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ERCOT Wide Area Network Overview & EDS Communication Standard. John Fisher ERCOT Network Manager. ERCOT WAN. The ERCOT WAN consists of 2 separate Wide Area Networks IP WAN Voice and RTU WAN (aka “Point-to-Point network) IP WAN (MPLS) MPLS on Sprint network
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ERCOT Wide Area Network Overview & EDS Communication Standard John Fisher ERCOT Network Manager
ERCOT WAN • The ERCOT WAN consists of 2 separate Wide Area Networks • IP WAN • Voice and RTU WAN (aka “Point-to-Point network) • IP WAN (MPLS) • MPLS on Sprint network • Each MP is allocated 1.544Mbps bandwidth • ERCOT “core” is allocated 9Mbps per site (Austin and Taylor) • Majority of traffic is XML, HTTPS, and ICCP • Voice and RTU WAN (Point-to-Point) • Dedicated T1s through AT&T DACS network • Provides connectivity for voice systems (turret, hotline, OPX) • Provides connectivity for RTUs • Provides redundant data connection for IP WAN
ERCOT Internet Presence Highly secure • Encrypted data communications • Identity validation via digital certificates • Layered security architecture • Protected DMZ Highly reliable & highly redundant • Multiple layers of hardware redundancy • Adequate bandwidth • Multiple DNS servers • Redundant, diverse, carrier connections • Private IP space
ICCP ICCP Stats (An example of a Market Participant) • Currently runs at approx 128Kbps • Nodal testing will increase their ICCP load by 100% • Anticipate roughly 256Kbps of ICCP load. • This is 25% of circuit capacity Capacity Calculation • Total reliable* capacity is 1024Kbps • Equation as follows • Point-to-Point T1 capacity = 24DS0 x 64Kbps each = 1,536Kbps • Must reserve 8 DS0 (512Kbps) channels for voice • 1,536 – 512 = 1024 * Reliable capacity is defined by amount of available bandwidth on Point-to-Point WAN. The MPLS network is capable of 1.544Mbps; however, we can only guarantee reliability of up to 1024Kbps due to requirement of dynamic failover to Point-to-Point network in the event of an MPLS network failure.
Approach to EDS • We do not want to impact Zonal production traffic with Nodal test traffic. • All non-ICCP EDS traffic will transit the Internet. • Once trending and analysis are complete, a determination will be made regarding availability of web services over the WAN. We hope to have statistical analysis complete by March 2008. • The expected outcome of the analysis is that most, if not all, non-grid critical traffic will be moved to the Internet.