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EMR on track for strong domestic growth thanks to €11M contract with Iarnród Éireann

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Leading utility network and wireless telecommunications specialist, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced it has signed two contracts with Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) for a combined value of €11 million as part of a major upgrade of the organisation’s existing fibre infrastructure and the deployment of a new national transmission network.

Based on technology manufactured by OTN, the new transmission network will support Iarnród Éireann’s operational traffic delivering high-speed, packetised data to level crossings, railway signalling, CCTV, customer kiosks and more.  It will also underpin the new National Train Control Centre, due for launch in early 2024.

The fibre upgrade will boost existing network traffic capacity and allow Iarnród Éireann to run two networks in parallel, supporting migration away from the legacy transmission system without any business disruption.

Both projects will enable more efficient rail traffic management, deliver increased frequency and improve journey times for passengers.

The initiatives are an integral part of Project Ireland 2040, a major investment programme, which will see the role of rail services maximised to meet the needs of communities, the wider economy and environment.

Commenting on the contract award Thomas Quigley, telecommunications technical manager, Signalling, Electrical and Telecommunications Department at Iarnród Éireann said:

“Projects such as the Dart+ programme, designed to extend Dart services in the Greater Dublin Area or the National Train Control Centre simply couldn’t happen without the new transmission network.

“The solution proposed by EMR and its technology partners met and, in some cases, surpassed our requirements.  Their methodology of maintaining the legacy system while building the new network was the most practical and suited our capital investment model best.  Additionally, as a local company, their support is very responsive and commensurate with a piece of critical national infrastructure.”

“Our approach to the project was based on protecting existing investment, providing a cost-effective technological migration to next generation optical & data networks whilst making the transition to the new infrastructure as seamless as possible,” explains Alan Feenan, sales director with EMR Integrated Solutions.

“We supply staged product by building and configuring devices in our technical workshop, ship them to Iarnród Éireann and then assist with commissioning where required.  Iarnród Éireann can draw down up to 1,000 man hours of technical expertise to assist with deployment and this collaborative effort will result in project objectives being realised over time.”

The first step in the upgrade is to increase capacity on the existing fibre network to facilitate the parallel build.  A Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM)* telecoms network will be deployed to ‘sweat’ the existing fibre pairs, delivering better fibre utilisation and negating the need to perform a  large-scale, physical fibre replacement.

The national transmission network, which currently stretches over 2,000 km in length will be upgraded from legacy technology to MPLS-TP**, a packet-based transport protocol designed to speed up and shape network traffic for Infrastructure Providers, supporting IP-based networking services such as video at CCTV at level crossings or customer kiosks, better traffic management at the National Train Control Centre whilst continuing to support the legacy systems that are in service across the railway.

“This project will give us an operational network that’s more reliable and more available,” said Thomas Quigley.  “It’s a massive change in terms of how we’ll be able to manage the rail network into the future, delivering a more positive customer experience.  That’s good news for all of our stakeholders.”

ENDS

Editors’ Notes
*Dense Wave Division Multiplexing or DWDM is a telecoms technology that combines traffic from multiple fibre pairs into single pairs to increase existing fibre utilisation.

**MPLS-TP is a networking technology that transports data at level 2 switching rather than level 3 routing layers and provides Iarnród Éireann with a much higher quality interface to deliver quality of service (QoS) for applications across the transmission network.

Pic l-r: Jan Hendrickx, regional sales manager, OTN, Alan Feenan, sales director, EMR and Thomas Quigley, telecommunications technical manager, Signalling, Electrical and Telecommunications Department at Iarnród Éireann

EMR signs a telemetry contract with the Northern Lighthouse Board

Sea change for Northern Lighthouse Board with selection of EMR for technology contract

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Leading utility networks and mobile telecommunications supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced the completion of a €500,000 (£430,000) contract with the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) to upgrade its telemetry network and deploy a new monitoring system.

The Northern Lighthouse Board manages the authority’s navigation aids in the waters surrounding Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Encompassing buoys, beacons and over 200 lighthouses, the EMR system provides reliable, real-time reporting on the operational status of these navigation aids across NLB’s coastal estate, boosting the efficiency of marine safety for all vessels.

The contract was awarded to EMR following a competitive tendering process.

Based on Inductive Automation’s ‘Ignition’ platform, the system captures real-time data from NLB’s telemetry outstations such as unmanned lighthouses and floating buoys. Thanks to a user-friendly, intuitive management portal accessible on desktop and mobile devices, staff can see at a glance the status of individual navigation aids and can click into an interactive map to view more detailed, actionable information.

As part of the project, the EMR team is currently in the process of upgrading over 150 remote telemetry units (RTU), devices which communicate with the central SCADA* system.  These next generation devices provide always-on communications and ensure real-time visibility of the assets, facilitating a more immediate response to any alarm conditions.

Commenting on the award, Alan Cran, the Northern Lighthouse Board’s Principal Electrical Engineer said:

“The new system is operationally more effective and delivers better reporting.  Trend data allows us to analyse patterns of failures or individual events. This data analysis helps with better operational decision-making and assists us greatly in proactively carrying out maintenance work before breakdown occurs.”

System obsolescence was the driver for the current project.  A phased rollout of new hardware meant that any replacement monitoring system would have to be capable of processing telemetry data from legacy analogue outstations as well as new ones and this presented the EMR team with their primary project challenge.

“We chose ‘Ignition’ as it connects securely and seamlessly with a vast array of legacy and current industrial device protocols,” said Mark Quinn, managing director with EMR Integrated Solutions.

“It’s also an open, standards-based and scalable SCADA* platform which is vendor agnostic, addressing concerns that NLB had in relation to the use of proprietary technologies and potential obsolescence in the future.  Full system failover and redundancy ensures high availability and accessibility for what is a mission-critical service,” he said.

EMR has extensive experience in utility communication networks and critical national infrastructure.  Its business has grown steadily at home and in the UK and includes utility providers such as Irish Water, Severn Trent Water, Affinity Water, Northern Powergrid, Western Power Distribution and Greencoat UK Wind and Greencoat Solar.

ENDS

Pic l-r:  Mark Quinn, managing director, EMR, David Grieve, AtoN Systems Engineer, NLB, Anna Beckett, Electrical Project Engineer, NLB, Daniel Rodden, Operations Manager, EMR, Subrahmanya Manippadi, AtoN Systems Engineer, NLB and Dermot O’Donnell, SCADA Engineering Architect, EMR

 

Elaine Mooney promoted to Project Manager on IWD

EMR boosts PMO with promotion of Elaine Mooney to Project Manager

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Leading SCADA services and utility network provider, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced an expansion of its project management office (PMO) with the promotion of Elaine Mooney to Project Manager.

Elaine takes up the role having worked with the company for almost 15 years in a variety of other positions in administration and service.  During the previous five years, she was service manager.

Elaine will be responsible for smooth project delivery across Ireland and the UK, working across a number of sectors including utilities, water and telecommunications.  Her work closely ties into EMR’s existing ISO quality, environment and health and safety procedures and her addition to the PMO is in response to a strong upsurge in contract wins particularly from the utility sector in the UK.

Commenting on the move, Derek Glynn, chief operations officer with EMR said:

“We’re delighted that Elaine has decided to further her career path with us.  We always endeavour to promote from within and Elaine’s tenacity and willingness to learn has brought her through the ranks of the organisation to this key role.  She’s currently working to finish her formal project management certifications and I’ve no doubt that the rest of the EMR team will work to support her as she transitions to her new role.”

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time as Service Manager and have learned so much while working with Derek and the rest of the team,” said Elaine Mooney.  “I’m very excited about the prospect of joining the PMO and look forward to progressing my career even further.”

Elaine’s promotion announcement comes on International Women’s Day and increasing the participation of women in STEM careers is something the EMR management team are very conscious of.

“We’ve been recruiting consistently across both Irish and UK operations for the past two years or so,” explained Glynn.

“We are definitely seeing increased interest from women in STEM-related job roles.  But it’s particularly pleasing when one of our female staff members steps forward to learn and grow into another role within the team.  We’re committed to ongoing investment in our staff and career advancement opportunities will continue.”

Elaine is a native of Dublin, is married to Ian and has two girls and a boy.

EMR achieves ISO27001 accreditation and affirms its commitment to security best practice

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EMR Integrated Solutions today announced it has achieved ISO27001 accreditation, a prestigious award and globally recognised standard for managing security risk.

ISO27001 is an industry-wide security standard developed to provide a model for establishing and maintaining an information security management system (ISMS) and recognises EMR’s corporate commitment to implementing security best practice in all aspects of its operations.

The award marks yet another major milestone in the company’s strategic efforts to position itself as a leading professional services provider and network integrator to the water, power and renewable energy sectors in Ireland and the UK.

Commenting on the award, Derek Glynn, chief operations officer said:

“ISO27001 certification demonstrates that EMR has adopted a framework of security best practices and this certification confirms our ongoing commitment to the security, confidentiality and high availability of our services.

“It is important to understand this isn’t a ‘one-off’ audit, but an ongoing process of continuous improvement underpinned by the security policies and procedures contained in EMR’s ISMS,” he said.

The project was spearheaded by Sean Hughes, network security engineer with EMR and successful accreditation followed a two-year process during which Sean led several phases of work.  This included planning and initiation, the establishment of a project team, defining the ISMS scope, identifying gap analysis and security risk assessments followed by ISMS policy and procedure development and implementation of controls.

“EMR sees the adoption of ISO27001 as a mechanism to protect EMR and our client information in a systematic and cost-effective way. It ensures confidentiality, integrity and availability,” said Sean Hughes.

“ISO27001 will provide a distinct market advantage, enabling us to tender for new business as it’s now becoming mandatory just like ISO9001, 45001 and 14001. It means we are more competitive and one of a select number of suppliers that make it to the tendering stage.  That gives us an edge,” he said.

The ISO27001 audit was completed in September 2021 and covered the organisation, leadership and planning, internal processes, evaluating the performance of EMR’s ISMS and verifying that all controls were in place with demonstrative evidence from the ISO27001 project team.

EMR also obtained additional security accreditations throughout the ISMS implementation process such as Cyber Essential Plus, a certification indicating to stakeholders its proactive stance against malicious cyber attacks.  This additional certification bolsters the implementation of our ISMS policies and procedures under the ISO27001 banner.

Pictured above is Derek Glynn, COO, EMR

 

Alan Feenan, sales director with EMR

EMR appointed Authorised Channel Partner for GE’s Grid Solutions business across UK and Ireland

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Dunboyne, Co Meath Ireland, 18th August 2020:  Leading utility network and wireless telecommunications specialist, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced its appointment as an Authorised Channel Partner for GE’s Grid Solutions, a division of GE Renewable Energy.

The relationship recognises EMR’s deep technical expertise and commercial success in designing, deploying and supporting communications infrastructure for utility networks across the UK and Ireland.

EMR will offer GE’s extensive portfolio of wireless connectivity solutions to its customers across the water, wind, solar and energy distribution sectors.

GE’s market-leading technology supports EMR’s commitment to provide resilient, reliable and efficient communication networks to utility operators and independent power producers evolving to a smarter, greener, more resilient grid.

Commenting on the relationship Alan Feenan, sales director at EMR said:

“Our business is growing strongly, particularly in the UK.  Utility operators are increasingly engaging with EMR as we provide the turnkey services they require to realise their digital transformation plans.  The depth and breadth of GE’s product portfolio coupled with our integration and service wrap is a compelling proposition and one that continues to strike a chord across multiple sectors.”

The team at EMR is currently involved in extensive communications projects including one for a major electricity utility, where it expects to deploy up to 8,000 radios over a three-year period.  It has just completed a communications network and cybersecurity upgrade at over 100 sites for a major solar farm owner, combining GE’s advanced technologies and professional services from the EMR team.

Giovanni Puppo, senior regional sales leader Europe, Russia & CIS with GE’s Industrial Communications group within Grid Solutions believes the appointment of EMR to the partner program will serve to support GE’s market development plans in Europe.

“To reinforce our worldwide leadership in deploying hardened communications networks for industrial and energy companies, it’s key to collaborate with partners that can deliver, and have the required skills and experience to represent us.  That’s why we are excited to work with EMR and have them represent us part of our Value-Added Reseller network.”

The addition of GE’s line of industrial communications solutions to EMR’s partner eco-system signals continued investment in training and technical certification and enables the company to continue on its upward business trajectory with high profile contract wins such as Severn Trent Water, Greencoat UK Wind, Affinity Water, SSE and Enerco Energy.

-ENDS-

About GE’s Grid Solutions

Grid Solutions, a GE Renewable Energy business, serves customers globally with over 15,000 employees in approximately 80 countries. Grid Solutions helps enable utilities and industry to effectively manage electricity from the point of generation to the point of consumption, helping to maximize the reliability, efficiency and resilience of the grid. For more about GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business, visit www.gegridsolutions.com.

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Pic above is Alan Feenan, communications sales director with EMR

EMR connects to TU Dublin for future engineering staff

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Leading SCADA network and telemetry supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced its continued participation in the ‘Learn and Work’ programme with TU Dublin’s Blanchardstown campus.

This innovative programme combines training at TU Dublin with blocks of work placement at EMR.  This work experience gives students the opportunity to apply their learning, be coached by EMR staff and develop the work-ready skills to gain employment upon graduation.

The course is part-funded by Irish Medtech Skillnet which in turn is financially supported by member companies and the Training Networks Programme through the Department of Education and Skills.

The programme delivers lots of benefit for employers, in a market where automation skills are in much demand.

Commenting on the development, Derek Glynn, COO with EMR said:

“We have access to graduates who come with a high level of industry experience from day one.  Through their four-year placement with us, they’re already embedded in the culture of our organisation, understand how we work and what it’s like to work in a challenging environment.”

Richard Bodnar is the company’s student for the 2018/2019 intake and is pursuing a BSc in Process Instrumentation & Automation.  Similar to an apprenticeship scheme, Richard attends college every Monday and spends four days a week with the EMR team, when he gets the opportunity to work on small plant automation and SCADA design.  He is mentored by senior EMR engineers and even graduates from last year’s programme.

From September to January next year, Richard will attend TU Dublin, Blanchardstown.

EMR first engaged with the ‘Learn and Work’ scheme back in August 2017, when Mechatronics students Dean Glynn and Darragh Quinn joined.  The program is designed to provide highly-educated students for the changing needs of industry.

ENDS

Pic l-r are: David Peyton, Academic Coordinator with TU Dublin, Richard Bodnar, EMR and Mark Keyes, Work Placement Coordinator with TU Dublin

EMR's PMO with Niall Clancy, Michael Quinn, Colm Farrell

Contract win success drives establishment of EMR’s formal Project Management Office

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Leading SCADA network and mobile telecommunications supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced the establishment of a formal project management office (PMO) with dedicated management and a dedicated team, to handle project delivery for its many customers across Ireland, UK and Europe.

The team has been set up in response to a strong upsurge in contract wins particularly in the UK, following the company’s entry to that market in late 2015.

The primary role of PMO is to provide a blend of overarching project direction and ongoing control and it will serve as the central hub between senior management, supervisors, engineering, sales, finance, service, logistics and the customer.

Commenting on the development, Derek Glynn, COO with EMR said:

“We’re seeing increasing project volume, variance and complexity, particularly in our UK business.  The establishment of a PMO will guide multi-project management processes that closely tie into EMR’s existing ISO quality, environment and Health and Safety procedures.  This will generate a significant reduction in project cycle times and successful project delivery in line with customer expectations.”

The PMO is led by Michael Quinn, a seasoned industry professional who previously served as COO with Dennison Trailers and as a senior director with Tomra, a world leader in sorting technology for the food, recycling and mining industries.   He was also formerly group operations manager with Odenberg Engineering and VP of European Operations with MTI and brings a wealth of operational experience to the role.

Michael is supported in his role by Niall Clancy and Colm Farrell.    Niall has been with EMR almost three years now in a project management role while Colm has been promoted from within, moving from a field technician role into project management.

EMR recently announced a €500,000 investment in the business and plans to increase headcount to 50 over the next 12 months.

ENDS

Pictured above left to right are:  Niall Clancy, Michael Quinn and Colm Farrell

EMR and Viatel announce partnership on cloud computing for EMR's hosted SCADA service

EMR flies high with Cloud Compute solution from Viatel

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Irish cloud and connectivity company Viatel have today announced a deal with EMR Integrated Solutions, a leading provider of SCADA, mobile communications and instrumentation solutions in Ireland and the UK.

The deal will see Viatel provide cloud-based infrastructure to EMR, which delivers the company’s hosted SCADA as a Service to Irish Water and Dublin City Council.

EMR’s SCADA as a Service securely monitors and manages water production, water treatment and flood defense solutions using a combination of Infrastructure and Software as a Service delivery.  A helpdesk, manned by a dedicated support manager and engineering staff provides 24/7/365 support as well as more proactive services including SCADA application maintenance.

Commenting on the deal, Derek Glynn, chief operations officer with EMR said:

“We’re providing mission-critical SCADA services to a variety of organisations so it was important to choose a secure, reliable cloud services partner.  Viatel ticks all the boxes for us in terms of providing the type of secure, scalable, resilient infrastructure and robust SLAs our clients demand of us and we’re confident in our partnership as we grow our SCADA business in Ireland and beyond.”

EMR offers clients highly secure, co-located and virtual cloud application servers hosted in Viatel’s data centre with multiple Compute Cloud instances.  In the case of Irish Water, each local authority has its own cloud instance and can log into the EMR SCADA portal to view critical data associated with its water production and water treatment assets in the field.

With centralised physical servers in the Viatel Flexi cloud environment, EMR and its clients enjoy improved availability and resilience. Each VM on the Viatel Flexi Cloud is protected by Viatel’s backup service with full resiliency and failover back into EMR’s own datacentre.

Commenting on the announcement Viatel Director of Sales and Marketing Damien McCann stated:

“We are delighted to welcome EMR Integrated Solutions to the growing number of clients choosing Viatel for critical cloud and data centre applications. We look forward to building on this relationship for many years to come.”

Ends

Pictured above from left to right are:  Marc Lynch, Public Sector Director, Viatel, Derek Glynn, COO, EMR and Damien McCann, Sales and Marketing Director, Viatel

LtoR: Mark Quinn, managing director, EMR, Robbie Scott, UK & Ireland Channel Account Manager, Motorola. Picture: Maura Hickey.

EMR appointed Platinum Partner for Motorola Solutions in Ireland

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Dunboyne, Co Meath, Friday, 16th November 2018:  Leading SCADA network and mobile telecommunications supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced its appointment as a Platinum Partner for Motorola Solutions’ range of mobile radio communications systems in Ireland, the highest accreditation in the Motorola Solutions partner program.

The appointment recognises EMR’s expertise and success in delivering innovative two-way radio systems that connect customers with critical information in moments that matter.

EMR is one of only two Platinum partners on the island of Ireland.

The EMR team has a long-standing relationship with Motorola Solutions, stretching back to the early 1980s and has supplied two-way radio solutions to a wide range of business users in sectors including energy, manufacturing, local government, education, construction and hospitality.

Recent successes include a three-year framework contract with ESB Telecoms Services for the refresh of their digital mobile radio (DMR) network across 23 power stations nationwide.

Commenting on the accreditation, Craig Calvert, Motorola Solutions channel sales director for Northern Europe and Middle East said:

“Motorola Solutions has made great strides forward in the development of our Partner Program, PartnerEmpower, and we are very proud of what we have achieved so far. We are even more proud of our extensive network of partners across the whole EMEA Region that have decided to join us on our journey.

“I am delighted that EMR have now reached the highest level, being recognised and awarded the Platinum Partner status. This is testament to the management and staff at EMR and their continued focus and drive to provide top quality communications solutions that incorporate Motorola Solutions equipment. Congratulations to all involved.”

Motorola Solutions is a core part of the EMR business and one which the company is committed to developing into the future, as Mark Quinn, managing director of EMR explained:

“Significant sales, marketing and technical investment in the Motorola Solutions brand has really paid off for us and aligns with our strategy of providing best-in-class communications solutions to industry.

“Customers have responded very positively to the Motorola Solutions portfolio as evidenced by very strong revenue performance in our two-way radio business through 2018. We’re predicting continued growth into 2019 and beyond.”

The Motorola Solutions PartnerEmpower Program is recognised as one of the best channel programs in the industry.  It equips Motorola Solutions partners with the technical knowledge and commercial acumen to serve the complex needs of the company’s customers worldwide.

ENDS

Pictured left to right above are: Mark Quinn, managing director, EMR, Robbie Scott, UK & Ireland Channel Account Manager, Motorola Solutions

EMR picks up sixth successive award at the National Irish Safety Organisation’s Annual Conference

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EMR picks up sixth successive award at the National Irish Safety Organisation’s Annual Conference

Dunboyne, Co Meath, 22nd October 2018:  Leading SCADA network and mobile telecommunications supplier, EMR Integrated Solutions today announced that it has picked up its sixth successive award at the 27th Annual Occupational Service Awards.

The awards were hosted as part of the National Safety Organisation’s Annual Conference which took place in Killarney, Co Kerry.

EMR’s safety officer, Colm Farrell was on hand to pick up the award from Minister of State, Pat Breen T.D. as well as senior executives from NISO.

Now in its 27th year, the awards are an all-island affair, which recognise the positive and proactive culture of safety management that exists within Irish organisations.

Commenting on the win, Derek Glynn, chief operating officer with EMR said:

“As we transition towards ISO45001, a formal occupational safety accreditation, we’re focusing on the theme of ‘Work Safe, Home Safe’ for the next 12 months.  Health and safety at work is engrained into the cultural ethos of the business and that will continue apace as we hire new recruits in the months ahead.”

EMR is proudly participating in Construction Safety Week, with events and talks taking place each day on a different aspect of health and safety at work.

Ends

Pictured l-r:  Harry Galvin, president of NISO, Colm Farrell, safety officer, EMR, Minister of State, Pat Breen, T.D., and John Thompson, NISG vice chair