Cherry & White work closely with UK Power Networks on their critical infrastructure network across multiple contracts, which cover over 19 million people (8.3 million homes). Providing cellular products used for SCADA monitoring and other miscellaneous items.

We worked with our preferred partners to develop a cost-effective yet reliable solution to replace the EOL Vodaphone Paknet Pads used throughout the UKPN network. Through the use of UMTS/LTE networks, Paknet emulation was introduced onto a cellular router to seamlessly integrate the modern solution with their legacy SCADA equipment.

In 2014 UKPN foreshadowed the rollout by stating that…

“The current contract allows Vodafone to give UK Power Networks
24 months’ notice of a termination. Were this to happen, there is a very high
risk that a large number of secondary SCADA RTUs would no longer
communicate, as it would be exceptionally challenging to change the
communications to all 5,461 secondary SCADA sites within this timeframe.”

James Ford, UKPN (2014), Asset Stewardship Report 2014, Page 11

With this challenge in mind, in 2019 we worked tirelessly with UKPN and our partners to develop a solution which in turn began to roll out early-2020. Despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last devices were dispatched to UKPN in late 2021 ahead of the complete network termination in 2022.

In order to maximise the rollout efficiency, an in-house setup service was provided which involved unique pre-configuration, bundling with mounting hardware and testing of each device prior to them being delivered to the site for installation.