Team Simoco Announces Major Radio Communications Contract with American Utilities Giant

Published 9th May 2008

Team Simoco has been selected by “The Michigan Three Alliance” (MI3) - Great Lakes Energy Cooperative, Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op, and Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative Inc. - to upgrade its communications network and deliver resilient, IP-based voice and data communications using advanced Xfin technology.

The contract win represents Team Simoco’s first utilities deployment in North America since setting up offices in the market last year, and coupled with the company’s recent success working with the Panama Government, this further consolidates its position in the American radio communications sector.

In a project to be implemented by systems integrator DX Radio Systems, Inc., MI3 has opted for Team Simoco’s advanced Xfin Multisite technology for the entire 114-channel network upgrade, with 114 base stations deployed across a total of 29 sites in the Western Michigan area.

The company chose to deploy Xfin technology as it offered the best combination of advanced functionality to meet current and future telecoms needs, as well as delivering a low cost of ownership over the product lifecycle.

A key benefit of the Xfin Multisite is its IP-based architecture and distributed IP soft switching, which delivers both enhanced VoIP communications and improved resilience, ensuring staff can respond quickly and effectively in any emergency situation.

Don Klabunde of DX Radio Systems said: “Xfin was the clear technology choice for MI3’s radio communications upgrade. The IP core of the system supports the integration of generic utility applications and interfaces, which makes it ideal for use in the energy sector. The future-proofed nature of the design will also ensure a product lifecycle well in excess of 10 years, ensuring a lower cost of ownership for MI3.”

Mike Norfield, managing director of Team Simoco said: “This contract win represents a major milestone for us, consolidating our position in the American market. Coming after a successful network deployment for UK utilities company Western Power, this confirms our sector credentials and demonstrates that Xfin has the resilience to be used in the most demanding and mission-critical of operating environments.”

Xfin Multisite provides a fully functional system controller and base station in a single, rack mount unit. It delivers voice and data communications over an IP backbone, and includes integrated telephony channel interfaces as standard, allowing dynamically allocated telephone audio to be routed over an IP network to any traffic channel.

The future-proofed design enables easy network expansion, while it’s distributed IP system architecture and multiple fallback modes means Xfin is the only inherently resilient MPT1327 system. Xfin’s remote diagnostics enable centralised management control, and its hot-swap modular replacement enables live system maintenance without loss of service – a key consideration for MI3 in such a large, distributed network.

For more details visit www.teamsimoco.com.