S&C Electric Co. has introduced the IntelliCom family of wireless networking communications products. The IntelliCom product line further broadens S&C’s communication solutions portfolio for the smart grid. These devices leverage distributed intelligence to help utilities better manage and use the data required to support applications ranging from AMI backhaul to time-critical distribution automation.
“The IntelliCom platform enables S&C to offer our utility customers end-to-end solutions for their smart grid communication needs,"” says Ken Monro, S&C’s Vice President—Communications Systems. “When these new communication solutions are combined with our SpeedNet Radio platform, which is optimized for low latency, peer-to-peer communications between smart-grid components, the result is a robust ‘network of networks’, which is essential to support diverse applications.”
Utilities are deploying an increasingly wide array of systems for the smart grid, each with its own unique communication needs. No single communication technology is capable of cost-effectively meeting these needs. IntelliCom products, in combination with SpeedNet Radios, offer a versatile hybrid communication network architecture that can meet the requirements and is “future proof.”
The new product line features IntelliCom WAN, a wireless high-speed wide-area networking router that combines ultra-high throughput — up to 400 Mbps — with low latencies of less than one millisecond. IntelliCom WAN features 802.11n mesh radio architecture for maximum grid reliability, with multiband operation in the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz unlicensed bands as well as the 4.9-GHz municipal licensed band. This network architecture is self-forming and self-healing; communication is not inhibited by the loss of any single node. IntelliCom WAN offers FIPS 140-2 security compliance required by the U.S. Department of Defense for Homeland Security applications.
The IntelliCom family includes two additional products. IntelliCom LAN provides a wireless access point to high-speed wide-area networks such as IntelliCom WAN. IntelliCom CPE provides an interface to IntelliCom LAN for grid devices and mobile workforce access.
