Emergency Telecom Centre

Over the last decade, ESB has seen significant growth in the use of telecommunications. All ESB HV stations now have telecom links back to either the National Control Centre (NCC) or the Distribution Control Centres (NDCC & SDCC). The hydro stations are connected back to the Hydro Control Centre (HCC) and all of the power stations have been connected to the Energy Trading and Regulation Centre (ET&R). In addition, the growth in the use of computer systems by ESB, as well as the connection of two data centres that house ESBs computer servers, has further increased the demand for reliable telecommunication services.

These services are provided using a complex array of telecommunications systems including Fibre Optic, Microwave Radio, Power Line Carrier and Intelligent Multiplex Systems.

These systems are managed from the Telecom Operations Centre (TOC) in Head Office by a team of 10 staff. This TOC is also responsible for managing the infrastructure used by ESB Telecoms Ltd (ESBT), who are Ireland's leading independent telecoms infrastructure and bandwidth solutions provider.

As part of the Telecom Services Business Continuity Plan (BCP) which examined the impact of a major disaster (e.g. loss of the Head Office Complex due to fire, etc), it was clear that an Emergency TOC (ETOC) was required. This was also an important requirement for many of ESB Telecoms Ltd customers. Following a review of possible locations for the ETOC, Leopardstown was selected due to the resilient infrastructure that had been installed for the NDCC.

Peter O'Shea, CIO ICT Group, Emergency Telecom Centre congratulated Telecom Services on the establishment of the new TOC arrangements, "This investment provides ESB with a first class telecommunications operational capability - it further demonstrates the increasingly critical importance which telecommunications plays in ESB's own day to day business from network operation and protection to customer contact to energy trading as well as providing improved service to ESB's external commercial telecom customers."

The project had three main stages. The first stage was to create an isolated data network separate from the ESB network. This new network has been limited to a small number of specific users and is used purely for operational traffic, such as the TOC management and control systems. The network is a high speed Ethernet ring linking the TOC, the Data Centres used by ESB, and the ETOC.

The second stage was to relocate and duplicate all of the computer servers critical to the TOC into the two Data Centres. Moving servers out of Head Office and to the data centres meant better resilience in respect of power and environmental conditions. In addition, if a Data Centre becomes unavailable, the TOC or ETOC will still have visibility of the network via the back-up servers in the 2nd Data Centre.

The third and final stage was to construct the ETOC in Leopardstown. As this is the standby site, less room was required compared to the TOC. As there are fewer PCs used, quad 2x2 multiplemonitor desk stands as shown in the picture were selected to stack the screens and maximise space. All equipment is powered by Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs).

The ETOC is now operational and all systems used to provide services to ESB and ESB Telecoms Ltd customers can be managed from here. The ETOC will be "manned" once per month to test its functionality and continued readiness for use.