Utilities Managing a Temporary Home Workforce
USAT Case Study | On Deploying Communications Assets to the Home then to the Field
The current health crisis is disrupting the operations of Utility companies nationwide. Below we've outlined a problem that many of our existing electric utility clients are facing right now, and the budget-conscious solutions that we've been able to develop to keep their organizations running securely.
Current Challenge
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in orders for major segments of the workforce to operate at home. The companies that operate our nations’ utilities are now faced with the logistics of enabling a segment of their employees to access the corporate network from home offices.
Immediate Needs
Your home-based workforce, if not utilizing devices and networks that mirror corporate standards, pose a great security risk.
The rapid delivery of a cost-effective way to access the corporate network from a home office, that mitigates data security issues is needed immediately.
Recommended Solution
Utilities are already equipped to deploy and support specialized routers and gateways designed for highly-secure communications. Hundreds of thousands are already deployed and field-tested today. Those devices mentioned above are the same cellular routers and gateways that are relied upon for SCADA/DA/flow meters/etc. Knowing this, we've developed two simple actions to provide for the connectivity and network security needs for our utility clients.
Actions for Today
USAT will help utilities deploy the same highly-secure communications devices they use everyday for temporary applications in the home office environment.
Actions for Later
USAT will help utilities redeploy those same communications devices back into their field operations, distribution automation platforms, and SCADA communications systems.
Phase 1 | Deployment for Home Applications
Actions for Today
USAT will provision the devices for home use and provide simple instructions and support to your home-based workforce to install the secure communications devices in their home work settings.
Your temporarily home-based workforce will gain access to reliable connectivity coupled with secure networking communications.
Phase 2 | Redeployment for Field Applications
Actions for Later
Once quarantine lifts, and operations return to normal, USAT will re-provision those communication devices for use in field applications.
With the various and expanding communication needs of our power grids, Utilities will easily be able to make use of the communications devices throughout their distribution systems.
In Summary
- USAT specializes in providing industrial class routers and gateways for utility companies, large and small.
- These devices can be temporarily deployed for remote office use - adding reliability, durability, and flexibility to traditionally unreliable inflexible home networks.
- Utilizing our devices allows for central management, configuration, and monitoring - ensuring security levels that meet your corporate IT requirements.
- USAT has a wide range of devices from top manufacturers that we can tailor to fit your exacting needs.
- Most importantly, these industrial devices can be re-purposed to their standard uses within your organization after the crisis has stabilized.
- This solution allows for increased security during a time when it is direly needed, and reduced spending over alternative options.
Contact USAT
USAT is a value-added reseller of Sierra Wireless and Cradlepoint IoT-enabled communications devices and networking software. USAT specializes in improving the efficiency of our clientele’s mission-critical operations by implementing wireless communication solutions for data acquisition. USAT provides, configures, and deploys durable, secure, and field-tested intelligent network devices to fit the exacting requirements and budgets of our clients' wireless connectivity initiatives. We can also deliver the secure data plans as your cellular service provider.
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