As substation and feeder automation emerged at electric utilities, QEI responded with both system and substation level applications. Peak demand reduction and automatic VAR control were two key applications that provided significant short-term payback to utility customers. In response to market needs, QEI introduced a family of fourth generation RTU products, the 6CPP6 substation processor and 6ACP5 feeder automation device. These single board devices emulated the high-density architecture of modern motherboards and provided further noise reduction as well as increased processing capacity.