“London Hydro’s Smart Meter initiatives represent an investment in our business, our community and the environment, so the wireless WAN needs to manage the AMI traffic loads effectively while giving us the ability to support other applications on the same network,” said Vinay Sharma, chief executive officer, London Hydro. “BelAir Networks gives us the performance, security, reliability and scalability to address current and future requirements.”
The London Hydro Smart Meter WAN design is based on BelAir Networks flagship BelAir200 wireless nodes, each configured with four backhaul radios. Nodes interconnect via multiple point to point and point to multipoint connections to create a resilient, high-performance wireless WAN. BelAir Networks patented switched architecture delivers high-capacity as well as the low latency critical to control and management applications. Based on the request for proposal issued in early 2009, critical success factors for the network included:
Open architecture and standards-based; affordable, effective, flexible, scalable and has longevity; ability to manage AMI traffic loads with sufficient room for growth;n resilient, robust, secure and reliable; and local support.
“There was tough competition and a very thorough review process so Capella Telecommunications is proud to have won the contract to design, supply and install BelAir Networks wireless technology in London Hydro’s Smart Meter WAN,” said Norm Slater, president, Capella. “Smart Grid networks are a strategic focus for Capella and the high capacity, low latency wireless WAN architecture that we’ve designed for London Hydro, based on BelAir200 wireless nodes, is an ideal network model for progressive utilities.”
