Dell has launched a new bundled solution designed to help electric utilities manage their distribution networks, minimize and potentially avoid outages, and improve service to their customers through a smart grid application.
The Dell Smart Grid Data Management Solution combines computing, networking and storage in order to manage data and provide results in real time, the company says.
Dell has teamed with OSIsoft to test the Dell Smart Grid Data Management Solution. The OSIsoft PI System is the enterprise infrastructure for streaming data and events. The PI System captures phasor and other transmission and distribution system performance data; archives and contextualizes the data, including real-time calculations; and makes the data available to staff, applications and business systems.
The product’s reference architecture features Dell PowerEdge 12th-generation servers with PCI Express Flash drives, and provides data in near real time to grid operators, enabling them to quickly identify and assess the health of the distribution grid, according to Dell.
The Dell Force10 10/40GbE network switches provide low-latency, high-bandwidth throughput to handle the data demands of the entire system, and Dell Compellent’s automated tiered storage makes relevant data readily accessible while storing historical grid data for compliance purposes, the company adds.
“Smart grid technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way power is produced, delivered, used and conserved - but only if we can effectively capture, analyze and respond to the data that is generated,” says Jeff Gillespey, global energy sales director for Dell. “Managing the data deluge is imperative for utility companies that want to make their operations more efficient.”
