Some might say it's the one with the latest products. While there's plenty of both at Nova Scotia Power, the main supplier of electrical energy and services in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, information technology professionals at the company attribute the success of their network to people. People matter there, from the telecommunications department who manage the broadband, mobile and telephone facilities to the executive officers that support a progressive networking vision.

"Vision is nothing more than a dream unless you have support, commitment and a plan," said Keith Butler, director of management information services at Nova Scotia Power. Ultimately, it is the company's commitment to satisfying its 417,000 customers that has driven the business and fueled the growth of the network.

Utilities Need Reliable Communications Nova Scotia Power's wide area network spans 65 offices and several generating plants and serves 2,100 employees. The network was developed around industry st andards and open architectures with TCP/IP being the protocol of choice. Across the province, a combination of microwave, fiber, 56-Kbps links and dial-up services are used for connectivity. While the network supports a hefty data load--with close to 600 GB switched at headquarters and 15 GB crossing the WAN monthly--access time is at, or below, one second.

"We have a responsibility to switch energy in a hurry. Utilities by nature have to be very reliant on communications," said Wally Leonard, information technology planner at Nova Scotia Power. Technology that's helping to make reliability a reality at the company includes 100-Mbps FDDI and CDDI, several Unix-based application servers, a Unisys 2200, an IBM AS/400, four Digital VAX/VMS systems and several dozen NetWare servers. On the desktop, most users are equipped with Intel-based PCs, though there's a group of 50 Sun workstations as well.

Applications include Oracle databases, Digital TeamLinks e-mail, videoconferencing, and Internet and CD-ROM access. Desktop standards include Microsoft Windows, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3 and dBASE. Eighty employees telecommute full-time and about 150 are equipped to do so.

"I can see tremendous growth and change as we integrate the telephone and computer services into a computer telephony service to the desktop," said Butler. With a solid, open and flexible infrastructure in place, Nova Scotia Power has the confidence to tackle these changes head on and explore new ways to leverage the power of the network.æ

Linda Nicastro can be reached at lnicastro@nwc.com. You can also e-mail Linda directly .