| Smart Grid Solutions |
In early discussions with energy utilities, it became clear that many of Vektrel's commercial and military sector IT engineering
innovations were well positioned to solve some of the most difficult challenges associated with transitioning utilities to
intelligent power grids. Vektrel's proven expertise with end-to-end transparent security solutions, data warehouse /
business intelligence solutions, knowledge-driven information architectures, high performance SOA / Messaging solutions
and real-time event-driven architectures is directly applicable to solving challenges associated with Smart Grid engineering
(e.g.: grid-edge to datacenter security, AMI information accessibility, high performance reporting and analytics, demand
response behavior, high-speed high-volume high-security grid message processing, high volume data archival, etc).
Most discussions concerning Smart Grid utility solution architectures offer high-level perspectives that explore fundamental
concepts and challenges in broad terms. Although high level architectures address the strategic goals and directions
essential to success, realizing these strategic goals requires translating high level concepts into real-world solution
architectures. Vektrel's Smart Grid initiative translates high level strategic architectural concepts into tangible, lower-level
solution architectures supporting grid-to-datacenter utility operations on industry standard I.T. foundations.
The core elements of Vektrel's Smart Grid solutions can be summarized as follows:
To learn more about the Vektrel's Smart Grid engineering initiative, please use the following contact information:
Ted Barbusinski
Chief Enterprise / SOA Solutions Architect
Vektrel LLC
smartgrid@vektrel.com
innovations were well positioned to solve some of the most difficult challenges associated with transitioning utilities to
intelligent power grids. Vektrel's proven expertise with end-to-end transparent security solutions, data warehouse /
business intelligence solutions, knowledge-driven information architectures, high performance SOA / Messaging solutions
and real-time event-driven architectures is directly applicable to solving challenges associated with Smart Grid engineering
(e.g.: grid-edge to datacenter security, AMI information accessibility, high performance reporting and analytics, demand
response behavior, high-speed high-volume high-security grid message processing, high volume data archival, etc).
Most discussions concerning Smart Grid utility solution architectures offer high-level perspectives that explore fundamental
concepts and challenges in broad terms. Although high level architectures address the strategic goals and directions
essential to success, realizing these strategic goals requires translating high level concepts into real-world solution
architectures. Vektrel's Smart Grid initiative translates high level strategic architectural concepts into tangible, lower-level
solution architectures supporting grid-to-datacenter utility operations on industry standard I.T. foundations.
The core elements of Vektrel's Smart Grid solutions can be summarized as follows:
 | Smart Grid Information Bus (SGIB) Solutions - Most energy utility I.T. landscapes evolve over time into highly | |
| heterogeneous environments. Diversity in vendor platforms is a reality within utility datacenters and their intelligent power grids. There exists a need to bind these heterogeneous utility assets together through a common, high performance, high security, SOA based information bus (referred to as an SGIB within this document). An SGIB provides a common, secure, high performance, IEC-CIM standards based messaging infrastructure that binds the utility’s heterogeneous platforms, applications and services into a cohesive Smart Grid IT enterprise. Vektrel’s SGIB solutions are designed specifically to provide high performance (near real-time) and high security while accommodating the growing messaging volumes and message complexity that are intrinsic to an evolving intelligent power grid. |
| End-to-End transparent Security Solutions - Vektrel's end-to-end security infrastructures go hand in hand with the | |
| foundational design of our SGIB solutions. Founded upon industry standard SOA security standards, our security infrastructures are attack-hardened and fundamentally transparent to the heterogeneous datacenter and grid elements that it secures. As such, these solutions imposes a common, consistent security model on all key assets of an intelligent grid and its datacenter. Additionally, they provide central governance over all datacenter and grid resident elements that they secure. Central governance includes policy authoring, management and deployment, PKI trust domain management, etc. |
| AMI / MDMS / SCADA as Energy Utility Strategic Assets (Vendor Independence) - Energy utilities make heavy | |
| investments in intelligent grid infrastructure and the vendor applications that support them. However, these vendor product suites channel grid information into proprietary data stores while encapsulating key grid processes in proprietary applications. As a result, energy utilities have little access to their AMI / MDMS / SCADA investments beyond the proprietary interfaces and applications provided by vendors. Vektrel's approach to Smart Grid engineering seeks to fundamentally change this equation. Our solutions treat AMI / MDMS / SCADA information and functionality as the core strategic assets of the energy utility. They provide the infrastructure necessary to gradually migrate the energy utility’s IT strategic systems away from vendor product centric AMI / MDMS / SCADA process and data foundations to IT foundations focused on addressing the strategic business needs of the utility. Vektrel's AMI information solutions coexists peacefully and transparently alongside any vendor AMI / MDMS / SCADA infrastructures. |
| Intelligent Grid Event Detection and Response - Vektrel provides multi-tier, intelligent grid event detection and | |
| response infrastructures that are fundamentally knowledge-driven. They utilize an “end-to-end” strategy for intelligent event detection and response and introduce powerful, cost-effective, intelligent event detection and response at key layers within an overall Smart Grid implementation architecture. Our event detection infrastructures ensure these layers work together to form a cohesive, effective end-to-end event management solution that intelligently detects and intelligently responds to active or emerging events. Event detection is multi-tier, transparent, near real-time and knowledge driven. Knowledge based event response is at least as important as event detection. Our infrastructures apply knowledge foundations to ensure an optimal, cost effective event response is recommended. |
| Knowledge-Driven Demand Response (D / R) - Developing a practical, effective “Demand / Response” (D/R) | |
| capability is a long-term goal at the heart of every Smart Grid investment. The essence of this goal is the development of a solution capable of intelligent, real-time re-distribution of available power across a power grid based upon dynamic grid loading conditions and patterns. Any practical, effective D/R solution must be adaptive and agile enough to easily accommodate the rapid and constant change of evolving intelligent devices and networks. It must effectively manage the complexity inherent in the broad diversity of devices and their D/R capabilities and limitations at every branch of the grid. It must manage vast amounts of information flow and intelligently perform data triage. It must find a practical way of enforcing D/R decisions through all of the grid’s diversity, inconsistency and complexity. Lastly, it must have “knowledge” and “understanding” of technical, business, government and customer contexts of the energy utility to effectively define and execute meaningful, effective D/R policies. Vektrel's D/R architectures attack these issues in a manner that manages complexity and abstracts the datacenter from change, diversity and device issues. They also leverage knowledge foundations to draw upon financial, technical, customer, grid topology and ISO contexts to yield D/R decisions and commands that effectively address a broad range of issues and concerns. |
| Smart Grid Presentation Infrastructures - By nature, the technical and business systems supporting a power utility | |
| have extensive presentation needs relative to grid visualization, analytic reporting and dashboards, CRM and more. Within any larger, heterogeneous IT environment, user interaction and information presentation becomes an enterprise level challenge. Applications and their user interfaces are scattered across multiple heterogeneous platforms utilizing disparate user interface tools running on numerous, diverse presentation frameworks (e.g.: AMI / MDMS vendor apps, ERP platforms, BI platforms, reporting dashboards, community collaboration platforms, etc). Since user interaction points are typically initial points of authentication and authorization, this diversity results in a proliferation of both presentation models and security models. Diversity in presentation infrastructures also creates a barrier to interoperability and efficiency as UI functionality is effectively “siloed” within unique presentation frameworks that cannot share information with each other and cannot expose their UI functionality for reuse. Within these constraints, it becomes difficult to rapidly adapt to change by assembling “composite” applications that incorporate UI functionality from diverse host platforms. Vektrel addresses these challenges with a common, cohesive presentation foundation that offers a common security model, application aggregation, “composable” / reusable UI elements, heterogeneous UI interaction, SSO and more. |
To learn more about the Vektrel's Smart Grid engineering initiative, please use the following contact information:
Ted Barbusinski
Chief Enterprise / SOA Solutions Architect
Vektrel LLC
smartgrid@vektrel.com
Practical, Effective Solutions for Intelligent Power Grid Engineering
Within today’s energy industry marketplace, a growing number of vendors offer product suites
that address various areas of “Smart Grid” functionality such as Automated Metering
Infrastructure (AMI), Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS) and more. Although vendor
offerings continue to improve, they often lock critical information and functionality away in
proprietary product suites and fall well short of addressing key issues that are foundational to
any successful “Smart Grid” utility implementation.
In early 2008, Vektrel began evolving a set of Smart Grid solutions that addressed some of
the most daunting challenges inherent in intelligent power grid engineering. Our Smart Grid
engineering initiative is evolving practical, cost effective architectures that address key
Smart Grid engineering concerns while easily integrating with existing energy utility grid
landscapes.
that address various areas of “Smart Grid” functionality such as Automated Metering
Infrastructure (AMI), Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS) and more. Although vendor
offerings continue to improve, they often lock critical information and functionality away in
proprietary product suites and fall well short of addressing key issues that are foundational to
any successful “Smart Grid” utility implementation.
In early 2008, Vektrel began evolving a set of Smart Grid solutions that addressed some of
the most daunting challenges inherent in intelligent power grid engineering. Our Smart Grid
engineering initiative is evolving practical, cost effective architectures that address key
Smart Grid engineering concerns while easily integrating with existing energy utility grid
landscapes.