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Cisco’s Catalyst IE9300 powers next-gen substation automation

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In substations, it’s more and more troublesome to satisfy right this moment’s wants with yesterday’s networks.

Sustaining the essential steadiness between electrical energy era and consumption is more difficult than ever as renewable power sources and electrification proceed to evolve. Among the many many challenges substation community operators are going through within the operational panorama is the growing complexity of balancing the big range of recent energy era belongings (corresponding to photo voltaic and wind), with an equally advanced consumption mannequin (corresponding to enhance in electrical car transportation). This real-time balancing act drives operators into connecting extra methods requiring larger speeds with decrease latency in a confined operational footprint.

Because the utility grid turns into extra automated and subsequently digitized, the reliance on the supporting digital community infrastructure turns into much more essential to the reliability and effectivity of the grid itself. This enhance in grid digitization additionally will increase the cyber safety menace floor. Regulators and utilities attempt for an ever-increasing safety posture as conventional substation safety approaches come up brief because of lack of visibility and centralized safety coverage enforcement.

Lastly, with this growth of related units within the substation and the fixed drive for operational effectivity, utilities are challenged on how one can most effectively handle and function these new networks whereas insuring the very best reliability.

To resolve these challenges, utilities are working towards full-scale grid modernization — together with substation automation. So it’s now not a matter of if however when and how they are going to improve.

Based mostly on greater than a decade of collaboration with the utility {industry}, we’ve got developed options to digitize and automate substations. On January 20 we introduced the Cisco Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Collection Change, a high-density fiber port swap, particularly designed for the efficiency challenges of a substation LAN structure with a small footprint and ruggedized type issue. It’s a part of a brand new method to method substation automation and administration, and along with the just lately launched Catalyst IR8300 Rugged Collection Router, the Catalyst IE9300 gives a validated structure that unifies the substation LAN and WAN – including the efficiency, safety, scale and administration required for the modernization of the grid.

 

5 necessities for the next-generation substation

Designed for grid modernization and substation automation, the Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Collection Change addresses 5 essential capabilities:

  1. Efficiency at scale. Utilities are being requested to attach extra methods at larger capability with extra units which can be streaming extra information. This 28-port GE swap has 26 SFP and 2 Combo ports that can be utilized with both fiber or copper (with applicable connectors). It meets each the excessive fiber density necessities of recent substations, and copper the place wanted. The Catalyst IE9300 helps unequalled efficiency at scale – you may stack as much as 8 of those switches, which reduces administration burden, permitting you to consolidate substation LAN performance right into a swap, saving area, and lowering energy wants. 
  1. Asset visibility and cyber menace detection. Utilizing the built-in capabilities of the IE9300 as a safety sensor, Cisco Cyber Imaginative and prescient allows utilities to achieve an correct, real-time view of their operational know-how (OT) belongings. It additionally displays community exercise and flags anomalous behaviors that might point out a cyberattack. 
  1. Enterprise-grade administration and automation. Substation operators are more and more managing their substations as scaled IT belongings, using the deep data and capabilities of Cisco’s industry-leading community safety and administration instruments. The Catalyst IE9300 runs Cisco IOS-XE and builds upon this – extending Cisco DNA Heart, in addition to Cisco TrustSec, MACsec, 802.1x and Versatile NetFlow to the substation LAN.
  1. Assist for {industry} protocols. The Catalyst IE9300 helps {industry} protocols, together with PRP & HSR for redundancy PTP timing and automation protocols corresponding to IEC61850 (GOOSE,MMS,SV), IEC104, DNP3 and Modbus, which can be important to substation operations. 
  1. Software internet hosting and edge compute. Connectivity wants — each inside a substation and throughout a utility’s operations — proceed to develop. Substation operators are in search of methods to run purposes regionally of their substation LAN environments. The Catalyst IE9300 is designed with this want in thoughts, and with assist for Cisco IOx to energy Cisco Cyber Imaginative and prescient and the utility’s personal purposes throughout the substation LAN. Examples embrace digital RTUs, safety purposes, and extra.

As utilities advance towards grid modernization, the Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Collection affords a chic resolution – consolidating OT and IT networks and automating substations.

Utilities can enhance operations, ship larger reliability and better efficiencies at scale  – all whereas lowering threat. 

Study extra in regards to the Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Collection Change and the way it and the Catalyst IR8300 Rugged Collection Router take Substation Automation to the following degree in our webinar on January 27.

 

Cisco Catalyst IE9300 Collection Rugged Change

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