Pre 2014 Blogs

Innovyze Ships Groundbreaking IWLive for InfoWater 

Broomfield, Colorado USA, August 9, 2011 — Innovyze, a leading global innovator of business analytics software and technologies for wet infrastructure, today announced the worldwide release of IWLive forInfoWater, equipping control rooms with unprecedented comprehensive decision-making capabilities. The groundbreaking release gives InfoWater users the ability to seamlessly move their hydraulic modeling and analysis from planning and design to operation and control. The product builds on the tremendous success of the previous release of IWLive for InfoWorks WS product line, providing a streamlined tool for real-time water distribution modeling, forecasting and SCADA integration. This latest debut underscores Innovyze’s vanguard position in the water industry and its continuing commitment to delivering pioneering technology for enhancing the safety, efficiency, reliability and sustainability of the world’s water supply.

“IWLive allows utilities to harness the power of hydraulic modeling in the control room,” said J. Erick Heath, P.E., Innovyze Vice President—Business Director, Americas. “With increasingly complex water distribution systems in mind, IWLive provides an affordable solution tailored to the day-to-day needs of system operators, while at the same time meeting the primary needs of a utility: to consistently deliver a safe and reliable supply of quality drinking water in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.”

Intended for use in the water distribution control room, IWLive gives operators unprecedented decision making ability for developing real-time response strategies. They can run accurate hydraulic simulations that factor in energy costs, weather, real time (or delayed) SCADA telemetry, demand history, valve and pumping control scenarios. Beyond increasing efficiency and reducing energy consumption, IWLive can help operators understand the impact on CO₂ emissions as well as the effects of main breaks, pump and reservoir shutdowns, and other scheduled maintenance.

A standard in the waterworks industry, InfoWater has long been used to predict the behavior of water supply and distribution networks and evaluate engineering options within them. The evolution of computer technology has enabled utilities to more readily build and run “all pipe” models that represent an entire distribution system in a single view. Inevitably, these models began to be used for modeling not only planned activities, but responses to major systems incidents, such as a burst trunk main.

IWLive has enhanced the accessibility of this usage by equipping the control room with tools that are both predictive and reactive. It issues regularly updated warnings to alert the control room operator to problems that may occur in the coming minutes, hours, or days. The operator can see the predicted severity of problems and the time of onset in one easy-to-use interface. Beyond automatic prediction, IWLive can also enable the control room operator to evaluate problem-solving approaches — by assessing energy-use reduction schemes and their net effect on reducing carbon footprint, and by simulating the closure of valves or a change in a pump’s operating schedule. It quickly produces a second simulation that can be compared with the first to determine the level of improvement, the problems that remain, and the costs of the change.

The IWLive interface is fully optimized for operator use. It allows operators to see a map of all water infrastructures for which they are responsible, including appropriate background maps. Highlighted color coding shows predicted problem areas; a single click produces a detailed map showing pipes, valves, pumps, reservoirs and other water assets. Animation of the map shows the development of the problem; graphs show simulated pressures and reservoir levels. IWLive can be accessed remotely over a VPN. It can also be configured to send critical warning messages via SMS or email.