Randy Bays President, Sensus

This time of year brings with it many new beginnings. At Sensus, we got a jump on things and marked a fresh start on October 31 with the close of our acquisition by Xylem.

While those of you in the water space are likely already familiar with them, the company may be unfamiliar to a large number of you. They're a leading global water technology company doing business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands.

Continued commitment to core values...
Xylem and Sensus are complementary and can build upon the strengths of one another while helping fill some of the gaps in the marketplace for our customers. We have begun to look at our collective product offering and to target new technologies to serve the utility market.

We also remain very committed to Customer First. You are, and will remain, our top priority in the short- and long-term.

Further, we remain equally focused on each of the sectors we serve. Water. Gas. Electric. Lighting. Smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT). Each is vital to our long-term success.

We also remain dedicated to our corporate values. We built Sensus on a foundation of people, performance, impact, service, progress and approach. They'll remain our bedrock going forward. Plus, we'll continue to emphasize quality and Lean Six Sigma, which are both areas of focus for Xylem.

While also moving ahead
Understandably, the acquisition has captured a lot of attention, but plenty of other things are going on as well. In November, we held our annual Reach Conference in Palm Desert. A record number of customers and distributors attended, many of whom I had the privilege of meeting face to face. While there, SPAN members held their annual meeting to thank previous leaders, elect new ones and begin planning for the coming year.

On the product side, this issue shines the spotlight on the most powerful base station yet, the FlexNet® M400D, which allows data to flow—smoother, faster and on wider bandwidths. Its dual M400 transceivers support two data intensive applications simultaneously, ensuring you get the most out of your network, today and well into the future.

Help us improve
Now is your opportunity to tell us what you think about Sensus Customer Connection. Please take a few minutes to complete our annual reader survey and share your thoughts. We take your comments seriously and will use them to influence the direction of future issues. Indeed, it's that dialogue with you that I most appreciate. You're not hesitant about speaking your mind, and I value that trait. Your candid feedback pushes us to be the best we can be. Thank you for never settling for anything less than our best. You always inspire us to reach new heights.

• Provide more accurate and reliable service
• Monitor all of its 9,000 water meters 24/7
• Ensure accurate bills
• Improve operational efficiency and save water

Each day, the grid gets smarter, its capabilities growing by leaps and bounds. Each day, you and your customers continue to push the limits, consuming more granular data, more often. Our new FlexNet M400D base station gives you a strategic communications option that allows that data to flow smoother, faster and on wider bandwidths. With dual M400 transceivers, a single base station now supports two data intensive applications—simultaneously and more cost-effectively.

Plus, the new operating system, available in early 2017, supports the next generation of the FlexNet network. With dedicated transceivers for each application, the M400D enables you to flexibly route messages and run your applications in the most efficient manner.

You'll also benefit from the latest encryption protocols that ensure safe, reliable two-way communication of sensitive data.

Insight for informed decisions
The M400D readily handles data traffic associated with meter reading and billing. And it goes farther by enabling the two-way, real-time communication required to effectively monitor and control peak demand or sniff out malfunctioning devices before equipment failure occurs.

As a result, you're able to:

• Scale to meet smart grid performance demands
• Support multiple applications
• Expand network capacity

And your customers can:

• Gain insight into consumption patterns
• Make informed choices on usage
• Save money

Expanded capabilities within your reach
"The M400D is a single base station with simultaneous support for AMI and other data intensive applications such as distribution automation, demand response and smart lighting control," said Randolph Wheatley, Vice President, Communications Solutions Marketing. "Whatever your network needs, with this base station, it's within your reach—now and in the future."

For more information, contact your local sales representative.

A huge thank you to all who joined us for the 2016 Sensus Reach Conference in Palm Desert, California. With a record-setting attendance of more than 950 guests and 130 informative sessions, this year's event was the best ever. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Celebrate those who reach farther
A special part of the event was the presentation of the Sensus Reach^SM Awards. This year, we recognized two distributors, two customers and one employee for their dedication to their jobs and communities.

• Distributor, Community: Jerry Plotke, Meter Systems Manager, HD Supply® Waterworks
• Distributor, Customer First: Jerry Thomas, Business Development Manager, Ferguson® Waterworks, Meter & Automation Group
• Customer, Commercial: David Thomas, AMI Sales Manager, Georgia Power
• Customer, Community: Eddie Augusto, AMI &Metering Manager, PowerStream Inc.
• Sensus Employee, Customer First: Scott Setzer, Manager of Technical Solutions

Deep in the Heart of Texas
Next year's event will be held October 22-25 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas. (Fun fact: "Deep in the Heart of Texas" spent five weeks at the top of Your Hit Parade in 1942.) Registration will open in spring. We'll see you there!

It's the beginning of another year, time for us to take stock of what we've accomplished and adjust our course for the coming 365 days.

To best do that, we need your input. Please take a few minutes to complete this anonymous survey.

Tell us what you like about Sensus Customer Connection. Point out areas for improvement, too. Help us make Sensus Customer Connection better.

We'll use your feedback to ensure we provide content that informs and interests you and empowers you to reach farther.

All respondents will be entered in a drawing to win a $100 gift card. If company policy prohibits you from accepting a gift card, we will make a $100 donation to a nonprofit organization of your choice.

The Xylem acquisition of Sensus adds up to new opportunities for you, our customers. It's the start of a new story—one we're excited to tell. Here we'll share the latest updates and information detailing how together Sensus and Xylem can help you better serve your customers and communities. We begin with a letter to our customers from Xylem President and CEO Patrick Decker and Sensus President Randy Bays. You may have seen this in November, but we think it's worth repeating.

Dear Sensus Customers

We are pleased to announce that Xylem, a leading global water technology company, has completed its acquisition of Sensus, and our two organizations are now operating as one company. This combination will unlock exciting new opportunities for our partners and our customers across the water, electric, gas and lighting sectors. Importantly, we are united in our belief that the customer must come first in everything we do, and we look forward to sharing more information about those opportunities in the coming months.

Xylem does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands, and our people have broad applications expertise with a strong focus on finding local solutions to the world's most challenging water and wastewater problems. Our products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment for public utility, industrial, commercial building services and agricultural customers. Like Sensus, we also have important business segments that serve non-water sectors.

With the addition of Sensus, we are combining Xylem's broad portfolio of products and services, attractive end markets and global reach with Sensus' state-of-the-art smart infrastructure technologies, network technologies and advanced data analytics solutions. As one company, we have a differentiated offering that enables us to better meet your evolving needs, including greater energy efficiency, improved life-cycle cost and predictive analytics. While Sensus is already a leader in the clean water and energy sectors, with advanced metering technology and network technologies, we look forward to extending their presence into new global markets as well as other water segments, including the wastewater and outdoor water sectors where Xylem holds leading positions.

At Xylem, we are committed to continuing to invest in R&D across the water, electric, gas and lighting sectors, as well as in other smart infrastructure. As we bring together the advanced technology and R&D expertise and capabilities of both companies, we anticipate accelerating our delivery of innovative solutions and systems intelligence to help you better serve your customers and communities.

Moving forward, there are no immediate changes in how we will work with you. The names and faces you're familiar with will remain the same. Longer term, we look forward to sharing more information with you about our new company. We're very excited about the innovative, global solutions our combined company will be able to offer as you strive to improve the quality of life in your communities.

If you have any questions or wish to speak to one of us directly, please contact your Sensus customer representative. Thank you for your partnership and business.

Sincerely,

Patrick Decker President and CEO, Xylem Inc.	Randy Bays President, Sensus

Recently, we caught up with Dominic Longo, newly-elected chair of the Sensus Partner and Advisor Network (SPAN) and supervisor, metering, Energy+ Inc., a municipal electric utility in Ontario, Canada, to ask him about SPAN's goals for 2017. He eagerly shared the organization's roadmap for the year ahead. Read on to see what he had to say.

"I'm involved in SPAN because of the opportunity to share information and best practices with other Sensus customers," said Longo. "SPAN is the only user group that I have been a part of where the vendor both supports and participates completely."

It's that back-and-forth dialogue among members and with Sensus that's led to a number of positive developments over the past several years. Building on that success is exactly what the SPAN leadership team, elected at the 2016 Sensus Reach Conference, intends to do this year. In addition to Longo, they include:

• Vice-Chair – Eddie Augusto, Manager, Metering & AMI Operations, PowerStream Inc.
• Secretary – Jeff Parish, Sr. Meter Specialist, Georgia Power Company
• Past-Chair – Mitch Cason, Network Coordinator, Georgia Power Company

Exchange ideas and solve problems
They've set an ambitious agenda for 2017, one that opens up opportunities for the candid exchange of ideas and problem solving. Specifically, they look to:

• Establish focus groups to generate solutions to common concerns
• Further develop the SPAN Community website and enhance the user experience
• Document internal processes and guidelines to ease transition from one year to the next

Bullets two and three on that list are natural progressions from work of previous years and offer new avenues for enhanced communication and collaboration between members and Sensus.

Bullet one takes that level of communication to an entirely different level. Focus groups consisting of a handful of people from the general membership, executive leadership and a Sensus liaison will be tasked with discussing issues and generating potential solutions to common concerns.

Discussions are taking place now to map out strategy and prioritize topics to be tackled. Expect to hear more in the months ahead.

Join today
Sound interesting? Want to get involved? You can. But first you have to belong.

"If you're not a member, I ask, 'why not?'" said Longo. "There's virtually no down side; the only 'cost' is the time it takes to participate in bi-monthly calls. More importantly, being a member affords you the opportunity to have a direct voice to Sensus. And believe me, Sensus is listening."

• DistribuTECH
  January 31 – February 2, 2017
  San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA
  Booth #3031
  
  
• TechAdvantage
  February 26 – March 1, 2017
  San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA
  Booth #631
  
  
• SGA 14th Annual Spring Gas Conference and Expo
  March 13-17, 2017
  Sheraton Charlotte Hotel, Charlotte, NC
  
  

• Improving efficiency and delivering exceptional service to its 52,000 customers is a commitment Youngstown Water Department takes seriously. To deliver on it, the utility selected Sensus iPERL® water meters and the FlexNet communication network, managed by Sensus Software as a Service (SaaS). Now, instead of taking time and resources to manually read meters, technicians can access data in real time and proactively alert customers to unusual changes in their water usage.
  
  
• After deploying our smart water system, Bolton Point went from estimated billing to detecting leaks overnight. Using our OMNI® and iPERL meters, the FlexNet communication system and data analytics all managed by the Sensus Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, the water utility detected a pool-sized leak at a vacant home in just a few days.
  
  
• The Richmond County Water Department serves an expansive 480 square miles. That makes reading—and re-reading—water meters difficult and time-consuming. That's why the county selected Sensus to deploy a smart water system, comprised of OMNI and iPERL meters, the FlexNet network, data analytics and the Sensus Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.
  
  
• Ensure the integrity of your gas pipelines and safely complete a full day's work in just five minutes with our new SentryPoint™ Cathodic Protection Monitoring solution. With it, gas utilities can remotely collect voltage and current data from battery- and mains-powered sensors and transmit it over the FlexNet network. The point-to-multipoint network ensures that mission-critical data arrives quickly and the separate alarm channel ensures the fast delivery of alarm-based information.
  
  
• Natural gas distribution just got smarter. For the past decade, utilities and regulators thought AMI was good only for meter reading. Not anymore. Our new Smart Gas e-book will show you how smart gas technologies from Sensus are delivering real value. Want to see it in action? Contact us to schedule a live online demonstration.
  
  
• Kudos to our employees for their commitment to protecting the health of our environment. Together, they raised more than $23,000 to support EarthShare nonprofits across the United States through their donations and a Sensus corporate match. They've also logged nearly 400 volunteer hours at agencies across the country—from Research Triangle Park to Atlanta to Boise to Uniontown.
  
  
• Sensus Senior Director of Global Water Marketing Dan Pinney is one of multiple industry experts quoted in AMI 101: Educating the Public about the Benefits of AMI in Forrester Magazines.