Verizon Grid Wide Utility Solution User manual

Brand: Verizon

Model: Grid Wide Utility Solution

Type: User manual

Verizon Grid Wide Utility Solution is an end-to-end IoT managed service platform for Smart Metering, enabling utilities to efficiently configure, monitor, manage, control, and read grid system endpoints remotely.

Grid Wide Utility Solution

Welcome Guide

New Customers’ Guide for getting started with Grid Wide Utility Solution

Section 1: Grid Wide Overview

On behalf of the entire Verizon team we would like to thank you and welcome you as a customer of the Grid Wide

Utility Solution. Verizon has designed Grid Wide as an end-to-end IoT managed service platform for Smart Metering.

Our intention was to create a platform that can enable utility customers to efficiently and cost effectively configure,

monitor, manage control & read grid system end points remotely.

Our vision for Grid Wide is to empower you to focus on what is important to you…. Management of your utility and

your customers.

The Grid Wide Electric solution gives you near real-time information and insights that allow you to

● Enable digital transformation for more successful daily operations management

● Increase actionable intelligence and operational visibility, which can lead to better decision making

● Improve your utility’s ability to be more agile and improve overall customer satisfaction

● Decrease the need for unnecessary truck rolls, manual meter reads and in-person site visits, which can

result in better cost optimization

Section 2: Grid Wide Benefits

The Grid Wide Utility Solution with its integrated, secure communications network and advanced metering platform

is designed to help you:

● Improve power outage detection and resolution time

● Identify issues that can cause service reliability issues

● Fully automate meter reads and the collection of events

● Improve billing accuracy

● Perform on-demand reads

● Increase the ability to detect tampering and reduce electricity theft

● Reduce employee exposure to safety issues

● Streamline service connects and disconnects

● Perform over-the-air meter programming

Grid Wide is based on a highly scalable, distributed, and centrally managed intelligent policy-based architecture. The

platform is designed to enable utilities to remotely provision, configure, monitor, manage, control, and read your

utility distribution network Smart devices.

Here are some of the potential benefits you can realize after your solution is implemented

See, understand and act on what’s happening across your entire grid

● Make better decisions faster

● Proactively pinpoint and resolve issues more quickly

● Manage usage anomalies, detect outages, identify tampering and reduce energy waste

● Plan better for future growth

●Control costs and improve service

●Keep services up and running longer

●Serve customers better

Section 3: Understanding the power and security behind the Verizon Network

LTE Category (Cat M1)

Verizon was the first North American carrier to offer nationwide LTE Category M1 service. LTE Cat M1 or LTE-M is

an ideal solution for low power, wide area (LPWA) IoT connectivity. It combines a new LTE category designed for IoT

that ensures low cost, with enhanced coverage and all the other benefits of LTE.

This allows performance and cost to be right-sized according to IoT needs.

Benefits:

●Longer battery life

●Potential for extended coverage and better in-building and in-ground penetration

●Low cost of ownership

●Fast time to market

●Highly scalable from 1 to millions of devices

●LTE equals proven security, reliability and longevity

Features:

●Data and text only

●Power savings mode enables devices to go to sleep for a period of time off the network, but not forgotten

●Extended DRX

-Enables an active device to check in with the network less often and saving battery power.

●Enhanced coverage

-Through lower bandwidth, frequency hopping and repetition, the link budget increases, enabling the

potential for better performance in fringe areas and better penetration of in-building and in-ground

locations.

●Simplified device certification

-Verizon's Open Development process for Cat M1 devices is both simpler and less expensive when

compared to older technologies, which means going to market is quicker.

●Great replacement for older network technology

-Migrate from CDMA or GSM to LTE, which is more secure, reliable and has network longevity.

Additional Details

●Verizon lowers the barrier of entry to IoT

●LTE for IoT Cat-M1 and NB-IoT

●What’s next for IoT? LTE Cat-M1

●Looking for cost-effective, secure IoT connectivity options?

In addition to LTE connectivity, Grid Wide smart meters can be ordered with additional radio types for sub metering

and infill connectivity where an LTE connection cannot be established.

Please refer to the Grid Wide LoRa Communications document for more detail

Section 4 : Keeping you & your information protected with Verizon Wireless Security

parameters

Verizon Security

IoT devices and applications are no longer within their infancy stages and so with that comes the inherent

challenges of managing security aspects associated with IoT. The fact is IoT devices can often be deployed in

greater numbers than traditional mobile devices and at times in remote locations. This can create scenarios in which

they are vulnerable, whether it be at the physical device level or at the network level. Verizon is very much aware of

these scenarios and as a result has created a multi-layered approach to security for IoT. At Verizon security can be

found at the hardware level, network level and at the application level.

Hardware-layer protection

Verizon has IoT Security Credentialing which creates and manages trusted credentials for your devices so that only

authentic firmware, applications and configurations can be deployed and installed on them. This trusted

authentication helps keep hackers and malicious code out of your IoT ecosystem. IoT Security Credentialing also

adds an over-the-top layer of security and solution-wide encryption that helps protect the devices and applications

and helps prevent your data from being changed or viewed by untrusted actors.

Network Layer protection

The network is the foundation of a secure experience. It acts as the primary barrier to ensure that threats are

blocked before reaching a customer. We leverage a variety of tools to ensure the network is secure and reliable

when you need it.

● Identity and access management

● Vulnerability management

● Risk management

● Network monitoring and incident response

● Encryption to protect data traversing the network

Grid Wide Platform as a Service Security

The Grid Wide platform implements a defense-in-depth approach to deliver a robust security framework based on

three foundations: architecture, process and response.

Architecture:

The Grid Wide security framework architecture is based on an N-tiered architecture with security built into all layers.

It incorporates proven and broadly adopted Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) and U.S. Department of

Commerce NIST approved cryptographic standards, algorithms and processes, and proven open-standards based

network protocols (IEEE, IETF, ITU, 3GPP).

Process:

The components of the Grid Wide security processes address both deliberate attacks and inadvertent compromises

of the information infrastructure across all phases of device development, manufacturing, and deployment lifecycles.

Response:

The components of the Grid Wide security mitigation and response strategies include the implementation of

monitoring and reporting of security events, as well as performing white hat security audits and monitoring trusted

sources of vulnerability information and rapid patch deployment.

Refer to the Grid Wide Security Whitepaper for more details.

Section4: Grid Wide Implementation & Integration procedures

Implementation

Implementing Grid Wide within your utility requires consideration of many elements including:

- smart meter purchasing

- smart meter programming

- first article testing

- connectivity evaluation

- deployment planning

- software integration

- platform configuration

For details, refer to the following documents

● Grid Wide smart meter ordering guide

● Grid Wide first article checklist

● Grid Wide software integration process

● Smart meter fact sheet

● Grid Wide implementation process

Software Integration process –

Integration between Verizon Grid Wide and any of the utility’s back-end software applications such as a Customer

Information System (CIS), Outage Management System (OMS), etc. is outside of the scope of the Grid Wide

Implementation contract. Instead, requirements for any software integration work to be performed by Verizon will be

defined in a separate Statement of Work (SOW).

This Software Integration Statement of Work will include the following information:

● Utility software to be integrated along with any components, if relevant. E.g., NISC iVUE Customer Care and

Billing (CC&B)

● Use cases addressed. This includes among the following:

o Meter Data to be published, e.g., Billing Register reads, Interval reads, Etc.

o File format, e.g., NISC Daily Shift Read file format, CMEP, MV90, Etc.

o Frequency, e.g., daily, weekly, monthly

o File transfer mechanism, e.g., SFTP, HTTPS

● Associated costs for work to be performed by Verizon

Integration Project Process

A summary outline for the Integration process includes:

1. Identify Utility and Software Vendor contacts for Integration project

2. Joint Integration kick-off call to define Integration requirements and details

3. Sharing information for Integration configurations and credentials

4. Build process to configure Integration elements

5. Test and validate Integration connectivity and communications

6. Test and validate software system functions with test meters

7. Completion and project closure

8. Customer sign off of Integration User Acceptance for billing

Refer to the Grid Wide software integration process document for more details

Section 5: How to use the Grid Wide platform

This section is dedicated to assisting you with getting the most from the Grid Wide Utility solution platform. Please

note there are in depth guides referenced below to aid you in accomplishing this goal. If any point your still require

assistance with navigation around the platform please reach out to your Grid Wide Account Representative for

assistance.

For details, refer to the following documents

• Developer Guide & Tools

• Grid Wide User Guide

Section 6: Grid Wide Service APIs

Customer Support Key Performance Indicators

Verizon provides customer support for the Grid Wide platform based on the following severity levels:

Severity

Level

Description Initial

Response

Time

Action

Response

Time

Action

Severity 1

- Urgent

A catastrophic situation

causing total system failure

or unrecoverable data loss;

alternatively, an urgent

question regarding a

critical system issue and

requiring prompt

Maintenance Services

advice.

minutes

2 hours An urgent situation requiring

continuous around-the-clock

attention from the necessary Grid

Wide staff is required until the

reported defect is satisfactorily

resolved.

The defect resolution will be

provided as a software patch release

or a suggested work-around solution.

Ongoing communication with the

end-user is continuous to the extent

appropriate.

Severity 2

– Serious

A serious situation causing

disruption to the normal

operation of the system or

a significant part thereof;

alternatively, an important

question requiring prompt

Maintenance Services

advice.

minutes

12 hours Every attempt will be made to find a

solution to the reported defect as

quickly as practical.

The defect resolution will be

provided as a software patch release

or a suggested work-around solution.

Severity 3

– Minor

A non-critical situation or

one for which a work-

around has already been

identified.

2 days 15 days A work-around solution or an advice

statement of when the reported

defect is likely to be resolved will be

provided to the end customer.

The defect resolution will be

provided in a future software

upgrade or update version release.

Refer to the Grid Wide Service KPI Support document for more details

Section 7: Customer Training resources available

● We are working on updating our online Grid Wide training materials. Please check back later.

Section 8: Utility customer information

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

When you deploy Grid Wide, some of your customers/members will have questions. This list of FAQ examples will

give utilities the ability to proactively provide information of interest.

Please refer to the FAQ document for more details

Radio Frequency (RF) Information

Some of your customers/members will express concerns about the utilization of radio frequency (RF)

communications with their advanced meters. Please refer to the Answering Questions about IoT and RF document.

Section 9: Identification of sales & support team

Sales/Billing/Contracts contacts

For Grid Wide Sales support, please contact you Verizon Emerging Technologies Specialist (ETC) or your Verizon

account manager.

Grid Wide support

Grid Wide support can be accessed through different means.

● The online help option offered through the Grid Wide portal is available 24 hours/day.

● If you are unable to access online help or have an emergency, calls can be placed to 800-724-1431 from

6am to 5pm Pacific time, Monday through Friday. Severity 1 or 2 issues will be supported after hours.

● You will also be provided with a tiered list of support contacts that you can reach for support as well. Your

first call should always be to your Emerging Technologies Specialist (ETC).

Section 10: PR/Marketing opportunities

We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Verizon as your trusted partner. If you are interested in

joint marketing opportunities such as Press Releases or Customer Success Stories, please contact your Emerging

Technologies Consultant (ETC) or account manager to discuss.

Verizon Grid Wide Utility Solution User manual

Verizon Grid Wide Utility Solution User manual

Verizon Grid Wide Utility Solution User manual

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