IT & TELEMETRY |
Talking when the lights go out
Mike Norfield is of the opinion water companies are ill-equipped to deal with civil emergencies because of the inadequacy
of their mobile communications systems. But he says he has a solution for the utilities – private radio-based networks.
HOW WELL would your organ- areas such as Bristol and
isation cope in the event of a Cardiff, to rural and coastal
major power outage, extreme areas such as Dartmoor, the
weather or civil emergency? Brecon Beacons, Cornwall and
How effectively would you be the Gower, and ensure effective
able to respond to a black start? communications.
To help mitigate any risk to The IP core of the system has
our national infrastructure, and enabled the integration of
ensure an effective response, generic utility applications and
the government set up its Civil interfaces, enabling it to be
Contingencies Secretariat effectively integrated into the
(CCS) in 2001 – business existing infrastructure.
continuity planning that places Also, its distributed IP system
responsibility firmly on the architecture and multiple fall-
shoulders of the utility sector to back modes means Xfin is the
restore vital services, within a Mike Norfield stands by private communications systems There has been a growing trend towards using private radio networks only inherently resilient
given time, in the event of a MPT1327 system. Xfin’s
major incident. of the national grid being taken for guaranteed channels of tion is a faint to non-existent. be modernised, giving users the remote diagnostics enable cen-
Many of our utilities compa- down. In such circumstances communication in the event of Now, more than ever, we best of both worlds. tralised management control,
nies are currently ill-equipped effective communications an emergency. Take airport have an increased awareness of Now they can connect to a and its hot-swap modular
for civil contingency planning become the basis of emergency operations or the police force, civil emergencies, and the need base station via the internet and replacement enables live system
or, more accurately, it is their operations. But commercial for example. It is vital that they to have in place robust com- reconfigure a controller with- maintenance without loss of
Global System for Mobile mobile networks use mains have complete control over munications strategies, in order out having to send an engineer service, which was also a key
(GSM) communications power and cannot withstand their communications network to cope with these eventualities. to a remote location. consideration for Western
network that is not adequately prolonged power cuts. to cope with any contingency. What is clear is that we need Power in such a large, distrib-
resilient to cope in the event of They have limited battery Try telling them that you are the right mode of communica- Emergency situations uted network.
a major outage. So why exactly backup, which once exhausted going to put all their communi- tion for the right situation. Leading utilities company The upgrade will not only
would leave engineers working cations on a public network, Western Power is a prime ensure enhanced voice and data
Central to this
to restore vital utilities unable and you would get very short
to communicate. shrift indeed.
Technologies like
example of the growing trend communications between staff,
towards PMR. it also enables Western Power
increasing anxiety
This raises the spectre of the What if the network shuts
cellular simply
The company is carrying out to meet its responsibilities for
are implications of
black start, and how to rebuild down when everyone is calling a major £5M upgrade of its civil-contingency planning, by
a power network and get key to wish each other a happy new
cannot guarantee
communications network, providing robust communica-
a major section of
utilities functioning again year? Public technologies like
the same security
providing complete voice tions channels to ensure that
without any power. cellular simply cannot guaran- and data comms to support staff can communicate in times
the national grid
tee the same service levels and
as a private radio-
more than 10,000 network of emergency.
being taken down
Critical workers security as a private radio-
based network
calls daily and boosting Could you say the same for
And if critical workers are based network. resilience across a service area your company’s communica-
unable to use their mobile The advantage of a PMR of 2.6 million hectares. tions infrastructure, and would
are GSM networks unsuitable phones because there is no net- system for utilities companies is PMR technology, like all IT, Western Power needed to it stand up in the event of a civil
for use in an emergency net- work availability or battery that it is a bespoke system, has come on in leaps and ensure any new system would emergency? It is a question
work? The very nature of GSM backup, then even the best-laid tailored to meet the operational bounds with its quick setup, IP continue to be secure and of the right mode of communi-
services is that they are contingency plans would be and contingency planning compatibility and software- resilient during emergency cation for the right job.
managed by someone else, and worthless. This is because there needs of the individual configurable standard compo- situations, which is why it So, will you be able to com-
that reduces the level of control is no way of communicating company. As a result, you nents. By combining the low opted for a PMR system. municate with your engineers if
the utilities companies have with the men on the ground – know that every square inch of capital cost and flexibility The Xfin Multisite system the lights go out? ■
over their communications the engineers tasked with the area your utility company advantages of analogue, PMR from Team Simoco will provide
infrastructure when they most implementing the plans and operates in will have radio can – with the system manage- coverage across some of the Mike Norfield is managing
need it – incident management. getting the network up again. coverage, even the most rural ment and low cost-of-owner- most diverse terrain in the UK – director of Team Telecom Group.
It has taken some of the most It is not that commercial outposts, where mobile recep- ship benefits of IP technology – from highly populated urban W:
www.teamsimoco.com
shocking terrorist attacks of GSM networks are not fit for
recent years for the full purpose. They are. But fit for
implication of this to hit home commercial purpose is different
– New York, Madrid, London. from being fit for the extreme
When London was bombed in needs of incident management.
the 7/7 incidents, public mobile Overall public mobile
W a s t e w a t e r t e c h n o l o g i e s
networks were put under networks can boast impressive
incredible stress as demand network performance, because
t h a t a r e k e e p i n g t h e e n v i r o n m e n t s a f e
outstripped supply. overall demand is well under-
stood and because the mobile
T h e K E E e x p e r i e n c e i s u n b e a t a b l e . O u r c o m m i t m e n t i s t o
Natural disasters operators are excellent man-
p r o t e c t t h e e n v i r o n m e n t a n d h a s b e e n f o r o v e r 4 5 y e a r s .
As the repercussions rippled agers of aggregated demand.
K E E h a s b e e n d e v e l o p i n g , d e s i g n i n g , m a n u f a c t u r i n g ,
across London’s travel The problem is that specific
s e r v i c i n g , m a i n t a i n i n g a n d o p e r a t i n g w a s t e w a t e r
infrastructure, so did mobile incidents create intensely
phone demand – creating concentrated and localised
t r e a t m e n t s y s t e m s w o r l d w i d e .
increasing pressure upon communications demands.
mobile networks. Demands that just cannot be
l
W a s t e w a t e r T r e a t m e n t S o l u t i o n s
Whether as a consequence of reconciled within aggregate
B R I T I S H A W T E R
e x p e r t i s e w o r l d w i d e
l
E v a l u a t i o n a n d d e s i g n a l l t y p e s o f p r o c e s s p l a n t s
global warming or statistical demand models.
aberration, recent years have Given the fact that GSM
l
M a n u f a c t u r e , i n s t a l l a t i o n a n d c o m m i s s i o n i n g
C O N T R A C T O R S H E A L T H & S A F E T Y A S S E S S M E N T S C H E M E
also seen a similar increase in simply cannot cope in times of
A c c r e d i t e d C o n t r a c t o r
w w w . c h a s . g o v . u k l S e r v i c e , m a i n t e n a n c e a n d o p e r a t i o n
natural disasters. crisis, there is clearly a need to
l 2 4 h o u r E m e r g e n c y C a l l C e n t r e
The recent floods in the review current communica-
south and east of England serve tions strategies, and look to a
as a reminder of the absolute solution that guarantees conti-
devastation experienced in nuity of communications.
c o n t a c t u s N O W
New Orleans. In each of these For truly resilient, emer-
+ 4 4
(
0
)
1 2 9 6 6 3 4 5 0 0
C o m p l e t e
cases the demands and stresses gency-ready communications,
s o l u t i o n s f r o m
placed upon power supply you need your own dedicated
w w w . k e e p r o c e s s . c o m
resources has been put into network. Put simply, that
sharp focus. means PMR.
K E E P r o c e s s L i m i t e d & K E E S e r v i c e s L i m i t e d ,
Central to this increasing PMR has continued to thrive
C o l l e g e R o a d N o r t h , A s t o n C l i n t o n , A y l e s b u r y , B u c k s H P 2 2 5 E Z
anxiety are the potential in a number of key market
T e l : 0 1 2 9 6 6 3 4 5 0 0 F a x : 0 1 2 9 6 6 3 4 5 0 1 E m a i l : s a l e s @ k e e p r o c e s s . c o m
S p e c i a l i s t s i n D o m e s t i c & I n d u s t r i a l W a s t e w a t e r T r e a t m e n t
implications of a major section sectors, where there is a need
March 2009 | WET News | 19
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