Integrating Substation Control and Monitoring with Information Networks BC Hydro, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, enjoys one of the newest, high-technology control systems in the world, featuring high-speed, real-time information access and high availability via redundant backup over a wide area network (WAN).

To better serve a geographic area of 950,000 sq km (366,800 sq miles) and a growing population of 3.25 million people throughout the province of British Columbia, BC Hydro invested in a set of network control systems all linked together via a WAN.

The set of five systems includes an energy management system (EMS), two area control systems, a SCADA system for the local control of a dam, and a software maintenance system.

The total EMS includes nine application server processors, 64 client workstations for operating personnel, 20 remote terminal unit (RTU) data acquisition servers and 135 RTUs. EMS capabilities include voltage and transient stability analysis, a dispatcher's training simulator, optimal power flow, contingency analysis, load forecasting and other advanced applications.

Landis & Gyr Utilities Services, Inc., San Jose, California, U.S., built all five systems and supervised installation of the master station equipment at the various control centers. The company also designed and developed the local area networks (LANs) for each system and the WAN. BC Hydro installed approximately 115 new RTUs and upgraded 20 older style RTUs.

All five systems, including the software maintenance system, share real-time data, as well as static data via the WAN. The network includes multi-redundant bridge/routers that link the redundant LANs of each system via BC Hydro's digital microwave system. Data is also shared with other computer systems, including the engineering workstations at the company's engineering offices, and the corporate mainframe computer via an existing VAX cluster system. Circle 201 on Reader Service Card

AMRA Symposium Attendance Increases More than 1300 people gathered in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., from Sept. 8-11, to learn about the latest advancements in the automatic meter reading (AMR) and utility automation industries at the 9th Annual AMRA Symposium. Attendance at the symposium increased 40% from the 1995 symposium.

The symposium featured more than 30 educational courses that investigated topics such as customer service, advanced technology, business oppor-tunities and utility deregulation around the world. Symposium attendees also saw demonstrations of the latest and most innovative products and services geared toward the AMR and utility automation industries. More than 70 U.S. and international companies exhibited at the symposium.

The 10th Annual AMRA Sympo-sium will be at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Sept. 14-17, 1997. Circle 202 on Reader Service Card

Interactive Paging Service Now Available RAM Mobile Data, Woodbridge, New Jersey, U.S., introduced the RAMfirst interactive paging service in September _ the first service of its kind to use the Inter@ctive(tm) pager from Research in Motion (RIM). The Inter@ctive pager uses new technologies evolving from a cooperative effort between Intel Corporation and RIM.

Interactive paging gives users the ability to receive messages/pages, respond to those messages/pages, initiate customized messages/pages, access databases and send to and receive from the Internet and Intranet _ all from a small, easy-to-use communications device.

The RAMfirst interactive paging service includes the RAMgateway, a full-featured gateway with the associated access software; and the RAMpowertool, an application development tool that helps developers to adapt existing applications and/or develop new applications for use with Inter@ctive pager.

The Inter@ctive pager is a small, lightweight device with a full QWERTY-type keyboard and text display that fits into the palm of a user's hand. Circle 203 on Reader Service Card

KEPCO Buys Meter Reading Solution Korea Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), Seoul, South Korea, has signed a contract with Itron, Inc., Spokane, Washington, U.S., to supply phase one of an advanced hand-held electronic meter reading (EMR) system that will automate 193 utility meter reading offices throughout South Korea. Phase one of the contract is valued at approximately US$7.5 million.

KEPCO is a government-owned utility serving all of South Korea's 13 million electric customers. KEPCO system components include Itron's MS-DOS-based hand-held computer, the Genesis Portable Computer (GPC) and an attached field printer custom-designed to KEPCO specifications.

The GPC is fully PC-compatible so new applications can be developed on a PC and added through two standard PCMCIA card slots. In the future, the GPC can be easily upgraded to include wireless, off-site meter reading functionality. The Itron system will automate all phases of KEPCO's meter reading operations including updating customer master files at KEPCO's 15 regional offices. Circle 204 on Reader Service Card