Smart metering and smart grids are the future of the energy industry. They’re the gateway to better data - data that will enable consumers to make better decisions about their energy consumption. And, while consumers benefit from more detailed information about the cost and the amount of energy they’re consuming, producers and suppliers also reap the rewards of smarter infrastructure. The data from smart meters and grids provides them with the sort of information that allows them to tailor their products for the market and provide better services and choices for consumers. Our latest case study shows how ElectraLink turned to HP to help it evolve its infrastructure ahead of an influx of huge volumes of smart meter data.

1. Paving the way to
the future of the
energy industry
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2. ElectraLink, the company that provides an
auditable messaging system to exchange the
structured data that underpins all domestic
electricity supply market processes, turned
to HP to help it evolve its infrastructure.
The number of digital records that will be produced
by smart meters each year.
The Challenge
59 energy providers use ElectraLink’s Data Transfer Service (DTS)
and five of the big six suppliers use DTS Data Analytics.
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3. Smart metering and smart grids are the future of the energy industry. But
installing smart meters isn’t enough - to engage consumers and make them
think about the way they use energy, they need to be given better data.
For the consumers, the data from smart meters can offer detailed
information about the cost and the amount of energy they’re consuming. For
producers and suppliers, they provide the sort of data that enables them to
tailor their products for the market and provide better services and choices
for consumers.
Since 1998, ElectraLink has been providing secure data transfer services for
the utilities industry. And, for the UK energy industry, it has been supplying
an auditable messaging system to exchange the structured data that
underpins all domestic electricity supply market processes.
ElectraLink captures and analyses this data to improve market transparency
and enable providers and suppliers to make informed business decisions.
But for all this to happen, and to support the UK government’s nationwide
rollout of smart meters between 2014 to 2019, ElectraLink needed to evolve
the infrastructure, including its Data Transfer Network (DTN).
“It’s hugely important to the prosperity of
this country that we’re able to make smart
choices about the way all of us use ener-
gies. You can’t control what you can’t
measure.”
Craig Wilson, Managing Director, HP Enterprise Services UK&I
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4. The Solution
ElectraLink turned to HP to help it build its DTN and the infrastructure to sup-
port it. The influx of smart meters means a huge increase in the volume of
data ElectraLink has to manage, with a predicted 85 billion digital records set
to be produced each year. HP already has experience of delivering infrastruc-
ture that could handle that amount of data for other business areas - like the
financial services industry - so knew exactly how to help ElectraLink.
HP set to work designing, building and managing a scalable new DTN, utilising
a managed cloud environment. It introduced a Virtual Private Cloud to
improve the DTN’s flexibility and scalability, while also using HP Applications
Management Services to support a dynamic service delivery model.
“We look to organisations like HP to take tech-
nology that had been developed in other indus-
tries where this volume of data has been
around for many years, and to look at ways of
developing that technology to bring value to
the energy industry.”
Stuart Lacey, Chief Executive of ElectraLink
ElectraLink’s Core Needs
ElectraLink needed its Data Transfer Network to be:
Reliable Cost efficientSecure
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5. The Outcome
Cost efficient - Even though the overall
traffic volumes have doubled, the cost of
ElectraLink’s DTS during 2010-2014 is half the
comparable cost for the period 1999-2003.
HP made sure that the new DTN was scalable and flexible, something that was
essential given the growing amount of data ElectraLink is set to handle when
the government’s roll-out of smart meters truly takes hold. The DTN was also
built with security, reliability, and cost-effectiveness in mind.
How the New DTN Helped ElectraLink
Scalability - The Virtual Private Cloud that’s
part of ElectraLink’s IT infrastructure will improve
the flexibility and scalability of the DTN.
A shift in investment - HP Applications
Management Services supports a dynamic service
delivery model, enabling ElectraLink to focus on
innovation rather than maintenance.
£
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6. “Our customers rely on the DTN for reli-
able, secure, cost-effective delivery of
their data to other market participants.
The cost of ElectraLink’s regulated data
transfer service for the period 2010-2014
is already half the comparable cost for the
period 1999-2003, with overall traffic vol-
umes doubling over the period.”
Stuart Lacey, , Chief Executive, ElectraLink
Integrated advanced security systems ensure customer data remains confi-
dential and protects the system from external threats. And the dynamic ser-
vice delivery model, supported by HP Applications Management Services, ena-
bled ElectraLink to move IT budgets away from maintenance and towards
innovation.
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