Program: 2010 Region 4 Meeting

Directors Room

On March 17, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) delivered its much-awaited National Broadband Plan to Congress, which will serve as the master blueprint for how communications are governed in this country for years to come. A major part of this Plan focuses on the utility industry, with the main objective to ensure that the nation’s goals of energy independence and efficiency are realized. The Plan will drive changes in virtually every aspect of utility telecommunications and smart grid deployment, from how networks are constructed to which technologies get deployed to how consumers communicate their energy needs. Please attend this session to find out what your company should do to get ready for the changes ahead.

Foyer

Directors Room

Developments like decentralized and micro generation, along with wind farms, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and other renewable energy sources, are causing utilities to design and manage delivery in innovative ways. One is to create a Smart Utility Networks of Networks: an industry-wide, interconnected IP communications network. It will enable faster deployment of smart energy networks by supporting multiple applications, such as sharing of customer usage data, energy generation, and energy distribution. This is big!

Directors Room

THIS MEETING IS CLOSED TO INDIVIDUALS NOT CONSIDERED CORE MEMBERS OF UTC.

Directors Room

What is the FCC planning for the frequency bands in which you operate? What is the status of the proceedings you’re worried about? What are Congress and Federal agencies doing to help critical infrastructure communications? In this always-popular session, get an overview of what the UTC Legal/Regulatory staff is doing and how we read the landscape for your communications systems, including the status of legislative work and the drive toward a critical infrastructure spectrum allocation.

Directors Room

Driven by increased reliability and security, and better end-to-end communications, the utility communications network is changing, with broader penetration, increased bandwidth, and a common language. There are many 4G technologies for wireless including WIMAX and LTE but the question remains: is the technology ready for critical infrastructure industries to rely on it? But before utilities jump into the next generation of wireless, a number of issues must be examined. This session will provide the opportunity to get answers and ask questions about the next generation technologies from manufacturers, carriers and utilities.

Directors Room

What is digital mobile radio (DMR) and what does this land mobile technology mean for your utility? Specifically, what benefit do utilities get from using it? This session will present a DMR technology overview to illustrate what is out there and how it can be applied to your utility. You'll also get a solid grounding in leading standards, such as P25 that come into play when examining DMR for your utility.

Directors Room

Come hear from a member of UTC’s leadership team what’s going on with UTC. This is a great time for members and non-members alike to find out what UTC is doing and what is being planned. This presentation gives attendees a chance to ask questions and provide suggestions about the direction of UTC.

Directors Room

With the proliferation of wireless technologies in the utility sector, many people are quick to deploy systems without thinking about potential security threats. See the danger for yourself at this eye‑opening session, where presenters use a mobile wireless lab consisting of industrial WiFi, ZigBee, and 900 MHz spread spectrum technologies.

The attack team shows the weaknesses of using the default security setting in wireless systems, then increases the level of security and shows how an attacker can still crack lower forms of encryption. Finally, see how properly configuring systems can keep the bad guys out. Don’t miss this exciting live demo!

Directors Room

Which scares you more: a million-dollar-a-day fine or a terrorist taking control of your SCADA network? NERC-CIP (North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection) standards are now mandatory, with severe penalties for failure to comply, and more cybersecurity requirements are expected from Congress and regulators. Your utility must implement a layered defense system for true physical and cybersecurity. Learn how—now!