CANADA - Systems With Intelligence (SWI) has announced a partnership with Util-Assist to provide a complete monitoring and security response service for electric power utilities.

One of the many challenges utilities have is securing their remote sites and equipment. With their skilled workers already at capacity and consistently shrinking budgets, utilities will often choose to channel their resources to perform more urgent maintenance tasks over monitoring their remote sites and assets.

Preventing unauthorized access to these sites increases the safety of workers and the public while decreasing utility costs due to theft, vandalism, and the resulting outages. Depending on location and other unique circumstances, utilities may not have the personnel or skill set to handle unauthorized access incidents which may lead to injuries and damage to the system.

"With growing needs for security and mandates coming from government regulations, utilities are being forced to increase their security measures," said Angelo Rizzo, president and CEO of Systems With Intelligence. "Many utilities don't have the security training and prefer to focus on their core competency which is delivering power. Partnering with Util-Assist, we now have a complete utility monitoring and security responsive system to offer our customers."

Util-Assist's advanced video security monitoring solution provides a 24/7 service that leverages SWI's leading edge, substation grade monitoring system to detect and identify security threats. Its only customers are in the utility and critical infrastructure space and it is staffed with specially trained and skilled agents who understand utility systems, processes, and equipment, and can effectively triage and respond to site-initiated intrusion alarms, SWI said in a press release.

The team includes experts with decades of experience in the utility sector and specifically the utility security space. The senior team has Canadian government security clearances and participates at the highest levels of the industry in developing security standards for utilities.

Source: Systems With Intelligence