IBM said the arrangement, finalized last week, will improve reliability, system maintenance and workforce efficiency. The company also said its Intelligent Electricity Network will help prevent massive blackouts like the one that hit New York City and other parts of the Northeast in August 2003, while helping METC meet reliability standards imposed by the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The consulting and integration effort, part of IBM's On Demand Business initiative, will connect all aspect of the utility's operations, enabling real-time access to operations and business data. In addition to helping the utility predict potential problems, the program will coordinate "rescue teams" to recover power quickly after blackouts.
IBM will provide Business Intelligence Analytics dashboards, Cyber Security, IBM WebSphere and eServer systems for the utility's protection and control relay system.
IBM's secured hosting environment will support GE Energy's protection and control project, which began earlier this year. It will offer computing resources for real-time data streaming from the GE microprocessor relays, measuring units, digital fault recorders, equipment monitoring devices, and weather stations. It will also provide resources for GE's Powerlink Advantage, the human machine interface, as well as for video security archiving.
METC will be able to monitor what's happening at the sub-station level.
The utility is using InStep eDNA software for scalable data history.