Alcatel-Lucent Offers New 7705 Service Aggregation Routers (SAR) For Utilities
Utility companies planning to upgrade their communication network to support the next generation of smart grid infrastructure are being offered a new range of Service Aggregation Routers (SARs) from Alcatel-Lucent. The company has recently announced a new range of routers designed for the part of the grid that distributes power to the energy supplier's residential or business customers, also known as the Distribution and Field Area Network (FAN).
Alcatel-Lucent said, IP/MPLS (Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching) solutions has only been deployed in the transmission and sub-transmission layers of the power grid. To change this they have created a new range of 7705 Service Aggregation Routers (SARs) for the FAN and extend the benefit of IP/MPLS.
The use of IP/MPLS mean that a single, reliable and secure network can remove the need for utilities to maintain multiple application-specific networks. It also offers service consistency and management, across a utility's entire communications network, making it smart from end-to-end. IP/MPLS provides support for teleprotection, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) monitoring and control systems, network distribution automation, advanced smart grid metering, and substation automation, across the entire smart grid.
About Alcatel-Lucent's 7705 Service Aggregation Router portfolio:
Alcatel-Lucent's 7705 Service Aggregation Router portfolio has been extended to include the 7705 SAR-H and 7705-W variants. The 7705 SAR-H has been designed to meet the strict utility substation IEEE 1613 and IEC 61850-3 specifications and incorporate a 'stateful firewall' together with many other built-in security features such as 'Network Address Translation' (NAT) that effectively address cyber security concerns without the need for a separate firewall. Together with its 7750 Service Router (SR) and network management capabilities provided by the 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) and Service Portal Express for Utilities, Alcatel-Lucent is able to provide energy companies and other industries with a single reliable, secure, end-to-end IP/MPLS communications network.
source: press