Nokia announced it has been selected to provide an advanced communications network to the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) in northern California to support hydro-electric power generation and water distribution services in the area.
Nokia noted that PCWA is the primary water resource agency for Placer County, a 1500-sq mile area between the Sacramento Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains, with responsibility for water resource planning and management, retail and wholesale supply of irrigation water and drinking water to more than 200,000 customers.
Under the agreement, Nokia will replace PCWA's existing communications infrastructure with an IP/MPLS and packet microwave network designed to support a range of critical utility applications, enabling the agency to more effectively utilise and manage its power generation, water resources and water supply operations.
Managed by Nokia's Network Services Platform (NSP), the network features the 7705 Service Aggregation Router (SAR) portfolio and 9500 Microwave Packet Radio (MPR), which are designed to support applications required for utility operations by offering security, reliability and resiliency capabilities. The flexible network will allow PCWA to migrate existing SCADA system traffic and support new high bandwidth video traffic on the same network without compromising performance.
Nokia company SAC Wireless will provide the overall construction and deployment of the network, including managing civil works such as pre-construction site verification, network design and engineering, installation and testing of towers, repeaters, shelters, backup power systems and overall project management.
Nokia noted that the agreement, its first public customer agreement with a water utility, builds on its strategy of providing mission-critical networks to power utilities, having served over 200 such customers worldwide, and furthers its strategy of expanding its customer base beyond the telecommunications sphere.
