Utilities need to address modernization and optimize operations | Tait Communications Blog

In this webinar I will be sharing industry observations and insights regarding what is driving change in the utility industry, how utilities are investing in modernization and how new value is being derived on multiple fronts, including through the use of digital mobile radio.

Our goal in presenting this webinar is to highlight three key motivators of change in the industry…

1. Regulatory mandates, or the must do’s,
2. Obsolescence, or the need to do’s,
3. Technology advancements or the want to do’s.

Many utilities start with a basic recognition that mandated regulatory changes, such as integrating renewable, be limited by obsolete grid architecture, a reality in industrialized countries throughout Europe and in the US. Utilities are prioritizing their investments accordingly;

• Modernize the grid architecture – Prepare for renewable integration, add wires and poles, more intelligent assets, embedded sensors, and greater monitoring and control capabilities
• Replace old assets with new, intelligent, connected assets.
• Implementation of an advanced distribution management system, distribution automation and remote asset management
• Apply analytics to grid data to reduce energy costs reduce operational expenses and optimize asset life cycles.

These grid modernization investments are taking place while many in the industry struggle with the decision to upgrade their legacy land mobile radio environment.
The cost is not insignificant, and the value has traditionally been limited to voice dispatch, which is in decline with data dispatch to laptops and smart devices.

While Digital Mobile Radio is the obvious upgrade path for legacy LMR, it can be difficult for utilities to justify the cost based on the remaining voice dispatch use cases, which are infrequent but mission critical.

With our DMR Tier III Network and GridLink, justifying the investment just got easier. Tait Communications has embraced the DMR standards and released Tier III (Trunked) products because we see DMR as more than a voice replacement. With 2X capacity and trunked system functionality that enables traffic prioritizes and pre-emption, and native short message and packet data capabilities, our solution is an ideal way to optimize the investment in DMR through remote asset management, extending the reach of automation and reducing outages and outage durations.

Those benefits are multiplied when applying analytics to the data that our solution can gather, such as reducing energy consumption, proactive maintenance and optimize asset lifecycles.

Our new, traditionally mission critical voice solution is based on a standard that delivers mission critical data. The result is a unified wide area voice and data system with common service management, common coverage and performance, and uncommon business value.

Join me on the 15th of October for this live webinar.

If you have any questions about the live webinar or have any questions for Philip please leave them in the comments section below.