United Services Group^SM Announces its Data Transfer Tools for ADELINE^®

>Elk River, Minnesota, May 16, 2006 - United Services GroupSM, the creators of ADELINE^® announced today that it has released .its Data Transfer Tools plug-in for its automated staking solution. . . [more]

2006 NCREC presentations available for download here

United Services Group Selected to provide presentation at NWPPA - 3/10/06.

John Setala - Managing Principal of United Services Group will be giving a presentation at this years NWPPA Engineering and Operations Conference.  John's presentation will be during the Product Showcase Session 1 between 10 - 10:20 a.m. and will focus on the Wild Blue Satellite Communications System.

United Services Group Releases Version 2.0 of ADELINE - 2/15/06

Click here to read the release.

Mid West ESRI Utilities Users Group 2006 Announced.  2/06/2006

The Mid West ESRI Utilities Users Group Committee has set March 30 and 31 as the dates for the next annual users group.  For more information please check out the MWEUUG web page.

ADELINE and United Services Group at NWPPA Engineering and Operations Conference

ADELINE and United Services Group at Booth #3415 for IEEE PES Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition

ADELINE and United Services Group at Booth #748 for TechAdvantage^®

Two of USG staff to provide conference presentations  1/2/06

For the third consecutive year employees of United Services Group have been selected to present at the Tech Advantage Conference.  This year in Orlando Florida John Setala, Managing Principle and Michael O'Neill SCADA Automation Specialist have been selected.

John's contribution to the conference is:

Thursday, Feb 16th 3:55- 5:00
EO–4C – Computerized Line Design Tools

Co-op employees who design distribution lines can benefit tremendously from software engineering tools to streamline many of the calculations needed in the design of new distribution lines. The number of vendors offering computerized line design software has increased significantly in the last few years, including software offered by the Cooperative Research Network. This session will provide information on the software packages currently available, and with a panel discussion by cooperatives that are using the software

and Michael O'Neill's contribution to the conference is:

Saturday, February 18th  9:40 a.m. - 10:10a.m.
Using Wild Blue for Substation Automation

The largest challenge facing rural cooperatives wanting to implement some type of substation automation is the communication infrastructure to transfer information to and from the substation from a central location. Utilizing Wild Blue technology, we will go through a case study of automating a rural Minnesota substation. We will identify the costs involved, costs avoided by removing the leased lines, technical challenges with equipment, and a historical look (5 months of usage by TechAdvantage 2006) at the performance of the system.

19 Electric Utilities attend United Services Group's GIS Day 2005.  8/29/2005

Individuals  representing 19 Electric Utilities throughout Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa met in Elk River, Minnesota for USG's GIS Day 2005.  This single day event was presented by United Services Group at the Great River Energy headquarters as an opportunity for GIS professionals to meet and share ideas.  Representatives of ESRI and Origin GeoSystems were also in attendance to display and give presentations about their respective software.  A compilation of topics and some associated presentations can be found here.

USG GIS Day 2005 Announced.  7/25/2005

United Services Group announced today that it has set the date for GIS Day 2005.  USG set August 25th, 2005 for the day long event with topics related to starting, maintaining, and using your GIS system.  USG has also scheduled an ESRI Electric Users Group meeting for August 24th, 2005 to determine if a regional users group is something that is needed in this area.   A complete brochure is available for download in PDF format with complete topic and session information.

United Services Group receives special Awards

Elk River, Minnesota, April 8, 2005 - For the third consecutive year, United Services Group (USG) has received recognition awards from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), The GIS Software Leader.

Beginning in 2003, USG received ESRI’s prestigious Special Achievement in GIS Award (SAG) for providing outstanding GIS education and services to its customers.  This award is given to users who embrace GIS technology and have made extraordinary contributions to our global society and set new precedents throughout the GIS community.  Jack Dagermond, President of ESRI stated, "This award is being given to user sites around the world in recognition of their outstanding work in the GIS field. USG was selected to receive this award from over 100,000 user sites world wide. It is quite an honor."

In 2004 USG received the New Partner of the Year Award.  This is awarded to sites who have been an ESRI’s business partner for less than two years.  USG worked together with ESRI to create ADELINE^®, an automated staking solution for electric distribution systems.  Through this effort and our continuing commitment to the education and development of GIS systems using ESRI technology, USG received ESRI’s New Business Partner of the Year Award for the Minneapolis region.  This region covers six states and has approximately 150 business partners.

In 2005 USG received the Partner of the Year Award for the Minneapolis region.  This award was based on USG’s release of a fully integrated version of ADELINE. Built on top of ESRI’s  ArcPad and MapObjects products, ADELINE is an automated staking solution used in the design of electric distribution line.  With dedication to their customers and a strong understanding of ESRI technology, USG has become a valuable partner in bringing ESRI into new markets and geographies.

USG releases Adeline® plug-in for ArcGIS at Tech Advantage 2005.

San Diego, California, February 24, 2005 - United Services Group (USG) announced today at the Tech Advantage 2005 Conference the release of its ADELINE^® Plug-In for ArcGIS.  The "Plug-In" allows for the integration of a customers in-house Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Geographical Information System (GIS) with the mobile ADELINE design environment.

"ADELINE has come a long way since its initial release in 2004" said Richard Isle ADELINE’s project manager.  "Now with the plug-in complete the full capabilities of using ADELINE as your automated staking solution can be realized".

The ADELINE Plug-In allows a staker/designer to create a project in the actual mapping environment.  The designer can make draft changes to the system map as they stake. When construction is done and verified, the update of the maps can be as easy as the push of a button bringing in all graphics and data from the staking environment.

ADELINE is completely data model independent allowing integration with most industry standard data models.  This natural interoperability amongst other industry software makes it an extremely flexible solution.

USG is part of a cooperative and these values carry over into its software development.  ADELINE is being used by large and small electric utilities whose customer base ranges from just a few hundred to several thousand.

United Services Group Releases "In-Demand" papers.  10/18/2004

United Services Group announced today that they were releasing two of the papers that are most requested by its customers. Automatic Vehicle Location Services for Minnesota's Electric Utility Industry and Going Mobile (an excerpt from USG's 2004 GITA Presentation.)  You will need a pdf viewer to access these files.

United Services Group Receives "New Partner of the Year" award by ESRI® 3/29/04

Excerpt from ESRI web page on 10/12/2004.

United Services Group (USG) is an engineering and consultant company that focuses on electric cooperative and municipal utilities.  In its first year, USG showed the ability and desire to take its knowledge of ESRI technology into the small clients of the utility market.  In addition to providing a wide range of mapping services, the firm has developed a staking application, ADELINE®, designed to work with ArcPad and ArcGIS.  USG is proving that no client is too small to benefit from the value of GIS.

Great River Energy/United Services Group 7/7/03

United Services Group developed an application for electric utilities to assist them with the design of electric distribution lines, "ADELINE." A product the industry refers to as a Staking Sheet Program and is intended to be used in the field. This staking sheet program, and additional GIS tools were developed primarily for electric cooperatives and municipals. These tools are designed to enhance our customers GIS systems and are designed data model independent.

United Services Group Receives "Special Achievement in GIS Award" from ESRI 7/1/03

Elk River, Minnesota, July 1, 2003 - United Services Group announced today that they have been selected to receive a "Special Achievement in GIS Award" at the 23rd Annual ESRI Users Conference.

Jack Dagermond, President of ESRI stated, "This award is being given to user sites around the world in recognition of their outstanding work in the GIS field. United Services Group was selected to receive this award from over 100,000 user sites world wide. It is quite an honor."

The award will be presented at a special ceremony on Thursday, July 10th at the San Diego Convention Center. Other organizations being honored at the 2003 User Conference include the following: John Deere & Company; U.S. Agency for International Development; Swedish Geological Survey; Cebu City Government, Philippines; Disaster Management Directorate of Somogy County, Hungary; New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Honolulu Board of Water Supply; and Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

John Setala, Managing Principal of United Services Group stated, "United Services Group has worked very hard to become an industry leader in GIS systems. We have an outstanding staff of GIS professionals and programmers, which continuously develop new GIS applications for our customers. It is a great honor for us to be recognized for our work by a world renowned organization like ESRI".

About United Services Group
United Services Group, a department of Great River Energy, headquartered in Elk River, Minnesota, has provided a wide range of engineering and GIS services to cooperatives and municipals in the five state area surrounding Minnesota since 1988. For more information on the services performed by United Services Group, visit us on the web at www.usgweb.com.

For More Information Contact
United Services Group
John Setala
Managing Principal
Direct (763) 241-3764
Fax (763) 241-3715
www.usgweb.com

Wisconsin Municipals Choose United Services Group^SM for Their CableCAD to ESRI Conversion. 5/29/03

Elk River, Minnesota, May 29, 2003 - United Services Group, Elk River, Minnesota, announced today that the City of River Falls and the Marshfield Electric and Water Department in Wisconsin have chosen United Services Group to convert their existing CableCAD GIS systems to ESRI ArcGIS solutions.

Gene Kolasinski of the City of River Falls Municipal Utilities states, "We have encountered too much down time and a lot of problems with technical support from our current system. Jeff Grussing, Leader of GIS Development for United Services Group has been very helpful in correcting the problems that we encountered with our existing system and he has provided us with a lot of information on the ESRI solutions. We have checked out a couple of alternatives to replace the Cablecad system and we are sure that we made the right decision to go with the widely used ESRI ArcGIS solution."

John Setala, Managing Principal of United Services Group said, "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work with these municipals in Wisconsin. United Services Group has worked very hard to become an industry leader in both GIS system creation and conversions. Earlier this year we became both Developer Partners, and Business Partners with ESRI. They are a fantastic organization to work with, and have what we believe to be, the best GIS solution available".

About United Services Group
United Services Group, a department of Great River Energy, headquartered in Elk River, Minnesota, has provided a wide range of engineering and GIS services to cooperatives and municipals in the five state area surrounding Minnesota since 1988.

For more information on the services performed by United Services Group, visit us on the web at www.usgweb.com.

For More Information Contact
United Services Group
John Setala
Managing Principal
Direct: (763) 241-3764
Fax: (763) 241-3715
www.usgweb.com
jsetala@usgweb.com