Image credit: Nokia
Legacy multiplexers are beyond end of life and should be replaced urgently with IP/MPLS-based networks to future-proof utility grid modernisation efforts.
The electrical utility communications infrastructure is an essential component for the grid, as important as the technologies themselves, and must keep pace with modernization towards the utility of the future.
Legacy time-division multiplexing networks, particularly those based on SONET, have played a crucial role in grid communications for decades. However, they are now ageing and unable to support the digital transformation of grid operations, and the TDM ecosystem of products and support is fast disappearing from the market.
The IP/MPLS advantage
Electrical utilities have been deploying IP/MPLS at scale to enable automation within and beyond substations.
“With IP/MPLS legacy services, including TDM, can be exactly emulated,” explains Flavio Caracas, senior director of Nokia’s IP/MPLS, optics and data centre networking in North America.
“In the modern utility environment, there are some applications that are very stringent in terms of requirements such as latency, jitter, path symmetry, etc., and the main benefit of adopting the Nokia IP/MPLS solutions is meeting these stringent requirements while deploying a network infrastructure ready for an all-ethernet electrical grid infrastructure”
With most utility use cases able to be met with 1Gb/s Ethernet speeds, IP/MPLS is also future-proofed to much higher speeds, which are being deployed as required.
“IP/MPLS allows the adoption of new sophisticated and advanced network management automation techniques with faster access and processing of data for operations and maintenance, significantly improving grid reliability.”
The proof is in the pudding
Caracas points to the approximately 300 electrical utility customers globally, over half of them in the US and Canada, which have led this transition and proven the technology over more than a decade and suggests that the prospective utility can talk to these utility peers as a proof point.
They can also do a proof of concept in their labs to check its functionality.
“The electrical grid is so important to life and business that ultimately the utility needs to consider not only if the technology can meet its requirements, but also with it, if the electricity system metrics can be met.”
You might be interested in:
Is your grid communications network prepared for the future?
Supporting the transition
Turning to the implementation itself, Caracas says one of the main benefits of IP/MPLS is that it supports several legacy technologies alongside ethernet-based technologies.
This opens the way for a ‘mix and match’ approach if desired.
But the key is for it to be well planned, involving underlying work between the vendor and the utility. Therefore, some utilities can transition in under a year, whereas others can take two to three years, or more.
“It’s up to the utility in terms of how they are going to leverage the flexibility of IP/MPLS to migrate their grid, but as key elements of the system are being replaced, this has to be done without disrupting the delivery of power.”
A typical roadmap would start with co-location of the new technology with the legacy technology, followed by the gradual transfer of services across the systems.
“For example, one can take a legacy T1 in North America or E1 in Europe and simply move the interface from the old legacy box to the new router. There is no change to the interface, and it’s an easy way of transitioning.”
Why Nokia?
Caracas says that Nokia considers itself the top vendor with the largest market share in IP/MPLS in utilities.
“It’s a journey we started a long time ago with electric utilities, initially with TDM-based multiplexers, and then when MPLS routers became available, we took the lead, and the reason our market share is high is simply because the technology works with a high level of reliability.”
Caracas adds that security is at the forefront of Nokia’s offerings, including end-to-end quantum-resistant encryption at multiple layers in the network.
Other reasons he notes for selecting Nokia as a partner are the high level of both product and policy support, as well as ongoing product development to meet new use cases and improve cost efficiencies.
As an example, Nokia has just announced expanding and enhancing its 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR) and 7250 Interconnect Router (IXR) platforms with new platforms for TDM and IP/ethernet services.
Product recognition
A further endorsement for Nokia is the receipt on 19 June of the UTC’s Impact Award 2025 for its Network Services Platform (NSP) Utilities suite, on which the IP/MPLS solutions are managed.
At the award ceremony, Steve Liegl, Vice Chair, UTC Board of Directors said: “Nokia was selected for this award for the network services platform, or NSP product. The NSP product enables utilities to monitor and manage their converged telecom networks and allows utilities to meet their service goals.”
