Empowering intelligent utility networks with visibility and control

IBM Software Energy and Utilities Thought Leadership White Paper Empowering intelligent utility networks with visibility and control IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management software solution

2 Empowering intelligent utility networks with visibility and control Contents 2 Introduction 4 Solutions for smart utility networks 6 A solution designed for smart utility networks 7 Tivoli Netcool/Impact 7 Tivoli Network Manager 7 Tivoli Netcool Configuration Manager 7 Extending IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management solutions 7 Fueling success with IBM solutions 8 For more information 8 About Tivoli software from IBM Introduction Smart meter networks transform the way utilities, customers and municipalities deliver, consume and account not only for electricity but also for water and gas. Adding intelligence throughout the newly networked smart grid can increase reliability and power quality, improve responsiveness to outages and other network events, increase operational efficiency, improve handling of current and future demand, potentially reduce costs for the provider and consumer, and provide the communication platform for new services. The smart grid overlays existing distribution networks with an information and network metering system that uses digital two-way communications to collect data about network events. This smart network can also remotely control network devices in order to help utility operations teams ensure the accurate delivery of the right amount of energy at the right time. With the infusion of digital intelligence into the existing grid, the distribution model is being transformed from a one-way power distribution system to a two-way system that transmits both power and information, thereby significantly enhancing the capability of consumers and utilities to save energy, reduce costs and increase reliability. Smart meter deployments are spreading. A report by Pike Research estimates there will be more than 250 million smart meter installations worldwide by 2015, up from 46 million in 2008. 1 In Europe, the deployment of smart meters and smart grids is expected to grow by 18 percent between 2009 and 2015, and in the Asia Pacific region, smart meter penetration could reach 100 percent by 2020, according to research from Berg Insight. 2 The integration of network communication technology with smart meters and smart grids gives utilities far more infrastructure awareness than ever before. When demand consumption anomalies occur, alarms and other event notifications help utilities visualize network activity so they can quickly take proactive action to provide greater availability and help reduce truck rolls. Ultimately, the insight gained by this two-way flow of information enables utilities and their customers to optimally manage production, distribution and consumption.

IBM Software 3 Smart metering and smart grid technology Distribution (wide area network) Power plant Substation Metering (neighborhood area network) Substation Smart grid and smart metering technology are empowering utility companies such as electricity providers with a two-way flow of information that is cost-effective, efficient and reliable.

4 Empowering intelligent utility networks with visibility and control The capabilities enabled by smart grids and smart metering are a blend of traditional utility operations and IT. This new, highly complex environment requires a whole new level of sophisticated, scalable management. Integrated Service Management from IBM provides visibility to monitor in real time, control to react quickly and effectively, and automation to achieve greater efficiency. Integrated service management is essential for utilities about to embark on a smart grid or smart metering program to deliver the appropriate services to internal business units as well as to customers. The monitoring capabilities of smart grid and smart metering technology help save money by streamlining operations and workforce utilization. Gone are the days of meter readers physically walking from home to home to jot down consumption. On the operations side, utilities can use an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to receive a stream of consumption and network data in near real time instead of costly manual meter reads. Ultimately, utilities can improve customer satisfaction and performance against service level agreements (SLAs) by proactively reducing and preventing potential problems. Customers, meanwhile, are empowered to better manage energy consumption with real-time information. Solutions for smart utility networks The promise of smart metering and smart grid technology is not without challenges. As utility companies deploy IP-enabled networks with smart meters and sensors on the grid, the integration of what were once separate IT grid and communication networks drives a need for integrated network visibility, control and automation. Smart meter deployment and communication network implementation from the substation to the customer require sophisticated operational management to keep track of changes in addition to monitoring alerts and ever-changing network events. How well this is done can impact service levels and the customer s perception of service availability. IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management part of the smart metering and beyond initiative from IBM provides software capabilities to collectively manage many linked devices with a highly complex flow of information. Utility companies are designing, building and managing new networks with requirements for improved security, reliability and scalability. IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management takes a highly scalable, end-to-end service management approach with realtime monitoring of the wide variety of devices residing on today s transmission and distribution networks. To help prevent outages and improve fault detection across the breadth of the intelligent utility network, IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management tools can help utilities integrate service management for multiple devices and networks into a single network operations view. Through this manager of managers approach, utility companies can then manage service level agreements for various projects including AMI, outage management system (OMS), meter data management system (MDMS), enterprise asset management (EAM) or distribution management system (DMS). They can also create a comprehensive service management system one step at a time by integrating AMI, DMS, OMS and other systems as they are implemented.

IBM Software 5 Intelligent Metering Network Management Visibility Control Automation Real-time monitoring of Smart Meter Network End-to-end AMI service management Orchestration of events, processes and systems Discovery and topology mapping, root cause analysis Configuration and change management Events correlation and enrichment, incidence management Events and alarms consolidation and management IBM Tivoli Network Manager IBM Tivoli Netcool Configuration Manager IBM Tivoli Netcool/Impact IBM Tivoli Netcool OMNIbus The IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management software solution serves as highly scalable manager of managers to increase visibility, control and automation for complex utility networks. With an end-to-end service management approach, utilities can automate business processes such as meter reads, remote connect/disconnects and trouble ticket management. As actionable information moves across the grid on a timely basis, utilities can better connect people, assets and actions. This integrated network communications infrastructure helps link business resources, transmission and distribution networks, and customer service. Here s how three utilities are already using IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management software solutions to their advantage: Smart meters enable opportunities, cost savings A major U.S. energy company is giving consumers more control over their energy consumption and providing the foundation for retail electric providers to offer new competitive services and products.

6 Empowering intelligent utility networks with visibility and control Working with IBM Global Business Services and IBM Global Technology Services, the company is deploying an advanced metering solution composed of 2.4 million advanced electric meters to improve operations in its core service area. Supported by IBM Tivoli Netcool software, the solution results in benefits include near real-time data on energy usage and support for dynamic time-of-use rates and other pricing options. The solution also encourages energy conservation and new offerings, such as monthly prepaid electric service for the budget-minded. And because customers can monitor electricity usage in near real-time, energy efficiency and savings have increased. Outage response times have improved because smart meters alert the company to power outages. And remote meter readings have eliminated the need to go house-to-house. Smart sensors create rapid, informed awareness In Brazil, a large energy company is installing sensors, remote terminal units and smart meters in its electrical grid to improve service delivery. Working with IBM, the company implemented a solution to monitor a range of indicators and send alarms when thresholds are reached. The IBM solution automates real-time reporting, which allows problems to be detected quicker. It also facilitates the analysis of multiple variables such as temperature, oxygen levels and the status of transformers to help staff determine the appropriate tools to dispatch for repair, improving productivity and lowering maintenance costs. Automated meter management solution improves visibility In Italy, IBM worked with a large gas utility company to implement an automated meter management solution that enables it to better meet customer needs through tailored offerings and improved billing and service. The utility used an Automated Meter Management (AMM) solution supported by IBM Global Business Services, IBM WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere MQ, and IBM Tivoli Netcool software. As a result, total cost of ownership has been reduced by at least 15 percent. The utility can now collect consumption data and other diagnostic information from meters and other equipment remotely and at intervals programmed by the company, rather than by the availability of an onsite meter reader. And because the AMM solution delivers improved insight into asset performance, the company is able to proactively repair or replace assets before they break down. A solution designed for smart utility networks IBM s Intelligent Metering Network Management is built on the IBM Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities (SAFE) framework, a software platform designed to enable data and business process integration for solutions throughout the energy value chain. The SAFE framework supports open standards and industry best practices that help align technology with business objectives, and offers industry accelerators to speed deployment of Intelligent Metering Network Management capabilities. IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management delivers capabilities from IBM Tivoli software to monitor and manage the network across smart meters, concentrators, collectors, repeaters or router devices, meter head-ends, applications and systems. IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Energy and utility companies are revitalizing their grids with improved and new smart grids, and intelligent electrical devices such as AMI meters and optical line sensors are being deployed and collecting large amounts of data. As a result, supervisory

IBM Software 7 control and data acquisition solutions like energy management systems and distribution management systems are generating more alarms, and business operations systems are detecting energy usage anomalies at higher rates. Tivoli Netcool/OMNI bus gives utilities a way to capture all significant and actionable events into a single tool. The solution consolidates complex IT and network operation management tasks to maximize service availability, reduce operational cost, improve staff productivity and increase confidence. Tivoli Netcool/Impact In order to proactively manage problems and incidents, energy and utility companies need to deploy numerous solutions to capture operations data that can be compared and correlated across event and alarm management servers, business service management, data collection data bases and data management databases. And when problems are observed, help tickets need to be created and enriched with additional information related to devices and systems in order to improve time to resolution. Tivoli Netcool/Impact can address these challenges with capabilities including policy-based analytics, correlation and to streamline event and alert management, and incident and problem management processes. Tivoli Network Manager Smart grids depend on communication networks composed of many different vendor network devices in order to relay information from devices in the field such as AMI meters and optical line sensors to the data center. Tivoli Network Manager features real-time root-cause analysis to help utilities quickly identify the source of network faults and speed problem resolution. Tivoli Netcool Configuration Manager The complex, multivendor nature of smart grid networks means myriad devices have configurations that are dependent of the configurations of other devices. Tivoli Netcool Configuration Manager helps utilities automate network configuration and change management with the highest levels of standardization, accuracy and control by providing a single repository for change and configuration changes made to all network devices. Extending IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management solutions Additionally, these capabilities can be further enhanced with other IBM offerings, including: Secure integration of data with IBM WebSphere DataPower. Simplified management of business events and rules in one simple-to-use engine though IBM WebSphere Decision Server. Analysis of high-volume real-time data with IBM InfoSphere Streams. Improved asset life cycle management with IBM Maximo software. Rich business analytics and reporting capabilities using IBM Cognos solutions. Advanced metering infrastructure security and operational dashboards with Tivoli security software and Tivoli Business Service Manager. Comprehensive application lifecycle management to enable the creation of workflows that align with new smart grid business objectives and meet new business, regulatory and customer demands for smart grid products and devices with IBM Rational software. Fueling success with IBM solutions Built on the industry-proven SAFE framework, IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management can help utilities work smarter by focusing on value, using new opportunities and acting with speed. With experience delivering more than 150 smart grid projects around the globe, IBM can help utilities gain better visibility, control and automation of their intelligent utility networks.

For more information To learn more about IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management solutions, contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit: ibm.com/software/tivoli/intelligent-metering About Tivoli software from IBM Tivoli software from IBM helps organizations efficiently and effectively manage IT resources, tasks and processes to meet ever-shifting business requirements and deliver flexible and responsive IT service management, while helping to reduce costs. The Tivoli portfolio spans software for security, compliance, storage, performance, availability, configuration, operations and IT lifecycle management, and is backed by world-class IBM services, support and research Copyright IBM Corporation 2011 IBM Corporation Software Group Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 U.S.A. Produced in the United States of America July 2011 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Netcool and Tivoli are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol ( or ), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at Copyright and trademark information at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. References in this publication to IBM products and services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. Product data has been reviewed for accuracy as of the date of initial publication. Product data is subject to change without notice. The information provided in this document is distributed as is without any warranty, either express or implied. IBM expressly disclaims any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or noninfringement. IBM products are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided. The customer is responsible for ensuring compliance with legal requirements. It is the customer s sole responsibility to obtain advice of competent legal counsel as to the identification and interpretation of any relevant laws and regulatory requirements that may affect the customer s business and any actions the customer may need to take to comply with such laws. IBM does not provide legal advice or represent or warrant that its services or products will ensure that the customer is in compliance with any law or regulation. 1 Smart Meter Installations to Reach 250 Million Worldwide by 2015, Pike Research, http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/smart-meterinstallations-to-reach-250-million-worldwide-by-2015 2 Worldwide installed base of smart electricity meters will reach 302.5 million units in 2015, Berg Insight, May 26, 2011. www.berginsight.com/news.aspx?m_m=6 Please Recycle TIW14089-USEN-00