The Montenegro Transmission System (CGES) recently introduced a new telecommunications system, consisting of IP telephony and a transmission system based on the latest IP/MPLS technology.
“The new system will enable better efficiency, reliability, stability, and quality of service in data transmission between various energy facilities, contributing to the stability and security of electricity supply,” the company stated.
The project was completed ahead of schedule and was implemented at the end of last year.
The investment’s value is 1.5 million euros and was financed from CGES’s own funds.
According to CGES representatives, the company owns its passive optical network, and in combination with the new IP/MPLS active equipment, it now has a modern and reliable telecommunications system connecting all the facilities of interest to CGES.
“The new telecommunications system will provide an additional level of reliability and availability during the transmission of services essential for the normal operation of the power transmission system, such as SCADA systems, measurement systems, operational telephony, protection systems, video surveillance, business network, information exchange with Elektroprivreda (EPCG) and Crnogorski elektrodistributivni sistem (CEDIS), international connections with neighboring transmission system operators, and many others,” explained the company.
To achieve this, they implemented redundancies at multiple levels in the system.
Multiple redundant telecommunication links lead to each location, both through optical cables and radio relay links.
Redundancies were also implemented at the power supply level, modular power, processor, and traffic cards, down to the level of communication interfaces.
In this way, according to CGES, the built information and communication network represent a secure way of data transmission and connecting both non-critical and critical systems.
“In addition to a transfer speed of ten gigabits per second (Gbit/s), with the possibility of upgrading to 100 Gbit/s, it is important to note the main functionality of the system, which is to ensure the simultaneous transmission of different types of data from different systems over a unified information and communication network, with services completely logically separated, which, from the perspective of information security, is a very important characteristic,” said CGES.
This ensures maximum priority and security of critical systems over non-critical ones, protecting the information of one system compared to another.
The new IP/MPLS telecommunications system will fully meet the needs of CGES and potentially enable the connection of all institutions and entities of national importance throughout the territory of Montenegro.
CGES explained that the management, monitoring, and configuration of the IP/MPLS network are centralized from the National Dispatch Center in Podgorica through a dedicated central management system.
The system has a graphical user interface (GUI), allowing CGES staff to configure and manage the network while monitoring the state of the network and individual services in real-time.
“It is important to note that the project was managed by the Telecommunications Department within the Information and Communication Technologies Sector of CGES, and the new telecommunications system is the result of the dedicated work of the Telecommunications Department staff who participated in the project from design to implementation and commissioning of the entire system,” the company stated.
According to CGES representatives, with this project, the company has demonstrated keeping pace not only with the times in the energy sector but also in ICT solutions. They emphasized that managing large industrial systems, such as the Montenegro power system, cannot be imagined without such a telecommunications system.
