Intergraph Advances Solutions for Utilities....

10 March 2008, 1:48pm

Intergraph Advances Solutions for Utilities and Communications Providers

New Product Enhancements Allow for Greater Interoperability, Tighter Adherence to Data Storage Standards and Improved Scheduling and Decision Support.

Intergraph Corp. continues to evolve its solutions for design, asset, outage and mobile workforce management to enable utilities and communications providers to respond more quickly and efficiently to market opportunities, customer demands and regulatory requirements. More than 500 utilities and communications providers worldwide currently use Intergraph's geospatially-enabled solutions to design and manage their networks.

Intergraph's newest design and asset management software now supports Oracle Locator for storing geospatial data, allowing for greater interoperability among other corporate systems and further compliance with corporate and industry data storage standards. The software integrates geospatial data with corporate systems such as work management, outage management and network analysis to fully support planning, design, construction, operations, maintenance and emergency response functions.

Another key added feature is the ability for users to review and maintain the elevation data of mapped facilities, enabling additional data analysis and improved decision support. Lastly, the new version of Intergraph's design and asset management software makes it simpler to take advantage of geofacilities data throughout the enterprise with Intergraph's data analysis and display tools. It also optimizes the incorporation of locational data maintained elsewhere into design and asset management workflows.

"Simply having access to all of our disparate data from one central database saves us an incredible amount of time, and I expect will save us a great deal of money over the coming years," said Louis Voisine, Manager, GIS & Distribution Records, Hydro Ottawa. "Before implementing an integrated system of design, asset management and outage/workforce management technology from Intergraph, we had a multitude of databases in many different places and wasted minutes to hours of time every day trying to locate information - if we ever found it at all. Between the aging utilities workforce, subsequent loss of intellectual capital and constant pressure from regulators to operate better, faster and more efficiently, we simply need these systems to survive."

Intergraph has also recently refreshed its integrated outage and mobile workforce management product. By combining outage management features such as trouble analysis and switching operations with mobile workforce management technologies like computer aided dispatch and mobile computing, Intergraph eliminates the need for multiple systems. Recently added features to this product allow for more seamless, intuitive scheduling and outage response procedures. For example, the product now enables users to schedule routine service days or weeks in advance and also allows mobile users to rearrange their assigned jobs from the field so that the operations center knows the order in which they will be completed. The new version can also automatically elevate the priority of work orders for past due jobs that have not yet been completed, and during storms, can automatically remove routine work orders from crews' schedules in preparation for storm restoration efforts.

"Through the use of Intergraph outage management technology, our average customer interruption durations dropped below the national average and restoration times are significantly lower," said Vinny Crooks, Sr. Energy Management System Support Specialist at Progress Energy. "By integrating outage management, mobile workforce management, design and asset management tools from Intergraph, we have developed an entirely digital system for the monitoring and mapping of our infrastructure and dispatching of our field crews that has revolutionized the way we serve our 1.6 million electric customers in Florida."

"Intergraph is the only company that offers a fully integrated outage and mobile workforce product and a complete design and asset management solution that seamlessly interoperate, fusing geospatial data with critical vertical applications," said Jay Stinson, vice president of Intergraph Utilities & Communications. "We continue to innovate to ensure that Intergraph solutions are the most comprehensive and effective on the market for helping utilities and communications organizations streamline and improve their operations."

www.intergraph.com

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