ge applications, such as those of the IoT. Table 12.6 compares the personal wireless communications technologies discussed above. There appears little that separates the Bluetooth 4.0 low energy and ZigBee devices. Example 12.3: Itron A major market for ZigBee devices is in utility smart meters. Itron is a leading manufacturer of intelligent metering and data collection. It provides management solution to 8000 utility companies in 130 countries. Itron OpenWay smart meters (pictured)4 allow for remote ************* 004 00000 reading and control of service. Electricity, water or gas flow ULUUR can be monitored and managed through the OpenWay platform. The platform can also record detailed information on what time utilities are used and by what equipment. Such customer information can be used for security and service enhancement. Depending on network load, electricity ser- vice flow may be stopped or rationed during periods of peak usage to selected or all individual devices within selected homes. Open Way smart meters use ZigBee to communicate with information collection and con- trol hubs. These communication devices require relatively small transmission speeds and can therefore operate using batteries for a specified period of 2 years. OpenWay meters also com- municate with a display monitor which allows a customer to choose when to use a service: for example to run a dishwasher at off-peak for lower charges. The smart meter may also control the air conditioning if the overall load on the network is unsustainable. Such smart metering and control can help reduce the overall cost of utility delivery as well as save resources through a centralised communications platform [16]. 4 Dwight Burdette (own work) CC BY 3.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3Altron_OpenWay_Electricity, Meter_with_Two-Way_Communications.JPG) Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management Near Field Communications The NFC standard is a short-range communications standard, based on the ISO 14443 proximity-card stan- dard associ