SmartSynch will provide smart grid infrastructure products and services to the Gila River Indian Community Utility Authority (GRICUA) on the Gila River Indian Reservation just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. This marks the first of what SmartSynch executives believe will be a growing number of Native American communities to leverage the reliability and scalability of smart grid technology utilizing existing public wireless networks to quickly and conveniently automate their electricity grids. Read the press release.

Excerpt from the May 13 article in Dow Jones Clean Technology Insight: "Pezalla said he also liked Jackson, Miss.-based SmartSynch's use of existing cellular phone networks. SmartSynch recently teamed up with AT&T Inc. to use the telecommunications company's public wireless network for smart-grid communications instead of having utilities build their own networks. The partnership is a way for utilities to more quickly and affordably obtain smart-grid communications, according to SmartSynch. In March, SmartSynch and AT&T announced a new pricing structure for utilities to use the company's network for smart-grid communications. This new pricing makes it more affordable for utilities to roll out the technology for many more residential and small commercial users. "Our reservation is fairly rural, a lot of the [smart meter] systems require that you put in a lot of radio towers and it wasn't economical for the amount of customers we have and the amount of area that we'd have to cover," Pezalla said. "SmartSynch meters work through existing infrastructure. It was an easy decision. We know the quality of their data is high and the communications infrastructure already exists." Read the article.

On May 27, SmartSynch CEO, Stephen Johnston, joined a lineup of speakers featuring leading investors, technology executives and government policy-makers for Capital Connection '09--one of the nation’s premier venture and private equity conferences--in Washington, DC. Johnston and other experts, including Suedeen G. Kelly, Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Jigar Shah, Founder, Sun Edison, participated on the “Growing the Smart Grid” panel, where they shared their opinions on roadblocks and strategies for the smart grid, and the importance of moving forward with a nationwide roll-out.