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to our expert consulting services in the field of

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES AND UTILITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS

... and benefit from our expertise in computer engineering and utility operations, planning and control!

What causes, and how to prevent, obsolescence in Utility Information Systems

The utility information systems of today consist of integrated information facilities supporting a broad range of real-time, online and offline processes and data management and data transfer functions. Their transcendental importance renders them critical. Ideally, it should be possible to maintain and/or expand such systems by simply upgrading processors, adding new storage and peripherals, increasing the bandwidth of communications, and so on. The bad news is that this is easier said than done. More than a few utility organizations are faced with the problem of what to do with systems progress has rendered obsolete. Some systems cannot be expanded to meet even current needs, no less future requirements.

The good news is that obsolescence can and should be prevented. During our many years in the utility information industry we built a unique methodology to uncover the causes of obsolescence, and to identify the key solution attributes and design and implementation criteria that need to be met when developing system upgrade / replacement strategies and specifications and project implementation plans.

The starting point toward reaching this goal is the technology workshop Obsolescence in Utility Information Systems: What It Is and How to Prevent It, which we've been offering to our clients as part of our consulting assignments. Some of the topics we typically cover in these seminars are summarized in the video clip below.

We've worked predominantly in the field of utility information systems such as SCADA/EMS, SCADA/DMS, Market Systems and Substation Automation Systems, as well as the information technologies on which the Smart Grids of today are predicated. The success of the consulting services we've provided till now stems from our steadfast determination to help utilities prevent the recurring obsolescence of their information and control facilities -- and from the direct knowledge we acquired through many years in software engineering, system integration and advanced application development. Our hands-on experience in utility information systems is illustrated by the numerous projects we've conducted so far in this field (read more...).

In the area of advanced network analysis applications, we authored and implemented the only field-proven voltage stability software available today that truly runs and produces results in real-time, allows monitoring the distance to instability, and predicts the risk of blackout way before data collected from RTUs and/or PMUs might indicate that something wrong might be going on. This remarkable application, which has been successfully deployed offline and in real-time in power system control centers in US, Europe, Latin America and Asia since 1994, was acquired in 2010 by Siemens Energy Automation AG, which exclusively owns and distributes it worldwide (read more...)

The results of our research and engineering efforts have been disseminated in books published under prestigious imprints, such as Elsevier Scientific Publishing, IEEE Press, John Wiley and Springer, and in articles and papers that appeared in major trade and technical publications (read more...).

An important aspect of our work consisted of transferring our know-how to students and practitioners by teaching power systems, computer sciences and operations research at major universities in Belgium, Brazil and United States -- and by conducting workshops and training seminars for utilities in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Romania, Taiwan, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Many of our projects have been funded by International Financial Institutions such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Last, but not least, we communicate with most of our European, Asian, Latin American and US clients quickly, easily and ... without translator because we speak, write and read fluently in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Rumanian.

So, whatever the scope of your upcoming SCADA/EMS, SCADA/DMS, Market System, SAS or any other type of utility IT project, please call us without delay to learn how you can benefit from our time-proven expertise -- and, like all the utilities that have worked with us before, get ready for a system that'll be right for today and ready for tomorrow.