Utilities Managed Services

Utilities are a special use case amongst customers we work with. They are a vital service to all of us for a start – but the environments are often industrial, with a lot of IoT equipment and complex systems of operation. Managing this environment is equally complex – with our Managed Service aimed specifically for Utilities, we can help. 

Utilities such as water, power distribution and generation and gas distribution are vital for our everyday living.

All Utilities have a wide spectrum of technology to look after and the complexity of hundreds of sites, sometimes spread over huge geographic areas.

There’s a range of unique challenges – and opportunities too, in the Utility space. In this blog we’ll explore how our Managed Service offering at IPTel can help you manage such a complex set of moving parts.

ASSOCIATED BLOGS:

• Meraki Cloud Wi-Fi
• Meraki Managed Service
• Cisco Meraki Access Points

Utilities Key Challenges

Firstly, let’s define what some of those key challenges are:

• Large Number of Sites: All utilities have a lot of sites to deal with. Where it be power distribution or water processing, there’s a lot of sites across a very large area:
  • Each of those sites needs remote access, as well as providing access to staff while onsite.
  • At each site is likely to be a range of programmable logic PLC devices, along with a lot of legacy and specialist equipment.
    
    
• IoT Equipment: Pretty much every Utility will have a wide array of IoT equipment:
  • Networking equipment in Utilities often runs on 48v, so small form factor switches are required, often which must be able to operate at high temperature and without a fan (to avoid ingestion of dust).
  • This equipment must be very robust, but also easily swapped in the event an issue arises.
• Resilience: As noted above, resilience is a key operating requirement for Utilities:
  • Equipment is often relied upon and when its remote an outage could cause havoc – that’s typically a scenario that cannot occur, so resilience in the network is paramount.
    
    
• Site Knowledge: Understanding how each site works is a key component of how Utilities operate:
  • With so many diverse sites in operation, they each have unique requirements.
  • For instance:  a water reprocessing plant might need Wi-Fi to help provide call assist across a large external area full of processing tanks, or an electrical substation require equipment rated for use in a hazardous environment. 

ASSOCIATED BLOGS:

• Cisco Meraki Access Points
• Cisco Meraki Switching
• Managed Services

How Can Utility Managed Services Help?

Our Managed Services are designed to dovetail in with our customers existing teams.

We are never going to replace a Utility’s field teams, but we can augment the networking experience, known how and capability – that’s real teamwork.

Firstly, our Managed Service will help in bringing some order and organisation to your network. Often Utilities are stretched in terms of personnel and experience, especially when a network refresh takes place. 

Let's take a look at a few of the key items we can help with.

ASSOCIATED BLOGS:

• Managed Services - Cisco Core
• Managed Services - Full Stack Observability

Security in Utility Networks is Key

Often devices are deployed to a Utility network and never touched. There’s the concept of the IT network and the OT (Operational Technology) network.

On both these networks, the equipment is typically aging and in some cases the staff have lost track of what a device does – and in many cases these devices are never patched or upgraded – leaving them in a very vulnerable state.

Newer technologies such as SDA Fabric can be deployed to successfully segment a network, which is vastly more secure than the flat networks which have often been deployed.

Something like SDA Fabric is a bit shift and you’ll need a partner to help guide you – our Managed Service can help. We can help build out a full set of network diagrams and offer best practice advice on how and where to start on your security journey.

ASSOCIATED BLOGS:

• Meraki Site-Site VPN
• Security Assessment Tool
• Meraki Managed Service

Close Monitoring

With the sites all being spread across a wide geographic area, it becomes increasingly important to monitor these sites for any changes.

Our monitoring system can monitor all the sites, with alerts designed to sound before a major issue exists. If we can recognise an issue is starting, we can get to it before it becomes catastrophic.

That’s not always possible of course. A failure of a piece of hardware can cause a big outage. The challenge is to work out what has actually failed amongst all those alerts.

The monitoring we use is set up in a hierarchy – if a major event occurs, we supress the lower alerts and the highest alert can be used to raise a ticket automatically

We then work with your team to diagnose the issue and determine next steps. 

ASSOCIATED BLOGS:

• Cisco Meraki Dashboard
• Cisco Meraki Wireless Overview
• Meraki Cloud Wi-Fi

Keep your Equipment Current

Utilities need resilient networks: but is it even apparent where the weaknesses are?

We often produce reports of the equipment we have under management with automated reporting to show you what equipment is out of date or has versions of code that should be upgraded. These are basics in managing a network but often overlooked.

While it is tempting to leave equipment alone and not upgrade it if it’s been running for a few years, that equipment will almost certainly have bugs on it that leave it open to being hacked. A lifecycle approach is needed to undertake rolling upgrades, as pre-determined times and change windows.

In addition to keeping your code current, resilience is also borne of eliminating single points of failure, as well as upgrading aging equipment.

Keeping an eye on these things doesn’t always come to the top of the list for an overstretched team – this is where Managed Services can augment your team. 

ASSOCIATED BLOGS:

• Cisco Meraki Switching
• Cisco Meraki Dashboard

Utilities Managed Services: Summary