Transpower: Upgrade in stage one

By RICHARD WOOD

National power grid operator Transpower is playing down the extent of a security tender announced with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.

The company plans to spend millions on the upgrade but the general manager, service delivery, Kieran Devine, said Cap Gemini had secured only the initial proof of concept phase.

"This piece is actually relatively minor. It is basically coming up with some grand ideas on how we evaluate the best way forward."

Devine said if the consultancy did everything right, the rest of the deal could flow its way. The arrangements would always be incremental and other suppliers might be involved over time. Transpower staff would also be heavily involved.

The need for the security overhaul at Transpower arose because of its integration of internal systems and the use of the internet to provide services.

Over the past three years the SCADA operational control system has moved from being physically standalone to being integrated with the market information and financial systems. Authorised users could now access all three systems from one workstation.

Devine said the company was not concerned about its current security state, rather its future capability. It wanted to increase internet access to data for customers but that created security issues.

Security had grown in an ad-hoc way, Devine said, and the overhaul would address that with a top-down approach.