Itron Inc. and New Cosmos Electric Co., Ltd. announced that they will improve gas safety for utilities with methane detectors from New Cosmos. Through Itron’s developer program, New Cosmos was able to incorporate the Milli 5 communications technology into its methane detector and seamlessly integrate into Itron’s multi-application utility network to improve safety for natural gas utilities. New Cosmos’ battery-powered methane detectors, which will be deployed by a northeastern utility, are equipped to take advantage of the utility’s existing Itron network to provide greater safety to customers. Enabling greater awareness of potential problems in the gas distribution system, the methane detectors can identify gas leaks and communicate to the network remotely from a utility’s command center.