OREANDA-NEWS. Power management company Eaton provides industry-leading enterprise software to help utilities remotely manage their fleet of intelligent electronic devices (IED) and support transmission and distribution system reliability, security and compliance for utility automation systems. Updates to Eaton’s Cooper Power series IED Manager Suite (IMS) will help customers meet the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) version 5 requirements. Eaton’s software also provides asset management by automatically keeping track of device inventory and providing updates to device firmware.

IEDs are used to protect the network, monitor critical equipment, detect problems and prevent outages. With thousands of IEDs deployed in substations and in the field, the challenge is managing, maintaining and securing all of these devices.

“For more than a decade, utilities have relied on Eaton’s IED Manager Suite software platform to provide secure, remote access to field devices,” said Jacque Benoit, marketing manager at Eaton. “New updates to the system will help utilities comply with the latest cyber security standards, manage large fleets of capacitor bank controls, smart sensors, and integrate a wide range of IEDs to build an adaptable, secure and responsive grid.”

Eaton’s Cooper Power series IED Manager Suite 7.0 provides the tools to manage devices in a secure and automated manner. The powerful software platform provides complete, enterprise-wide access to operational and non-operational data in a highly secure environment.

The newest version of IMS supports CBC-8000 capacitor bank controls and GridAdvisor Series II smart sensors by automating bulk firmware and settings updates, which help customers reduce operational expenses. This functionality is designed to help reduce maintenance costs for the devices, which are typically deployed in large numbers.

IMS software also enables utilities to update passwords and track IED configuration settings for NERC CIP compliance. It also simplifies the compliance process by providing improved reporting capabilities.