Announcement: Decommissioning of Asset Advisor connector via PME-sFTP

[Victor_Marina]

Due to migration to Schneider Electric ALZ (Azure Landing Zone), connector used to retrieve data from Power Monitoring Expert (PME) to Asset Advisor for Electrical Distribution (EAA-ED) via SFTP protocol, will be no longer available from 31^st January 2025. Same constrain would apply to customers with EPAS gateway, who were willing to upload data with SFTP protocol.  

Several reasons are preventing Asset Advisor to keep using EDC connector to cloud, we could not tackle, despite multiple efforts on the technical side. The EDC connector is not deprecated, we refer only to the current data feeds to our Asset Advisor cloud application.

In order to secure customer data communications,

• For existing contracts using that interface, we have to swap to safer alternatives:
  • PME connector via ETP (https protocol), available for latest PME versions. It is important to review if customer’s PME version include that option, or to plan an upgrade om their PME.
  • As alternative for smaller number of assets, it is possible to reconfigure architecture by installing PaS gateway replacing PME gateway role, in some more affordable than PME upgrade.
• For new contracts, we cannot propose SFTP connections, either from PME or EPAS. In case they are in the backlog to get connected, refer to alternatives listed above.

In addition, we keep working with EcoS team on new cloud-to-cloud connectors for bigger customers, and EPAS connectors using https, while not available before deadline.

The aim is that customers with active contract have minimum impact on their service, so it will be required to assess case by case with local teams.

[Victor_Marina]

Update on 13th Dec

After initial actions and feedback, I share quick update on the subject

1. New deadline to complete the migration postponed to 31st March 2025. These additional months will help to address most of the scenarios, if not all.

2. We are no longer searching for a solution based on SFTP server running after ALZ migration. Alternatives  

• In case of PME customer, best alternative would be to swap to cloud connector, which is available for PME 9.1 (CU2) or PME2020 version (they are same). Versions older than PME 2020 would require upgrade path.
• In case of EPAS customer, new connector would be tested in Jan 2025, after last steps of development by EPAS and EAA-ED teams
• In case of other customer development generating an equivalent PME file, and forwarded by SFTP, or those refusing previous alternatives we will analyze case by case.

3. Contact with customers would be lead by CSM local teams. Less than 40 sites identified so far, distributed across 11 countries and managed by 16 CSM. They will access list of customers and orchestrate actions like initial assessment (PME version, willingness to use cloud connector, tentative timeline)

Regards... Victor Marina