PowerSouth Case Study: Enhancing Utility Communications with Avtec Scout

Challenge

[Image: A man wearing a hard hat and headset speaks into a radio while looking at a laptop screen inside a vehicle, indicating field operations and communication.]

Regardless of the conditions, the 100 employees who staff PowerSouth's Energy Control Center and Customer Response Center in Andalusia, Alabama, need a communications backbone that can manage the delicate balance between its employees and consumers. This backbone must support the more than 2,200 lines that deliver 2,000 megawatts of always-on, life-enabling power.

Responsible for protecting the welfare of 600 employees and ensuring uninterrupted service to more than 1 million consumers, PowerSouth's team relies on reliable, fail-safe dispatching equipment to provide accurate, courteous, and timely customer service. The same dispatchers must be able to quickly marshal field resources to respond promptly to outages, downed lines, and other system breaches.

Safety and flexibility

"Human safety is critical. I mean, we're working with 230,000-volt lines, 115,000-volt lines and 46,000-volt lines, so we don't need to close breakers in on people, humans or destroy any equipment.”

— Chad Jenkins, Principal Engineer of Telecommunications Services at PowerSouth

Flexibility is also of highest importance for a utility that must keep up with ever-changing regulatory requirements. The system involves a collection of complex components, including:

• 66 miles of fiber
• 58 tower sites
• 12 satellite connections
• seven copper interfaces
• six cellular routers
• more than 400 radios

Time to upgrade

Like many utilities, PowerSouth recognized that moving away from its legacy Motorola CENTRACOM™ Gold Elite console system would allow it to freely choose components supporting the single-solution IP-based system it desired.

Call recording was also an area in need of significant upgrade. Due to high liability and scrutiny, PowerSouth is required to capture and store all interactions, cataloging them for easy access and reference by consumers disputing interactions or government regulators seeking proof for periodic Operating Review Audits.

Until mid-2010, PowerSouth used basic recording technology that differed between their Customer Response Center and Control Center. There was no provision for redundancy or backup control to assure reliability. Finding specific recordings required significant time and patience. Radio communications were not yet recorded at all.

[Image: A cluster of modern computer monitors displaying various data and interfaces, representing advanced technology and systems.]

Three vendors, one solution

Avtec's Scout™ VoIP system was chosen as the foundation for PowerSouth's next-generation communications system, requiring synchronous connectivity between the primary control center in Andalusia and a backup center in Gantt, Alabama, 10 miles to the north.

Also selected were:

• VPI, whose CAPTURE™ call recording software integrates both feeds into a single resource, eliminating the need for spanning ports or managed switches.
• Avaya, the incumbent telephone provider, with its 8800 CM 5.2 telephone system and AES 5.2 ACD.

Avtec Scout offered significant upgrades across PowerSouth's complex network, including:

• Lower cost of ownership by leveraging the existing WAN, allowing termination of leased line connections.
• Reconfigurable “on-the-fly” for new and expanded sites.
• Greater interoperability for radios, phone lines, and advanced interfaces.
• Seamless operation, enabling patch, mute, and other functions across platforms.
• Enhanced dispatcher collaboration, including “camp-on,” “barge-in,” and supervisory functions.

“We now have a single solution," said Jenkins. "Everything is voice over IP -- both our phone system as well as our console system. The VPI system is able to capture and record communications from the Avtec Scout console as well as Avaya phone system traffic, using codecs that integrate with our server.”

— Chad Jenkins, Principal Engineer of Telecommunications Services, PowerSouth

Efficient integration

[Image: A wide shot of high-voltage power lines supported by tall towers against a clear sky, symbolizing energy infrastructure.]

An "efficient integration" approach conserved hardware resources for PowerSouth and its vendors, leading to a more expedited implementation schedule. Today, all Scout audio resources are managed on an IP basis by Avtec's VPGate™ software gateway, ensuring the capture of the entire voice transmission.

Furthermore, VPI captures all audio files in a standard, Microsoft-native .wav format with 13.3 kps GSM compression for efficient file management. This allows recordings of both IP radio and Avaya telephone communications at PowerSouth to be saved in the same format and accessed via a unified interface.

Project outcome

While exposure to weather extremes and unforeseen events remains a possibility for a utility like PowerSouth, threats from predictable sources, such as challenges by legal and regulatory interests, have been mitigated thanks to Avtec, VPI, and Avaya.

Immediately after installation, PowerSouth noted a dramatic improvement in the quality and reliability of recording telephone and radio communications at its Customer Response Center and Control Center.

Employees and executives feel reassured that they are protected from liability issues and can maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, with a measurable boost to their performance and productivity.

"Communications [between customers and] the service center must follow a strict protocol that has been developed to assure their safety. We can now make sure the protocol is being followed. Customer care managers now have tools to assure accuracy and fair resolution of customer issues or concerns."

— Chad Jenkins

"The quality and value of our overall services improved, and we've been complimented by auditors as well," Jenkins added.

To learn more, visit: www.motorolasolutions.com/AvtecScout