AREVA T&D (www.areva-td.com) announces the extension of its three-year-long collaboration with Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) to include the development of Smarter Grid Management solutions to help the worldwide power industry efficiently and reliably fulfill the future global demand for power.

AREVA and Microsoft's joint efforts have already led to the delivery of key capabilities to AREVA customers. Through this new agreement, both companies will work together toward improving cyber security and integration of AREVA's applications with Microsoft Office tools and enterprise business processes, AREVA's T&D division sees Microsoft technology as a strategic facilitator for the development and deployment of smart grid solutions.

AREVA's T&D automation division is a leader in the smart grid application field with multiple solutions already in use by major utilities worldwide and a leading position in energy management systems in numerous regions including North America, India and the Middle East. The company's initiatives in the smart grid arena are delivering tools and applications for smarter dispatch, integrated distribution management and demand response. As a result, power companies will see fewer, shorter outages and shorter service-restoration times.

New Smarter Grid capabilities will include the ability to manage distributed generation and a variety of renewable sources of energy.