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How to hook up a new AMM
system to your IT infrastructure
Scaling the Gridstream HES for utilities with up to 3 million metering points
White Paper
Executive summary
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1. H
ow to build multi-vendor systems and optimize the
AMM system configuration for up to 3 million metering points
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2. Understand the big picture
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3. How to integrate easily?
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4. Proven platform for optimizing system HW performance and costs
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4.1 Test setup description
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4.2 Test results description
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4.3 Conclusions drawn from the test
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How to hook up a new AMM system to your IT infrastructure
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White Paper
Executive summary
With only three servers, the Gridstream HES test system for smart metering data collection and delivery
demonstrated the ability to handle the test profile data sets for up to three million metering points well
within a day. The HES also delivered the first test profile data, i.e. three day registers and one hourly
register, well within a typical eight hour data SLA. This ensures that the smart metering data is ready
for the utility’s processes and operations for the first office hour on a daily basis.
Gridstream HES’ substantial data delivery capacity with a decentralized architecture allows us
to optimize the system for the diverse needs of utilities. As a result, users can implement various
strategies to optimize system cost, reliability and performance.
Gridstream HES provides a smart metering data collection platform which serves utility processes
and IT systems, and it includes efficient tools to manage the meter park. The system uses an open
standard based integration layer that secures future system compatibility. An established integration
process reduces the utilities’ and integrators’ effort and risk during integration projects.
Finally, the head end system architecture has proven its ability to provide both performance and
adaptability for small and medium size systems up to millions of metering points. The flexible
architecture in combination with Landis+Gyr’s expertise is available for IT managers to optimize system
performance, cost and maintainability.
How to hook up a new AMM system to your IT infrastructure
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1. How to build multi-vendor systems
and optimize the AMM system
configuration for up to 3 million
metering points
Distribution Network Operator utilities (DNOs) which start
implementing smart metering are dealing with diverse IT
systems used for billing, balance settlement, customer
service, on-site work order management, network operations and network planning. Typically, these systems are
put to use over a long time period and they are provided
by several different vendors. Utility IT managers are facing the challenge of integrating these systems with smart
metering systems to support utility processes, ensuring
required overall performance and managing responsibilities between different system vendors.
In this white paper, we consider three key areas to focus
on when building the AMM IT infrastructure:
1. understanding the role and purpose of each system
layer so that they support the utility’s current processes
and enable flexibility for the future
2. managing the integrations between systems, typically
provided by several vendors, and
3. ensuring that the AMM data collection system setup is
performance optimized and so minimizes overall costs.
We will present the Gridstream HES system, which
enables utilities to build AMM system networks that are
adaptable for future needs, and helps to manage system
integrations with less risk and clear responsibilities between the integration parties. Finally, we will use the test
results to show how the Gridstream HES architecture allows system setup optimization for different sizes of AMM
data collection systems up to 3.000.000 metering points.
2. Understand the big picture
DNO utilities have quite similar business goals but may
use very different types of resources and processes to
reach them. This has led to very diverse IT infrastructures
between utilities – including not only systems from different vendors and for different purposes, but also similar
systems with different roles and features. Some utilities
operate all the systems themselves, while others have
service providers that take care of defined sectors such as
smart metering data delivery, for example. The challenge
for utilities entering into smart metering is the necessity to
build a system infrastructure which includes existing systems and new system layers that support their needs in an
optimal way. Questions like “Do the data format and validation capabilities between the systems match?“, “Which
systems need network status or load profile information?”,
“Where are the smart metering installations managed?”
or “How and where do we manage the smart meter
infrastructure?” need answers. Namely systems with the
same purpose, especially Meter Data Management (MDM)
systems, have very diverse capabilities to manage various
data sources, which complicates the evaluation between
different system combinations.
The key to success for utilities is to take a look at the big
picture, especially the role and purpose of each system, in
order to find the best components to support their processes and to complete the IT infrastructure accordingly.
Landis+Gyr has delivered more than 300 AMM systems in
Europe alone and developed the Gridstream HES system
for utilities that need to connect their processes and systems with smart meters.
“The challenge for utilities entering into smart metering is the necessity to build
a system infrastructure which includes existing systems and new system layers
that support their needs in an optimal way."
How to hook up a new AMM system to your IT infrastructure
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White Paper
Gridstream HES has four main purposes which serve utilities’
core processes and other systems:
1. Support for automated metering data processes by
managing automated smart metering data collection
and delivering it to other IT systems. Billing, load profile,
event and power quality data are typical examples of
forwarded data.
2.Support processes that need to access on time data
from the smart meters on demand. Gridstream HES provides quick access from other systems to the on time
meter data, typical examples being:
R
esponding to end-customer claims or questions related
to power quality or billing during a phone call
S
upporting on-site work related to network problems,
such as locating power outages
3. Support processes requiring instant notification of critical events detected by smart meters, such as power
outages or tampering, by delivering meter triggered
alarms to the system where operators can immediately
take action to eliminate the problem.
4. Provide applications to manage the smart metering
infrastructure
Manage meter configurations, settings and firmware
Manage automated meter reading processes
M
onitor smart metering communications and data
delivery to other systems
With these features, Gridstream HES provides a lean
system layer, giving utilities the flexibility to build their core
processes and to integrate them with other IT systems
while ensuring efficient meter park lifetime management.
Furthermore, the system can be integrated into utilities’
internal operations or can be sourced out to service providers.
3. How to integrate easily?
After the roles and purposes of the utility’s IT systems
have been defined, they need to be integrated. Typically,
integration processes between systems are implemented
by tailoring the integration layers in each system involved.
The challenge of this approach lies in the complexity of
How to hook up a new AMM system to your IT infrastructure
carefully defining the integration interfaces and responsibilities of each vendor and possible 3rd party integrators.
It is likely that in the specification phase not all related
details are taken into account and when problems occur it
can be challenging to find the responsible party to finalize
the integration.
Gridstream HES provides an easier solution to manage
this challenge. Landis+Gyr has actively participated in the
standardization work groups of the IEC 61968-9 standard
for smart data integration to DNO systems (see Figure 1).
This standard enables any system vendor to use the common language to engineer the integration enabling system
component extension or replacements while eliminating
the utility’s risk of being dependent on individual vendors.
Gridstream HES’ ease of integration doesn’t only rest on
the open integration process. The fixed integration layer
with ready-made setup, documentation and testing also
facilitates the integration process. In this approach, the
other systems are integrated to Gridstream HES by modifying the integration layer in their system according to the
.xml schemas provided by Landis+Gyr. This integration
layer, designed for smart metering data delivery according the IEC standard, is already specified and tested.
Integrators save effort and time, since they do not need to
specify the layers or the roles of both systems and receive
a mature interface they can work with.
From a utility’s perspective, this approach is significantly
easier to manage: the Gridstream HES system includes a
standard interface and the integration service is retained
from only one IT system vendor or integrator. These parties receive the integration documentation, technical support and access to the Gridstream HES integration testing
system from Landis+Gyr. This also makes it easier for
them to offer their integration solution to the utility.
In addition, Gridstream HES supports interoperability of
smart metering devices by supporting Landis+Gyr’s smart
metering portfolio and 3rd party meters based on the IDIS
standard. Furthermore, the system features an architecture that enables efficient connection of 3rd party meters
to utility processes via Gridstream HES.
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Figure 1: IEC 61968-9 coverage (source: “Application Integration at Electric Utilities - System Interfaces for Distribution
Management - Part 9: Interfaces for Meter Reading and Control”, IEC 61968-9, Final Draft International Standard, 2012)
Area of Direct Impact using IEC
61968-9
(and within scope of 61968)
Area Causally/Indirectly
Impacted by or impacting
IEC 61968-9
Customer
Electric Utility
Enterprise
Applications
Standard or Proprietary
Communication
Infrastructures
Enterprise Integration
Infrastructure
(e.g. ESB, SOA, …)
Customer
(e.g. CIS, WMS,
GIS, MDMS)
Operations
Applications
(e.g. OMS, DMS)
IEC 61968-9 Messages
(or more broadly any
61968 messge)
Meter
Head End
Systems
Messages defined by IEC
61968-9 are based upon
IEC CIM and conveyed
using a variety of
integration technologies
and IEC 61968-100
Mappings, translations
and/orforwardiing as
needed
Meter or
Gateway
PAN
PAN
Device
Customer
Messages defined by
relevant standards or
vendors. May use a wide
variety of communication
technologies
TC57
WG21
Gateway
Mapping, translations
and/or forwarding as
needed
PAN
Device
PAN
Device
PAN
PAN
Device
PAN
Device
Messages defined
by PAN/HAN
specifications
4. Proven platform for optimizing system
HW performance and costs
When building AMM systems, utility IT managers need to
keep in mind more than just the performance of the system; they also need to keep an eye on the lifetime costs
incurred by hardware and software licenses. This chapter
introduces the results of testing the Gridstream HES with
up to 3.000.000 metering points using a variety of simulated data sets. It also considers how the results can be
used to optimize the lifetime costs of the system with different scales of AMM systems.
4.1 Test setup description
We built the test system setup in cooperation with IBM.
IBM provided the recommended hardware setup for the
tests and helped to analyze the results from a hardware
configuration point of view. Gridstream HES enables flexible system architectures from centralized (all processes
How to hook up a new AMM system to your IT infrastructure
are run with one server) to decentralized servers (processes are divided between several server computers) or
a combination of the two. In the test system, the three key
components were run on separate servers (see picture
below):
1. Communication server
2. Database server
3. IEC integration server
The performance of the system can be increased horizontally by just adding parallel servers for any of these
layers. Gridstream HES integration servers use queue
based communication to enable connectivity with just one
endpoint for integrated systems. This means that adding
servers to Gridstream HES does not require changes in
other integrated systems.
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An additional server was used to simulate data delivery
from a point-to-multipoint smart meter park, with a maximum capacity of up to three million metering points with
three different data sets (see also Table 1):
During the tests, several performance indicators were
monitored: data throughput time of each system component from simulator to the integration layer, disk drive
performance and CPU utilization.
Profile 1 include 3 day registers and 1 hourly register
Profile 2 include 2 day registers and 2 hourly registers
Profile 3 include 1 day register and 3 hourly registers
Figure 2: system setup including simulation and Gridstream HES configuration
Head End System
Simulator
• Windows 2008 Server
R2 SP1 (64-Bit)
• Oracle 11g DB 64-bit
• Oracle 10g IAS 64-bit
• Java SE 1.6 64-bit
• Model: X 3550 M4
• CPU 2*Intel Xeon ES-2690
2.9GHz (32 core)
• Memory 128 GB
• SSD drives: C: 146 GB
and D: 438 GB
Push simulated data to
corresponding meter in
HES DB
Communication
Server
• Windows 2008 Server
R2 SP1 (64-Bit)
• Oracle 11g DB 64-bit
• Java SE 1.6 64-bit
• Model: X 3550 M4
• CPU 2*Intel Xeon ES-2690
2.9GHz (32 core)
• Memory 128 GB
• SSD drives: C: 146 GB
and D: 438 GB
Send meter and register
values to JMS Queue for
3rd party MDM service
HES DB Server
IEC Server
• Windows 2008 Server
R2 SP1 (64-Bit)
• Oracle 11g DB 64-bit
• Java SE 1.6 64-bit
• Model: X 3550 M4
• CPU 2*Intel Xeon ES-2690
2.9GHz (32 core)
• Memory 128 GB
• SAN disk system V7000
• C: 270 GB, D: 1,68 TB,
F: 1,68 TB, G: 1,68 TB
and H: 1,68 TB
• Apache ActiveMQ Message
Broker 2.0
• Windows 2008 Server
R2 SP1 (64-Bit)
• Java SE 1.6 32-bit
• Model: X 3550 M4
• CPU 2*Intel Xeon ES-2690
2.9GHz (32 core)
• Memory 128 GB
• SSD drives: C: 146 GB
and D: 438 GB
Utility systems
Simulated data delivery
for a mass of meters,
with different data collection profiles (table 1)
Table 1: Data set profiles used in the performance tests
Table 1: Data set profiles used in the performance tests
Day registers
Hour registers
Register values per meter / day
Register values for 1.000.000 meters / day
Register values for 2.000.000 meters / day
Register values for 3.000.000 meters / day
How to hook up a new AMM system to your IT infrastructure
Profile 1
A+, A-, R+
R27
27.000.000
54.000.000
81.000.000
Profile 2
A+, AR+, R50
50.000.000
100.000.000
150.000.000
Profile 3
A+
A-, R+, R73
73.000.000
146.000.000
219.000.000
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4.2 Test results description
The data delivery performance of the three server test
system was analyzed based on the data throughput time
of each server and for the whole system, with each test
profile and with data for one, two and three million metering points. The results are presented in the figure below,
which shows that each component provides a very linear
performance between the data delivery of one, two and
three million metering points. All processes were up and
running two minutes after starting the simulation, which
ensures efficient usage of all system resources.
Server CPU utilization was almost flat throughout the tests
and the CPU load level was below 50% with Profile 1, and
between 50% and 57% for Profiles 2 and 3.
The SSD disk operations level was a few thousands of
input/output operations per second (IOPS) and frequently
reached 6000 IOPS, which is 30-40 times higher than
what can be achieved with 15.000 rpm SATA or SAS HDD
drives. The disk drive load was higher with Profile 1 than
with Profile 2 and 3 tests.
Table 2: Total data test system performance
Table 2: test system performance (hh:mm:ss)
1.000.000 meters
2.000.000 meters
3.000.000 meters
1:49:00
2:52:00
5:57:00
3:45:00
5:47:00
13:00:00
6:37:00
11:55:00
18:45:00
Total time (Profile 1)
Total time (Profile 2)
Total time (Profile 3)
Graph 1: Data throughput times for each test system component
18:45:00
Total time
(Profile 3)
11:55:00
Total time
(Profile 2)
06:37:00
Total time
(Profile 1)
18:36:00
IEC integration
server (Profile 3)
11:31:00
IEC integration
server (Profile 2)
06:36:00
IEC integration
server (Profile 1)
HES DB server
(Profile 3)
16:48:00
11:14:00
HES DB server
(Profile 2)
05:58:00
HES DB server
(Profile 1)
10:48:00
Comms server
(Profile 3)
06:46:00
Comms server
(Profile 2)
Comms server
(Profile 1)
04:50:00
Simulator
(Profile 3)
04:54:00
Simulator
(Profile 2)
04:57:00
03:53:00
Simulator
(Profile 1)
00:00:00
3.000.000 meters
02:24:00
04:48:00
2.000.000 meters
How to hook up a new AMM system to your IT infrastructure
07:12:00
09:36:00
12:00:00
14:24:00
16:48:00
19:12:00
1.000.000 meters
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4.3 Conclusions drawn from the test
From a hardware setup point of view, using SSD drives is
the most important factor to improve system performance
when the system reads out 50.000 or more metering points.
With only three servers, the Gridstream HES test system
demonstrated the ability to handle the test profile data
sets for up to three millions metering points well within
a day, and delivered the first test profile data (three day
registers and one hourly register) well within a typical eight
hour data SLA. This ensures that the smart metering data
is ready for the utility’s processes and operations for the
first office hour on a daily basis.
Gridstream HES’ substantial data delivery capacity with a
decentralized architecture allows us to optimize the system
for the diverse needs of utilities.
As a result, users can implement various strategies to
optimize the system cost, reliability and performance.
Focus on performance:
A decentralized architecture with efficient system processes
enables horizontal scaling, so that Gridstream HES can
scale up to meet the extreme performance requirements in
different smart metering environments. This is achieved by
adding hardware capacity to the most loaded component,
for example the communication server. This enables system
optimization for various smart metering setups, from pointto-point only to point-to-multipoint systems, which pose different challenges to the communication layer. Based on the
tests, some examples of recommended hardware configurations are listed for systems that need to manage Profile 1, 2
and 3 data within eight hours.
The IBM® systems used in the test demonstrated reliability, uptime, performance and I/O flexibility. With more
computing power per watt, Intel Xeon E5-2600 series
processors, advanced memory support, and greater disk
capacity, the servers delivered balanced performance and
density. The technology used in the storage infrastructure
allowed a high storage IO performance and contributed
significantly to the test results. IBM Storwize V7000 provides a centralized, integrated platform for optimizing and
managing storage resources, driving simplicity of management, reduced cost, flexibly scalable capacity, performance and availability.
For more information on IBM infrastructure solutions,
please visit www.ibm.com/smarter-computing
Table 3: Examples of IBM hardware setup costs for different system sizes targeting at 8 hour SLA with Profile 3
HES server
Communication server
IEC server
Total €
Cost MP/€
<50 000 MP HES
8334,00
8453,00
2523,00
19310,00
0,39
<100 000 MP HES
11409,00
8453,00
2523,00
22385,00
0,22
<250 000 MP HES
17224,00
8453,00
2523,00
28200,00
0,11
<500 000 MP HES
23948,00
8453,00
2523,00
34924,00
0,07
<1 000 000 MP HES
33681,00
8453,00
2523,00
44657,00
0,04
<2 000 000 MP HES
61543,00
17086,00
2523,00
81152,00
0,04
<3 000 000 MP HES
89405,00
17086,00
2523,00
109014,00
0,04
(non performance/cost efficiency)
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Focus on cost:
The decentralized architecture allows to set up the system
in a way that ensures an optimal cost structure, taking into
account direct hardware costs, indirect hardware costs
(server room costs such as space and energy consumption expenses) and direct software costs (database and
operation system licenses). System performance and architecture allows selecting servers with appropriate number of CPUs allowing the use of affordable Oracle Standard
Edition One or Standard Edition database licenses.
environment costs vary between 7cnt/per meter to 1.5 cnt/
per meter depending on target performance (Profile 1-3)
and system size (500k MPs – 3M MPs). The costs per
meter decrease equally in all test profiles when the system
size grows from 500.000 to 1.000.000 metering points.
Beyond this size, more data requires higher performance,
and the costs even out for Profile 3 at one million metering
points, and for Profile 2 at two million metering points.
Based on the tests we present the system IT costs (server
HW, database and OS licenses) for different system sizes
and performance targets in Figure 3. The direct server
Graph 2: System IT environment (server HW, database and OS licenses) costs per metering point with 8 hour SLA
0,40
0,35
0,30
€/MP
0,25
0,20
0,15
0,10
0,05
Cost MP/€
<50.000 MP
<100.000 MP <250.000 MP <500.000 MP <1.000.000 MP <2.000.000 MP <3.000.000 MP
Profile 1
0,39
0,22
0,11
0,07
0,04
0,02
0,01
Profile 2
0,39
0,22
0,11
0,07
0,04
0,02
0,02
Profile 3
0,39
0,22
0,11
0,07
0,04
0,04
0,04
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Focus on reliability and maintainability:
Utilities can optimize system reliability by ensuring quick
recovery in case of a system hardware component failure.
System maintainability and related costs can be optimized
by system configuration design that is based on hardware
components which are readily available and have low
stand-by costs. To give an example: for large systems, a
communication server layer can be built by using several
low cost servers (instead of a single high performance
unit) commonly used elsewhere in the utility’s IT environment, which enables keeping a pre-configured spare unit
on the shelf for quick recovery.
Based on research like the tests presented above,
Landis+Gyr can help utilities of any size to find the best
system setup to support their IT strategy and needs. The
system is hardware brand independent, which allows us
to provide recommendations based on the utility’s preferences.
Author: Jarno Suomela, Product Manager, Landis+Gyr
In February 2013, Landis+Gyr was among the winners of the 2013 IBM Beacon
Award for Best Industry Solution for Energy & Utilities. Every year, this honor is
awarded to recognize a select number of IBM Business Partners who deliver
innovative solutions and set the standards for business excellence, ingenuity,
and an exceptional client experience.
About Landis+Gyr
A trusted name in energy management solutions, Landis+Gyr operates in 30 countries across five continents.
Landis+Gyr ranks as the worldwide leader in electricity metering with a preeminent position in Advanced
Metering Management. Its meters and solutions empower utilities and end-customers to improve their energy
efficiency, reduce their energy costs and contribute to a sustainable use of resources. With a proven track record
for more than a century, it’s Landis+Gyr’s primary goal to help utilities manage energy better.
For more information on how you can manage energy better please contact:
Landis+Gyr AG
Theilerstrasse 1
6301 Zug
Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)41 935 6000
Fax: +41 (0)41 935 6501
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.landisgyr.com/europe
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