Bio

Developed three generations of distributed control (DCS) and supervisory control (SCADA) systems

Consultant in communications and industrial cyber-security

Market Experience:

Electric, Gas and Water/Wastewater Utilities
Oil/Gas/Products Pipelines
Chemicals & Petrochemical Refining

Over the past two decades enterprises around the world have linked their facilities and personnel using digital networking local-area and wide-area technologies. For most of the past decade, this has been accomplished with TCP/IP technologies that originated from Internet methods and by utilizing the Internet itself. Although corporate IT groups have done a good job of incorporating traditional business systems into these networks, they have only recently begun to integrate real-time operations systems, especially those that are geographically remote.

However, many contemporary enterprise-level applications require information that is effectively locked inside automation systems at these remote sites due to bandwidth limitations, media restrictions and most recently, security issues. As a result, corporate networks are being reevaluated, redesigned and reconfigured to accommodate the mounting demand for bringing real-time data to the desktop and the attendant transport issues that result.

This effort varies in complexity depending on the industry, the type of systems being incorporated and the choice of networking technology. There are many issues to consider when planning such an effort. This presentation will examine the evolution of net-based communications and the various facets of selecting and implementing 21st century utility automation/IT networks that will deliver real-time information in the real-world environment.