Smart Grid Objectives

The objective of the Smart Grid is to modernize the power utilities infrastructure with two-way digital communications in order to improve grid reliability, reduce costs and enable integration of renewable energy sources.

The Network Visibility Challenge

The new communication infrastructure introduces new cyber security risks that span across electricity generation, transmission and distribution. Cyber security and monitoring applications are typically deployed within the utility data center in order to secure and monitor the Smart Grid network infrastructure as well as the Distribution Automation and Smart Meter applications. The challenge, however, is to ensure that the networks in the remote substations that are located across the service territory, are visible to the data center security and monitoring applications.

The Solution

CGS Tower Networks has developed a packet broker that can TAP, aggregate and filter traffic from the remote networks to the utility data center for further analysis. The Packet Broker supports both Copper and Fiber Optic links to accommodate for legacy and modern network infrastructure. The CGS Packet Broker supports smart network processing operations such as de-duplication, packet slicing and header stripping that reduce network traffic and help optimize cyber security and monitoring applications.