Utility OT cloud

Put data center fabrics and clouds to work to accelerate your digital grid journey

What is utility OT cloud?

Utility operational technology (OT) cloud is a dedicated compute pool that hosts your mission-critical OT applications and grid data in on-premises facilities such as your data center.

Applications such as SCADA and advanced distribution management system (ADMS) are increasingly being deployed in an OT cloud environment. These applications collect large amounts of data generated by intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) and other physical assets and process them for real-time grid monitoring, control and automation.

Bringing physical and OT assets together to create adaptive grids

OT cloud can play an integral part in the digital infrastructure of an adaptive smart grid by enabling a fast and confident response to changes and uncertainties created by decarbonization, grid intelligence decentralization and disruptive weather events. To capitalize on capabilities of these new OT applications, utilities need to connect OT cloud with physical assets such as SCADA RTUs, switch controllers, and IEDs in substations and on poles.

Nokia utility OT cloud networking lets you realize your digitalization ambitions and build an adaptive smart grid with an open, automated data center fabric that reliably connects physical assets to application software in the OT cloud. It extends mission-critical networking from your IP/MPLS wide area network (WAN) and wireless field area network (FAN) to the OT cloud data center fabric.

The data center fabric is a key component of mission-critical grid communications

On this page

What is utility OT cloud?
What is a data center fabric?
Benefits of a utility OT cloud
More about utility OT clouds
Utility OT cloud solution components
Related solutions and products
Learn more

What is a data center fabric?

A data center fabric is a network of leaf and spine switches that collectively provide resilient and scalable connectivity for the servers that host your OT applications and data. Data center fabrics are now an essential component of the mission-critical communications infrastructure for grid operations.

The Nokia Data Center Fabric solution provides mission-critical networking that connects your OT application software to IEDs in the grid with OT-class reliability, together with an IP/MPLS WAN and FAN. It also provides cutting-edge IT agility to fit your existing IT ecosystem.

With our Data Center Fabric solution, you can bring new levels of openness and automation to data center networking. This helps your OT teams manage accelerating grid digitalization and automation with all the control they need. It also enables them to collaborate seamlessly with your data center staff to scale and adapt the fabric more quickly and easily to meet changing OT needs while containing costs and improving efficiency.