In June 2023, CGES launched a new telephony system based on IP technology and Alcatel-Lucent equipment. The investment is worth €250,000.00 without VAT, and the supplier is Consortium Simes Inženjering d.o.o. Podgorica - Telekomunikacije Računari and Servisi d.o.o. Beograd.
As the electricity transmission system operator, CGES by its nature is spread over the entire territory of Montenegro. Dozens of locations are home to administration buildings, dispatch centres, data centres, maintenance buildings, warehouses, substations, etc. Due to this disposition of CGES facilities, in order to create normal conditions for staff work, all locations had to be connected through IT equipment and provided with a reliable voice communication system. It was the implementation of the new IP telephone system that completed the internal telephony system of CGES, which fully fulfilled the aforementioned goal. CGES currently uses close to 300 telephone internal number in all locations.
Separation into business and operational telephony was carried out. Business telephony relies on the network resources of the IT department and is used for the daily administrative activities of the company's staff. Operational telephony represents perhaps the most important segment of this system and serves to connect transmission system operators with substations, CEDIS, EPCG, transmission system operators in neighbouring countries, maintenance teams and all other entities of importance for the control of the electric power system of Montenegro. For this purpose, a special IP/Ethernet network based on industrial-type equipment at substations and state-of-the-art solutions in the form of connected and redundant dispatcher consoles, which provide operators with a much better overview and manageability of calls, has been planned and implemented. In addition, the system provides the possibility of recording and storing operational telephony calls.
The system has high reliability because redundancies have been implemented at multiple levels, such as: separation of the system into two independent geographical locations, multiple communication paths between locations, redundant power supply systems, redundant SIP trunks to the public telephone network, etc. Management, monitoring and configuration of the IP telephone network is done centrally from the National Dispatch Centre in Podgorica, through a special system for central management. The system has a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables CGES staff, in addition to configuration and management, to monitor the state of the system in real time.
It is important to note that all CGES locations are connected via the CGES telecommunications system using SDH/Ethernet, and later the new IP/MPLS transmission system. The new IP telephone system is the result of the dedicated work of the staff of the CGES Telecommunications Department, who participated in the implementation of the project from design, implementation to commissioning of the entire system. The IP telephone system solution implemented in CGES is unique in Montenegro and can serve as an example of a successful solution for all similar companies.
