Utilities are warning that BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) could disable sections of the ageing IT infrastructure used to deliver power and water supplies across the country.
BT will start installation of the £10bn next-generation internet protocol (IP) voice and data network this week, and aims to transfer all UK customers to 21CN by 2011.
But energy and water utilities that have not upgraded their IT systems are worried that the new infrastructure will block signals to and from many unmanned outstations that supply utilities to homes and businesses.
In a letter to communications industry regulator Ofcom, Nick Goodall, chairman of the Energy Networks Association (ENA), said: ‘If contact with remote systems is lost for periods of time it may lead to damage to, and the potential shutdown of, parts of the UK electricity system.’
Signals could be interrupted by delays created by the packet mechanism used by IP. This disrupts low-speed dial-up modems that are used by many utilities to send and receive data.
BT says it is working with utilities to test their outstation communications equipment and ensure it is compatible with 21CN IP network technology.
EDF Energy Network’s director of customer operations, Alan Feakins wants BT to reassure utilities that their systems will continue to work when 21CN is up and running.
‘At present, we have no guarantee that BT will provide a workable alternative to current services and have not yet received a specific plan for the implementation of 21CN,’ he said. ‘The entire UK utilities industry is affected by this scheme.’
But utilities with modern outstation technology should not have any problems, according to Frost and Sullivan analyst Fernando Elizalde.
‘A lot of systems on outstations are supposed to have long operational lives and it seems many have not been changed to be able to handle IP,’ he said.
‘Those that have done it did it where there was the potential to gain extra business by becoming carriers themselves and renting spare capacity to others. This has put them in a strong position to adapt to what BT is doing.’
Elizalde says for those that have not made improvements, the necessary IT changes will not come cheap.
‘Replacing all pieces of equipment affected by IP could be a long and expensive process for utilities to be faced with,’ he said.
Which organisations will end up paying for the necessary fixes and possible breakdowns in water and electricity supplies is not yet clear, says Butler Group analyst Mark Blowers.
‘In the end it boils down to an issue of who foots the bill for fixing equipment that stops working because the IP network prevents signals,’ he said.
‘With these kinds of cases, it would usually be the users of the technology – the utilities – that will probably have to pay to update their systems to work with the new phone network standard being set for them.’
21CN impact ...in 30 seconds
* BT’s phone system, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is widely used to connect low-speed telemetry modems in outstations with central utility company control systems.
* PSTN is used by the utility industry because it provides a highly reliable signal that carries information about the outstation performance and sends back control orders in real time.
* Utility network trade associations believe that BT’s 21CN IP technology will cause delays in the signal that is sent between the outstation’s modem and the central control systems, leading to a number of breakdowns in the flow of electronic communications.
* This, in turn, means that sections of the water, electricity and gas distribution networks could effectively be out of control and at risk of overheating or over-pressuring. This would leave any affected areas around the outstations at risk of problems such as power cuts.
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