North|Star Utilities Solutions Forms OEM partnership with Bit Stew Systems, Inc. for its Customer Engagement Suite

 Ottawa, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia - September  14, 2011 -Bit Stew Systems, Inc., a leading provider of smart energy software to the utility industry, is pleased to announce the forming of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM ) Partnership with North|Star Utilities Solutions (North|Star), a division of Harris Computer Systems.   North|Star will sell as part of their Customer Engagement Suite , Bit Stew's Grid Director 2.0 platform with the Home Energy Management Module. The Bit Stew solution is fully integrated into North|Star's current software platform and is available today.

 The Home Energy Management Module is quickly gaining attention among Utilities as a means to deliver real-time energy consumption information to residential and commercial customers. This module provides customers with current power consumption, monthly bill estimates, neighborhood comparisons, rate analysis, and aggregated information for customers with multiple accounts.  Additionally, the Home Energy Management module comes complete with HAN registration and management capabilities including integration with AMI head-end systems and internet-gateway solutions.

 " The Grid Director Platform 2.0 and The Home Energy Management portal is a natural extension of our North|Star product offerings associated with both our MeterSense Meter Data Management application and our Customer Information System", states Rob DiMurro, General Manager of North|Star .  "Forming an OEM relationship with BitStew provides North|Star the ability to better serve our customers and offer best in class technology by providing customer education and communication on consumption patterns, conservation initiatives, and demand response programs. 

 Based on customer demand, we looked at multiple options for delivering a customer energy portal solution," explains Norm Daigle, Executive Vice-President of North|Star. "Bit Stew provided the best functionality for a customer portal today along with a platform for future growth and development. Bit Stew's real time energy analytics and interoperability with other systems made our decision rather straightforward."

 The Grid Director 2.0 Platform has four distinct modules: AMI Deployment & Management, Demand Response 3.0, Home Energy Management, and Revenue Protection. The modules can be purchased independently or all together, and each leverages the core Grid Director 2.0 Platform.

 "We are very excited about working with North|Star," explains Kevin Collins, Bit Stew's CEO, "they have a great reputation for quality software products and services in the Utility Market and through this partnership we will be able to deliver a best of breed solution to their customers."

 About North|Star

North|Star  has served the utility market for more than 30 years.  Delivering  integrated solutions for utilities' billing, customer information, financial, and meter data management needs. More than 200 customers in North America and the Caribbean use North|Star  solutions to manage revenues, deliver superior customer service, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. www.northstarutilities.com  

 About Bit Stew

Founded in 2005, Bit Stew Systems, Inc. started with the vision of building a robust scalable software platform that provides real-time analytics, dynamic event management and a fast and easy way to integrate other applications. Today, Bit Stew is setting the energy industry standard with its Grid Director 2.0 Platform for the new world of smart energy - a world of real-time customer interaction, automated workforce deployment and a single view into the new smart grid. For more information on Bit Stew's solutions, visit www.bitstew.com.

 Contact:  Norm Daigle

North|Star Utilities Solutions

ndaigle@northstarutilities.com

Contact: Jett Winter

Bit Stew Systems, Inc.

jett@bitstew.com