GE Fanuc announces Agreement with Catapult
14 April 2008

iPower Aimed At Electrical Transmission and Distribution SCADA Applications

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, announced today that it reached an agreement with Catapult Software Limited to globally resell their iPower product as a standard Proficy® HMI/SCADA - iFIX option.

iPower delivers a unique value proposition for Electrical Transmission and Distribution SCADA applications. It combines the strength of Proficy HMI/SCADA - iFIX, with additional functionality including built-in object security, enhanced graphic capability, standard operator interfaces, alarm and event reporting and standard drag and drop electrical utility objects. The iPower option reduces customer development and maintenance costs while delivering an easier to use solution.

“Using the combination of a standard off-the-shelf HMI package in combination with Catapult’s iPower allows utility operations to implement a true SCADA solution at lower cost point than the traditional SCADA suppliers,” said Marcel van Helten, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platform’s Global Industry Director for Infrastructure. “It clearly delivers better scalability and integration with additional functions.”

“We have been delivering iPower for eight years to the electrical transmission and distribution industry,” said Tony Haresnape CEO of Catapult Software. “This agreement allows our combined customers to get a complete solution from a global supplier like GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. As a part of the arrangement, we have ensured that our development efforts are coordinated and focused on delivering integrated value.”

The Proficy iPower option will be available as a standard part to all GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms customers. iPower is currently successfully used in installations worldwide.

Read full press release>>

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Anaheim trade show a real success
March 2008

Catapult Software had a stand at the NRECA TechAdvantage Conference & Expo - held this year in Anaheim, CA during February. With over a thousand attendees, this is the largest and most important annual trade show for NRECA (National Rural Electric Co-operative Association) members across the US.

Jonathan Clark, VP of Sales, noted that "a lot of utilities we spoke to with older SCADA systems were (unsurprisingly) no longer happy with them. They find the Unix-based systems difficult to use, expensive to maintain, with limited UNIX support expertise. One engineer actually said he could not plan to go on vacation, fearing the UNIX system would require attention!"

Another interesting topic of conversation at the show was the enthusiasm about MultiSpeak as a rapidly emerging application standard for the US power industry.

MultiSpeak is a software specification designed to help small electric utilities, such as electric cooperatives, automate their business processes and exchange data among software applications. MultiSpeak makes it easy for different utility software applications to integrate, such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Outage Management (OMS) and metering systems.

A big thank you to our very supportive reps...

Mark Fusick of CB Pacific in Oregon and Dan Sadlon of GE Fanuc in California, who both helped field enquiries on the stand during the show - we couldn't do it without you!

So overall TechAdvantage was a big success, generating many new contacts and some great leads.

Visit the TechAdvantage website>>

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Not your father's SCADA
Rural Electric Magazine Article by John Lowrey
December 2007

Improved Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) tools can help electric co-ops of all sizes successfully build a “smart grid”

Electric utilities have always offered just-in-time delivery. Flip a switch and the juice comes on—just in time. But electric co-ops today face increased pressures on this front—specifically, growing consumer demand for 100 percent service reliability.

Fortunately, evolving Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) tools can help co-ops meet changing consumer expectations. SCADA systems are now more affordable, easier to integrate with other “smart grid” technology, and standards-based.

Dakota Electric Association in Farmington, Minn., replaced an aging SCADA setup that presented interface difficulties with Windows-based iPower SCADA from Catapult Software. The iPower software combines with a control system called Proficy HMI/SCADA-iFIX from GE Fanuc .

“Utilities are moving away from legacy systems that utilize proprietary UNIX platforms to Linux or Windows systems running on off-the-shelf computers.”

“This provides more flexibility and allows easier use for smaller utilities that do not have an extensive IT staff. A Windows-based SCADA is immediately intuitive and familiar.”

Tony Haresnape, president of Catapult Software

Haresnape adds that a shift away from substation remote terminal units toward intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) creates simpler and more powerful SCADA configurations. Co-ops much smaller than Dakota Electric, which serves 95,000 members, can use this new type of SCADA to “put a toe in the water.”

“They can start by installing a simple system that monitors one or two substations,” Haresnape suggests, “then expand it as comfort and expertise with SCADA grows. This new ‘open’ SCADA system also makes data widely available to staff across the enterprise and even to key co-op consumers in some cases. Data mining creates a whole new use for SCADA.”

Five things you should know about advancements in SCADA technology:

1. SCADA and advanced meter infrastructure are keystones of any smart grid.
   
   
2. The latest generation of SCADA products offers more features, modularity, increased power, and lower cost.
   
   
3. SCADA systems can now operate in real time, integrate previously stand-alone applications, and adapt as needs change.
   
   
4. Service-based options allow electric co-ops to test drive the technology before investing in a full-blown system.
   
   
5. SCADA-in-the-box systems can be a perfect fit for smaller electric co-ops.

Read full article>>

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Catapult features at GE Discover Users Conference
October 2007

The GE Discover Users Conference was hosted by GE Fanuc in St Louis during October. It was well attended by Ge Fanuc end-users, system integrators and vendors from around the globe. This conference provides an excellent opportunity to get up to speed with the latest GE Fanuc product developments.

Jonathan Clark, VP of Sales for Catapult Software, spoke at one of the Energy Track sessions on the topic of "SCADA made Easy". His session included a general overview of the utilities industry, the current market and a competitor analysis, as well as a Catapult iPower product update. This session was very well received, with good feedback from attendees, particularly about the industry and competitor topics.

Read more at the GE Discover website>>

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Catapult right OnTrack for rail network
September 2007

New Zealand Railways Corporation (“OnTrack”) recently implemented Catapult iPower to operate the electrification system for 250 miles (400km) of the New Zealand rail network on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). This is the most important railway line in New Zealand, carrying over a third of all rail traffic.

The main goals of the Catapult iPower SCADA implementation project were to:

• Utilise industry standard hardware and software, minimising the exposure to proprietary equipment, plus ensuring ongoing and economical upgrades.
• Implement a reliable, fault-tolerant and easily supported SCADA
• Achieve a modern, easily configurable user interface
• Retain the existing RTUs, rather than having to purchase new ones
• Provide open access to SCADA historical and real-time information via modern database interrogation facilities such as SQL
• Have an expandable client/server architecture, allowing for future growth
• Enable support for modern protocols such as DNP3 to support RTUs from multiple vendors

John Skilton, Manager Innovative Technology at OnTrack says "The hardware device used to convert Conitel communications to the DNP protocol had a weakness that was only uncovered during installation. Though the problem was not with Catapult Software, they were diligent at working through the problem, including setting up an in-house test system. It took some time to resolve, but since then communications has worked well and the system has been very reliable."

And the future? John concludes, “Catapult iPower is a far more open system. The potential to interface with our other IT systems is something we have not yet taken advantage of, but it was an important part of making a good long term IT investment.”

Read full press release>>

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Catapult fires up in Vegas
March 2007

The Catapult Software stand proved very popular at the NRECA Tech Advantage Conference & Expo in Las Vegas during March. Stand visitors really enjoyed playing our unique Catapult game (sparking the competitive nature in some) and of course there was huge interest in our SCADA software too!

Check out some of the fun...

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