Emerson’s Chris Blasi and Kevin Rossi presented For Those About to ROCC, We Can Help You at the 2025 Ovation Users’ Group Conference. In their presentation, Chris and Kevin provided a look at various architectures and topologies for the Remote Operations Control Center (ROCC), including many examples from projects implemented to date.
Remote operations are primarily separated into islands that don’t fully integrate fleet management, training, remote operations, central engineering, and maintenance & development (M&D). The ROCC technology provides different requirements based on the Ovation distributed control system topology, including those for multiple networks, Ovation over wide area networks (WANs), and hybrid (multi-network and WAN).
In a multi-network topology, it scales to 300 sites & database services. The software revisions don’t need to be at the same level, and plants can be controlled from a common operator interface. For Ovation over WAN, there are dedicated operator interfaces for each site, and there is a smaller Ovation system footprint.
A virtual private network (VPN) provides secure access to the Ovation network through non-control networks. The WAN capability enables interconnectivity across non-business networks.
They presented several projects showing combinations of remote operations based on these topologies. Due to the confidentiality of these projects, I can’t share any here.
Ovation multi-networks enable seamless Ovation operator and engineering capabilities across up to 300 remote networks. Each site can function independently without the WAN, and each Ovation network is fully independent. Options to store control logic, database, and historian data are available at the site or the Remote Operations Control Center. Site-specific graphics are stored at each site, and fleet-specific graphics are stored at the Remote Operations Control Center. There is support for different Ovation versions across sites.
Here is a view of a renewable fleet with Ovation Multi-Network topology.
Here is a look at a ROCC working with Ovation Green SCADA.
Visit the Ovation Remote Operations section on Emerson.com for more information on how best to architect your remote operations.
