ATLANTA, Sept. 16, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northern Ireland Electricity has implemented and gone live on the latest version of CES International's switching software, allowing NIE to garner significant efficiencies by integrating dispatch and control room operations.
NIE is the 8th CES International customer site to upgrade to operational production on the latest release of Centricity Version 6 during the past 10 months.
CES International is the leading provider of electric distribution network and outage management software worldwide with more than 40 named accounts. Since the start of 2002, CES International has added new accounts in Brazil, Canada and the United States representing more than 4.5 million new customer end points, driving CES past the 25 million meter mark.
"By implementing the Switching Management module, we now have one completely integrated dispatch and control function," said Rodney Ballentine, systems project manager for NIE's Distribution Control Center. "This gives us access to more real-time information, enabling us to handle faults on the distribution network more efficiently, and provide better information to affected customers."
The module will be integrated to NIE's newly deployed ABB Spider distribution SCADA platform.
Centricity helps utility distribution companies analyze operating data, improve routine network operations and predict and head off potential failures in a distribution system. Switching Management gives personnel in an operations center the power to manage routine and emergency switching functions and create switching plans and safety documents in rapid, on-line fashion. With switching management, personnel can also do "look ahead" analysis in study mode against a real-time three phase powerflow model to ensure that all network operations are executed to ensure economy, reliability and security in a tight time window.
Switching Management is a module of CES International's flagship Centricity operations resource management suite. Centricity helps utilities streamline and automate the process of fielding customer calls, dispatching repair crews and managing crews while in the field. Centricity also includes advanced network management functionality and provides the foundation of CES International's EDM suite, portions of which will be made generally available this fall after two years of development and a multi-million dollar research and development investment.
NIE implemented parts of the Centricity suite in 1999, and has since upgraded and added modules several times.
"CES International, Compaq/HP and NIE have worked together as a team to bring NIE one of the most advanced distribution network management platforms in production anywhere in the world," said Harry McCracken, NIE managing director.
NIE serves nearly 700,000 customers through a predominantly overhead network that covers 14,000 square kilometers.
As a result of the new software, NIE has consolidated offices, centralizing dispatch and control operations at one location, providing a sizable return on investment.
"By centralizing operations, we are creating significant savings for NIE," said Ballentine. "These upgrades are transparent to our nearly 700,000 customers, but what they will see is continual improvement in our ability to handle faults."
Said CES International CEO Dave Jones: "NIE has been a longtime friend and customer of CES, and we are pleased that they continue to reap benefits from our products and services. I am looking forward to hearing them share their success story with the market at the upcoming CES International advanCES conference."
For more information on advanCES, visit www.advanCES2002.com.
CES International delivery channel partner and prime contractor Compaq/HP provided local support on the project along with the CES International project delivery staff.
Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) is the largest company within the Viridian Group PLC (the holding company). NIE employs some 1,260 people and services over 700,000 customers throughout Northern Ireland. NIE is responsible for the regulated procurement, transmission and distribution of electricity to both domestic and business users in Northern Ireland. For more information, visit www.nie.co.uk/home.htm.
CES International is a leading global supplier of real-time software solutions for distribution utilities. CES' flagship product, the Centricity operations resource management (ORM) system, optimizes distribution-network operations and reliability, dramatically increasing customer-service capabilities. The Centricity information infrastructure enables the safe and efficient integration of emerging power technologies with traditional distribution networks. Equipped with comprehensive energy-delivery management capabilities, Centricity helps customers achieve enhanced return on network assets and deliver the "high 9s" reliability and power-quality levels demanded by the information economy. For more information on CES International, visit www.ces.com or call 1-800-450-0266.
Trademarks: CES International, Centricity and the CES International "network sweep logo" design are registered trademarks on file with the US Patent and Trademark Office and the European Union. InterSys, CES.com, and advanCES are trademarks of CES International. Other trademarks are used for reference only.