The global smart metering market has exploded since 2005 as utilities in North America and Europe have scrambled to modernize their aging grid infrastructure. While North America and Europe have led the way, the industry is poised to enter an era of global growth; utility pilots and deployments are well under way in both Latin America and the Asia/Pacific. What will the future hold for smart metering? How will the competitive landscape change with regulation and the introduction of new technologies? IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Smart Meter Tracker® provides clients with the detailed information necessary for navigating this evolving landscape by providing reliable, accurate, and independent market data that serves as a foundation for creating quantitative market analyses and studying historical trends.

Technology Coverage and Data Segmentation

This tracker provides total market size and vendor share for the following technology areas and segmentations. Measurement for this tracker is in unit shipments and value. Tracking of smart meter deployments is also possible.

Technologies and subtechnologies:

• Smart electric meters defined as solid state meters with integrated two-way communications capabilities
• Meter type: Single phase, polyphase
• Communications type: Wireless (RF mesh, RF tower, etc.), wired (PLC, other)

Segmentations:

• Customer/utility type (by ownership): Investor/private ownership, government/public ownership, cooperative
• Customer/utility size (by revenue): Under $1 billion, $1 billion to $10 billion, over $10 billion

Geographic Scope

• Asia/Pacific excluding Japan
• Canada
• Central and Eastern Europe
• Japan
• Latin America
• Middle East and Africa
• United States
• Western Europe

Forecast Coverage

Forecasts for this tracker are updated quarterly by geography and include one year of historical data, up to two years of quarterly forecasts, and an additional three years of annual market projections. Forecasts and segmentations available include:

• Communication standard
• Customer/utility type
• Customer/utility size

Delivery Schedule and Deliverables

The core tracker offering is delivered on a quarterly basis as a preformatted Excel pivot table. In addition, or as an alternative, to this quantitative deliverable, clients have the option of subscribing to a supplementary quarterly report. Each quarterly report will provide an overview of market activity, focusing on regional trends, the evolving communications landscape, utility deployment progress, meter and communications module vendor activity, and other key market drivers. Each report will also include a special section discussing new markets or new market opportunities.

The delivery schedule for this tracker is as follows:

• Historical data: Week 10 after period closes
• Forecast data: Week 11 after period closes
• Quarterly report: Week 12 after period closes