Technology Analysis Overview
If one were to envision
a utility where an IntelliGrid Architecture based architecture had been completely
adopted, one would see that it provides an ideal platform for higher-level
analysis across the entire enterprise. A simple analogy might be that
a utility executive ideally wants to drive a utility much like a pilot
might fly an airplane during cloudy conditions. In this case, a pilot
can use just instruments to get a complete picture. That is, all
required aspects of fight operation are visible via a well laid out
set of instruments.
Similarly, since most utility
operational information and risk is not visible unaided, a utility
manager uses a set of software components as instruments to get a
complete picture. The instruments condense and summarize all the
required information. To actually direct the airplane, the pilot uses
a mechanical interface consisting of a limited set of petals,
switches, leavers, and “steering wheel”. How the instruments and
mechanical interface connect to the airplane and outside world is in
someway irrelevant to the pilot. One could say that pilots only care
that a set of inputs lead to a set of desired results via
comprehensive user interface. Similarly, a utility executive wants a
simple set of applications to help direct the utility enterprise.
It is this unified comprehensible user
interface that IntelliGrid Architecture ultimately seeks to enable. This interface may
exist at many levels of the utility. For example, an executive may be
primarily concerned with balancing profit and risk whereas an
operational supervisor may be primarily concerned with balancing
income and reliability. However, it is clear that the primary goals
of IntelliGrid Architecture are to enable a comprehensive view of operations and
analytics in a secure manner.
These end-to-end analysis applications
are new because without a single unifying architecture they would be
too expensive to develop. Because of the great variety of systems in
a utility, and because in order to get a true picture of the entire
utility all utility software applications and data need to be
integrated, development of the end to end analysis application can be
hugely expensive. Therefore in the past, even though they could have
been developed they weren’t just because the expense was prohibitive.
It is IntelliGrid Architecture Team’s belief that only via the deployment of a
unified architecture and standard solutions can the new analysis
applications be economically deployed. The IntelliGrid Architecture
provides a unified architecture to realize this vision.
|
