customer service, and provide higher efficiency of water usage,” said Gabi Yankovitz, CEO of Arad Group.

Big Data and analytics technology helps clients harness the explosion of data coming from a growing number of resources — including data collected from utility meter readings and sensors. Arad Group is working with IBM to integrate the latest analytics algorithms into Arad’s Dailog3G and City-Mind software.

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