Program: 2010 Region 7 Meeting

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.

Troy West, General Manager- Technology & Corporate Services, Cleco Presentation

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is the future. Yet implementation of an AMI system is a complicated process. The most critical step is to define the functional requirements for an AMI system by combining both hardware and software requirements. The attributes of the system will dictate the cost and capacity of your utility’s project. Specifically, these costs and capacity objectives are based on three distinct sets of requirements – applications, functional elements and engineering specifications. This session will look at each requirement in detail to help provide clarity on the deployment of an AMI system.

Kevin Zamzow, Manager of System Design & Communications, Power Systems Engineering Presentation

This session will provide an overview of the next generation open standard digital voice and data network (ETSI DMR – Digital Mobile Radio). The session will explore the features inherent in the technology that enable improved voice communications as well as mobile data applications. Attendees will be briefed on FCC rulings and the applicability of DMR to provide not only narrowband 12.5 KHz compliance and 6.25 KHz equivalency. A discussion of the pros and cons of DMR as an open standard will be included. The presentation will explore possible technology migration strategies that enable enterprises to scale their implementation to match budgets and operational needs while future proofing the investment.

William Fredrickson, Vice President- Global Utilities, Tait Radio Communications Presentation

Find out what the UTC Legal/Regulatory team is doing in the spectrum arena, and hear the latest on issues relating to infrastructure as well as rights-of-way.

Mike Oldak, Vice President & General Counsel, Utilities Telecom Council Presentation

This presentation will introduce Hydro-Quebec's existing IP network and its limitation in terms of services and shared resources. Hydro-Quebec operates multiple separate IP networks to satisfy the needs of its internal groups. Deploying new networks to answer new and increasing demands becomes a big challenge in terms of maintenance, scalability and service offering. Hydro-Quebec has decided to implement a new technology that enforces the enterprise's security policies and advocates resource sharing for both its core business and administrative applications. MPLS is the technology that has been selected.

Kamal Medjdoub, Telecom Architect, Hydro Quebec Presentation

In today’s cost-sensitive environment, successful utility companies provide optimal customer service by integrating company-wide mobile data technologies. This session will cover the solutions available to achieve interoperability among networks, applications and devices to allow mobile data communications over both IP and non-IP wireless networks. A case study will be presented on a large US based electric utility using disparate wireless network technologies for their mission-critical mobile data operations. Through unified communications, these applications are made available regardless of the end-user's location, network or device.

Mark Madden, Regional Vice President- Energy Enterprise & Vertical Markets, Alcatel-Lucent Presentation

A Central Management System can only report information that is made available to it and can only control what it is connected to. What can a Central Management System do if the link to the site goes down? Distributed Intelligence brings out the full potential of a Central Management System and increases telecom network resiliency in the face of natural disasters and security threats.

This session will provide an overview of remote management and its evolving role in Telecom and Control Systems and will refer to practical examples to highlight the issues and challenges involved including: remote management, alarms, control, cost-effective problem resolution for copper theft, generator and battery management, disaster recovery and integration of legacy management platforms onto the telecom network.

Gary Johnson, Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Bayly Coastcom Presentation

Smart metering is the new way for utilities to monitor users’ consumption, give customers feedback about their carbon emissions, provide outage notifications, and more. Smart metering is likely to have to run over a broadband network, which could be one powered by a telecom company. Regulators are pressuring utilities to get a handle on energy load control, demands and security. Yet, smart metering is just one part of the overall goal of “going green.” Utilities generally slow to implement new technologies –are looking to existing networks and new, yet proven, equipment to help them achieve those aims. Find out what is going on right now in the industry and what options are available to your utility.

Kevin Suitor, Vice President - Marketing and Business Development, Redline Communications

Ethernet to the substation. IP communications for critical infrastructure control networks. Seamless integration for traditional enterprise IT and telecommunications functions. These are key issues that every utility is facing in one fashion or another today –– or will face soon. This session will focus on the role of traditional enterprise IT Functions as they specifically are applied in critical infrastructure organizations, how their role is changing and how your utility can take advantage of these changes. This session will also discussion the financial implications of enterprise IT and how to address this in a utility environment.

Matt Girard, Senior Director of Market Development, Encore Networks Presentation