Next Generation Symposium Agenda (Rough Draft)

2015 2017 Utility Telecom Forum (Region 8-9-10) Preliminary Program Silver Legacy Resort ~ February 5-8, 2017

AGENDA Sunday, February 5, 2017 2 p.m. - TBD Big Game Party – Reno Ballroom

Monday, February 6, 2017 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Registration

8:00 - 9:00 a.m. Attendee Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome Remarks

9:15 - 10:15 a.m. Time-Division Ethernet WAN: A Proposal for Deterministic Communications for Protection

Many utility communications engineers are being told by their IT teams and equipment vendors to stop purchasing traditional SONET/SDH products and migrate towards Ethernet packet-based transport solutions. This has created the challenge of how to engineer packet-based solutions to provide the determinism and guaranteed performance that critical teleprotection applications require. This presentation details a technology approach for providing deterministic performance (guaranteed latency) for critical traffic over Ethernet-based wide-area networks (WANs). The technology is compatible with MPLS and Carrier Ethernet and provides a solution to support the performance requirements of protection applications while allowing the broader migration towards a common packet-based WAN infrastructure.

10:15 - 10:30 a.m. Networking Break

10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Upper 700 MHz A Block Spectrum and Equipment Testing & Results

Since 2014, six utilities have acquired Upper 700 MHz A Block spectrum licenses, and nine manufacturers are now building equipment for the band. EPRI is leading the IEEE 802.16s GRIDMAN standard development process with approval is expected by July, 2017. Puget Sound Energy has conducted multiple tests of equipment from different suppliers and is considering the band for transfer trip protection and other demanding applications. This session will discuss utility applications of the band and PSE’s test objectives, design and results. Parameters tested include propagation characteristics, end-to-end latency and throughput.

11:30 a.m. - 12:45 Networking Lunch p.m. 12:45 – 1:45 p.m. Radio Frequency Exposure and Worker Safety: Integrating RFE into a Utility Safety Program Radio frequency (RF) exposure and safety is an essential element of your utility’s overall safety program. This session offers foundational information to help you ensure a safe work environment for employees and contractors, and the risks / potential pitfalls that exist when no documentation or formal programs are in place. Everyday use cases identify which sites and equipment must be evaluated and those that are excluded per the FCC’s rules and guidelines related to RF exposure, as well as information on documentation requirements.

1:45 – 2:45 p.m. Volt/VAR DA application using public carrier; Deployment experience case study The landscape for finding the optimum communications solution to use for distribution automation (DA) applications is challenging for utilities. Common questions and concerns include whether to use public or private networks, private licensed spectrum is hard to acquire, QoS and a high level of reliability is critical utility operations, and cost is paramount for affordability. Connexus Energy, a member owned distribution coop in MN, is in process of deploying a volt/VAR control system, and also controls a number of customer-owned generators. Cellular radio was chosen as the initial communications system for the volt/VAR system given ease of deployment and up-front cost, with the intent to eventually migrate to a multi-use private network. This discussion will cover the business case for launching cellular radio for these DA applications, and how reliability can affect the bottom line. Discussion will also include performance of the system thus far, process applied to maximize communications performance, and quest moving forward to migrate to a QoS based network to support current and future applications.

2:45 - 3:00 p.m. Networking Break

3:00 - 4:00 p.m. Case study for Automated Gas Meter and Cathodic Protection Data Analytics CenterPoint Energy converts 5 million meters to drive by reads. A test pilot was setup in Wharton Texas with a collector on two towers with 2200 meters and 4 Cathodic Protection Devices being read from the tower units. Originally 7 collectors were proposed for the same pilot area located on utility poles. However our assets management group is restricting these cell collectors. So we used two separate Telecom towers for this pilot. Gas meter reads are every 5 minutes and Cathodic Protection devices are once per day. If approved these collectors would be installed over a 7 state area.

4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Exhibit Hall Grand Opening and Networking Reception

Tuesday, February 7, 2017 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Registration

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Attendee Breakfast

8:00 – 9:00 a. m. TBD 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Security Sessions Compliance Box Has Been Checked, Now What?What’s up with Security – A Survey of UTC Members This session will examine at a high level what utilities currently think about cybersecurity, including charts and conclusions from UTC’s recent Security and Supply Chain Risk Management survey. It will also cover recent discussion topics at meetings of the Security, Risk, and Compliance committee. Specific topics will include security governance, risk management, budgeting, and supply chain management. Securing Utility Communications Networks in an Always-Connected World News of new security breaches is an almost daily event. As more devices are connected to networks and connectivity is always on - to SCADA devices, to IoT devices, to remote users, to smart grids, and to other networks - the number of ways that utility operational and communications network can be breached is increasing. Disconnecting is not a viable business option, but the firewall solutions of the past are not keeping up. How can utility network operators with their unique infrastructure requirements ensure that their OT/IT networks are secure in an always-connected world?

10:00 – 10:15 a.m. Networking Break

10:15 –10:45 a.m. Individual Regional Meetings

Meetings of UTCs Rocky Mountain (8), Northwest (9) and Southwest (10) Regions. Discussion will focus on individual regional issues.

*THESE MEETINGS ARE CLOSED TO INDIVIDUALS NOT CONSIDERED CORE MEMBERS OF UTC.

Region 8 includes the following states: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming

Region 9 includes the following states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington

Region 10 includes the following states: Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii and Nevada

10:45 – 11:15 a.m. Combined Regional Meeting

*THIS MEETING IS CLOSED TO INDIVIDUALS NOT CONSIDERED CORE MEMBERS OF UTC.

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 IT/OT Sessions: p.m. IT/OT Convergence - A Balancing Act.

IT/OT convergence seems to generate more questions for management than it answers. The number and complexity of those questions is increasing and the burden to answer them is also increasing. Management practices that succeed at other utilities can be appealing. Yet, every utility is unique – what works at one utility may not work at others. This session will examine how to assess a utility’s current IT/OT ecosystem and how to manage the change driven by IT/OT convergence.

How to manage IT/OT Convergence through SDN

Traditionally utilities have deployed separate networks each having distinct performance requirements: an OT (Operations technology) Network to support the low latency communications requirements of the power grid and an IT network to support internal traffic in between utility DCs. Each network has required its own capex and operations staff for management. With the business pressures on utilities to deliver greater power capacity with slow growing revenues, one has to question whether the cost of supporting separate OT/IT networks can continue to be justified.

A network architecture based on Software Defined Networking (SDN) can alleviate this network challenge. By converging both networks onto a multi-layer packet- optical architecture, SDN based management can create segregated virtual networks that can be managed with the SLAs required to meet both OT and IT requirements. This presentation will walk through the steps required to achieve this architecture showing the potential savings in capex and opex of a converged network to the utility while demonstrating how the requirements of both OT/IT groups can be addressed over a converged packet-optical architecture.

12:15 – 2:15 p.m. Networking Lunch & Exclusive Exhibit Time

2:15 – 3:15 p.m. UTC Leadership Address – Matt Schnell, Chairman, UTC Board of Directors – Nebraska Public Power District

3:15 – 3:30 p.m. Networking Break

3:15 – 3:30 p.m. UTC Legal/Regulatory Update – Joy Ditto, President & CEO - UTC

3 :30 -4 :30 pm Utility Case Study: Transition from TDM and SONET to IP/MPLS. Benefits and lessons learned from Idaho Power’s total transition to IP/MPLS, including 240 teleprotection circuits. The discussion will include lessons learned from diverse challenges such as:  Supply Chain  Firmware  IP Address Management  Staff Training  Synchronization The session will describe the benefits that Idaho Power has seen from the transition, after challenges had been conquered.

5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Networking Reception

6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Networking Dinner Wednesday, February 8, 2017 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 Registration p.m.

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Attendee Breakfast

9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Public Safety and Utilities Sharing of 4.9 GHz

The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) worked with UTC (Brett Kilbourne) to create a 4.9 GHz National Plan which was submitted to the Federal Communications Commission to enhance access and utilization of this band. The plan provided for sharing of this spectrum with utilities and other critical infrastructure entities. The FCC has indicated that it will take action by the end of this year and issue a Notice Of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). The NPRM comment and reply comment period will have ended by the time the UTC conference occurs in May. This panel will provide an overview of the current status of licensing rules and eligibility in the 4.9 GHz band. It will update the audience members on the evolution of the 4.9 GHz band, from it's currently state, through the NPSTC/UTC recommendations, and summarize the FCC's record gained during the NPRM process in early 2016. Utility companies would benefit from a better understanding of how the 4.9 GHz band is being used; how they may partner with local public safety agencies to share the band; and how they are eligible to apply for direct licensing in this band.

10:00 – 10:15 a.m. Networking Break

10:15 – 11:15 a.m. TBD

11:15 a.m. – 12:00 Wrap-Up & Adjournment p.m. ** UTC will hold 3 Prize Drawings during the wrap-up. Must be present to win!