Industrial Talk is onsite at DistribuTech 2025 and talking to Milouni Sheth and Jeff Foley with Siemens about "RUGGEDCOM and securing utility assets.
Scott MacKenzie hosts an industrial podcast from Distribute Tech in Dallas, Texas, featuring Jeff and Milouni from Siemens. They discuss the evolution of utility challenges, such as increased costs and digitalization, and the role of technology in addressing these issues. Jeff, with 24 years at Siemens, focuses on cybersecurity for critical infrastructures, while Milouni, with over 20 years in marketing, emphasizes the importance of secure, reliable, and redundant communication solutions. They highlight Siemens' efforts in digital substations, use cases, and AI integration to enhance efficiency and security. The conversation underscores the need for continuous innovation and collaboration in the utility sector.
Action Items
[ ] Connect with Milouni and Jeff on LinkedIn to discuss Siemens' offerings further.
[ ] Develop more collaboration and communication between interconnected utilities to drive innovation.
[ ] Assess legacy infrastructure and implement segmentation, firewalls, and intrusion detection to add security layers.
[ ] Explore use cases for digital substation solutions to address utility challenges.
[ ] Investigate how AI can be leveraged to enhance cybersecurity and efficiency, while addressing potential risks.
Outline
Introduction and Welcome
Scott MacKenzie introduces the Industrial Talk Podcast, emphasizing its focus on industry innovations and professionals.
Scott welcomes listeners and highlights the importance of industry professionals in solving global problems.
The podcast is sponsored by Siemens Smart Infrastructure and Grid Software, encouraging listeners to visit siemens.com for more information.
Scott mentions the current broadcast location at Distribute Tech in Dallas, Texas, and introduces the guests, Jeff and Maloney from Siemens.
Initial Impressions and Conference Overview
Jeff and Milouni express their excitement about the conference, noting its massive scale and high interest in the topics discussed.
Scott comments on the growth of the conference compared to previous years and reflects on the evolution of the utility industry.
Milouni discusses the ongoing challenges faced by utilities, including increased costs and digitalization, and the advancements in technology that help address these challenges.
Scott and Milouni agree on the significant progress made in technology over the past few decades, which has improved the ability to tackle utility issues.
Professional Backgrounds and Roles
Milouni introduces herself, sharing her extensive experience in marketing, particularly in the electric power industry.
Milouni emphasizes the ever-evolving nature of the utility industry and the importance of communication infrastructure in digitalization.
Jeff shares his background, detailing his 24 years at Siemens, focusing on communications, telecom, and cybersecurity for critical infrastructures.
Jeff highlights the constant evolution and changing requirements in the utility sector, which necessitate continuous adaptation and innovation.
Challenges and Solutions in Utility Modernization
Scott and Jeff discuss the challenges of modernizing utilities, including the need for more efficient and cost-effective solutions.
Milouni explains Siemens' approach to helping utilities transition to digital substations, which offers significant benefits in addressing current challenges.
Jeff elaborates on the use cases developed by Siemens to guide customers through the digitalization process, providing architectural and implementation insights.
The conversation touches on the importance of collaboration and communication between utilities and regulatory bodies to drive efficiency and compliance.
Legacy Systems and Security
Scott inquires about the challenges of integrating legacy systems with modern solutions, particularly in terms of security.
Jeff explains that security can be added to existing networks through segmentation and the use of advanced firewalls and intrusion detection systems.
Milouni emphasizes the importance of secure, reliable, and redundant communication solutions in enabling digitalization and ensuring regulatory compliance.
The discussion highlights the need for a holistic approach to cybersecurity, considering both legacy and modern systems.
Future Trends and AI in Utility Management
Milouni discusses the role of AI in enhancing cybersecurity and efficiency in the utility sector.
Scott and Jeff agree on the importance of trusted partners in implementing AI and other advanced technologies.
Jeff mentions Siemens' work on zero-touch and AI solutions, which help automate and secure utility networks.
The conversation underscores the need for continuous improvement and adaptation in cybersecurity and digitalization efforts.
Conclusion and Contact Information
Scott thanks Jeff and Milouni for their insights and contributions to the podcast.
Milouni provides her LinkedIn profile information for listeners interested in connecting with her.
Jeff does the same, encouraging listeners to reach out via LinkedIn for further discussions.
Scott wraps up the podcast, reiterating the importance of the topics discussed and the value of Siemens' solutions in the utility sector.
If interested in being on the Industrial Talk show, simply contact us and let's have a quick conversation.
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Scott, welcome to the Industrial Talk podcast with Scott. MacKenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots and let's go all right once again.
00:22
Welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for joining the number one industrial related podcast in the universe. It's bigger than the Galaxy millennium, and it is celebrating, give you a smile, and it's celebrating industry professionals all around the world. You're bold, you're brave, you dare greatly, you innovate, you collaborate. You are solving problems each and every day. You are making the world a better place. That's why we're celebrating you on Industrial Talk. And we're also brought to you by those wonderful people at Siemens smart infrastructure and grid software. Go to siemens.com and find out more. They're good people. We're broadcasting from distribute tech here in Dallas, Texas, and it is a collection of problem solvers. If you're in the business of utilities, transmission, power equipment, you name it, this is the place for you. It is a must attend event. So put that on your calendar for next year if you're not here. All right, we have two in the hot seat, Jeff and Milouni, and they're with Siemens, and we're gonna have a great conversation. So I'm pretty excited. Let's get cracking. How you guys doing?
01:35
Doing good. Thanks for having us. It is
01:37
a mic. You can say
01:41
they can see you now. Yes, go ahead, correct. It's okay. We're all cool guys having a good conference.
01:47
Yeah, it's a good conference. Yes, it's it's been good. This is the first day. It's massive. Yes, it's massive. Jeez, lot of interest in the topics. So yeah, it's a lot more people than expected, actually,
02:01
is it really? Because it just seems massive, bigger than last year. I
02:07
think it is bigger than last year, definitely. Yeah, just
02:12
it's near and dear to my heart. And honestly, when I get down to when I start thinking about how the utilities have changed since I was doing it, it's it's monumental. And I want to tell you, I'll just be up front and Frank, and even though my name is Scott, I'll be frank that we've been having these conversations over and over and over again. It hasn't changed. Tell me about grid modernization. Oh, I could have told you about that 30 years ago,
02:41
yeah. I mean, we've been seeing the same kind of challenges today. So you know, when you look at utilities and operators, what they're facing, especially with increased costs and you know, digitalization, yeah. But today we have, you know, better technology, better solutions, to address a lot of those challenges that we did in 10 years ago.
03:08
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right, Milouni, that the technology is there today before, it just wasn't there before, you know, it just wasn't there. It was more, hey, this would be great, but we just didn't have it. So that's, that's so true. Let's, let's get into sort of a 411, Milouni started with you. Tell us who you are. What makes you such a great professional.
03:32
I'm in marketing, and I'm I've been in marketing for more than 20 years, and start
03:40
at five.
03:44
Yes, and especially in utilities, you know, it's a electric power, you know, it's an industry. It's ever changing, ever evolving. So it's very interesting. You know, you're always learning new things this frothy in this, in this role, and on our side, from from the communications perspective, like communications infrastructure, rugged communications is, you know, plays a very significant role.
04:14
Yeah, I gotta write that down, because that's it, outside of the fact that it's a cool name, yeah, Jeff, give us a little 411 on who you are.
04:24
I started at five two.
04:28
I thought you working for about 60 years?
04:31
a while. I started Siemens in:
04:55
And Jeff, how do you how do you deal with that? I mean, it's such. It because it's critical infrastructure, right? It's critical power, water. You, you don't, you don't want to have problems. Give, give us. I mean, how do you keep up with it? I don't even know how you I don't. It's way above my pay grade. It's
05:15
a full time job that keeps on giving. So we look at this as a holistic standpoint. You know, we have to help the operator keep the power on. We have to help them with communication. As Milouni mentioned, there's no technology. There is different. It's evolving. It's going away from the old, traditional you've been around for a few
05:33
years,
05:36
, our SIP five in:
06:20
more with less. Here we here we are in a market that is just expanding dramatically. We're asking the utilities to be more nimble and and more responsive to some of the changes that are taking place, but then they're being challenged by the great case and regulatory bodies and the same the same structure. Do you think there's, there's a need to to change that. There has to be, we're never going to get there. Do you think so? I
06:51
think we have to bring awareness. You know, it's, it's a journey, right? So we have to really take them through this journey. And with Siemens, we're, we're trying to help them transition and transition to digital substation, and I think they will see the benefits of this to address the challenges today. So creating that awareness, you know, is really going to make that difference.
07:18
Yeah, it fascinates me, because awareness, I'm I'm on I'm on the outside. I mean, I'm way on the outside, and I'm aware that the things are changing, and I'm aware of the dynamics Jeff that that because I've been in the utility space, and I know that there's, there's sort of this reluctance to change sometimes. But Does, does Siemens put together sort of these proof of concept, you know, projects saying, just telling you, like Milouni was saying, we have these digital subset, you know, let's, let's do that with one or whatever. Do you guys do that?
08:02
Yes, we do that. And actually we talked about this digitalization. And what's driving that known European Union did a lot of the digitalization, no, 510, years ago, we're starting to see that in the last few but one of the things that Siemens is doing to help the customers get through that storyline is we're developing a lot of use cases, and these use cases will help our customers look at the different challenges and how that would might look from an architectural standpoint and an implementation standpoint. What is the value for that? That value that it brings in? So we're developing a lot of these use cases to work with our customers to give them that insight into how they can go from a legacy serial analog type device and migrate and get into this next generation digital
08:48
environment. Jeff, is there a many of the utilities, not ERCOT. I'm not talking about ERCOT. Erica is this island, and it's ERCOT. So not ERCOT. The other utilities, they are interconnected in some way, shape or form. Is there a challenge with one utility saying, Hey, we get it. We're going all in, we're going to be doing this, and then I'm connected to the one that's the horse and buggy, and they're not. Is there a is there some sort of a challenge
09:22
there. There's a challenge. But I think what we're finding out there's a lot more collaboration now. I think we're seeing a lot more collaboration and connectivity, and they're talking a lot more kids are having to and if you look the challenge in the way some of these companies are getting away from generation and going into distribution and transmission, a lot of the environment and what these customers are doing are changing quite a bit, and then they're having to on top of all this. They're having to secure this infrastructure and the communication and what's happening in the substation, meeting the regulatory nurseship and and stuff like that. So it is a challenge for them, but that collage. Cooperation and communication, not only between each other, but with the US. Government is mandatory.
10:04
I see Milouni. I see that there is this necessity outside of the messaging, the communication and the education of that's happening today. There is this also necessity to to drive out inefficiencies within these behemoth systems. Do we find that the solutions being provided by Siemens create that efficiency? That is necessary? Because, again, I don't want my rates to go up. I want I want the utilities to be more efficient, and then maybe we can have a conversation about, you know, rates,
10:46
yeah. I mean, as Jeff mentioned, you know, these use cases are helping that, right? We break it down, and that's how we're offering these solutions. And I think Jeff has a little bit more information that he can give you. How are we helping utilities address these challenges, and what, what role do we play? And how can we help them? You know, be more efficient in today's challenging landscape. Yeah,
11:15
it is. And I think that that it's, it's not a it's not a slam on anybody, but we're just not nimble. And then the utilities are just not that way. How do we do get to the point where we're driving change in a way that is driving out the the inefficiency, so that we can operate the way we need to operate,
11:39
at value that they've had for:
12:47
that's, that's a wow. Cloud
12:49
is a four letter word. Yeah, it is. But we're, you'd be amazed at the amount of conversations I've had in the last six months that's starting to bring in. We don't want to go there. But we want to know what you have. We want to know what's out there, because we want to consider it. Now it has been, now the it is securing the enterprise side. They secure the WAN side going down there, yeah, but that now they're starting to say, Okay, well, what might I look at? That is still going to make them fall within regulatory compliance. You don't want to. I mean, obviously, you know, you don't want to put any information up in the cloud that may get you in trouble. But there are some solutions that can help them in that automation and in that virtualization and cloud environment to make it more efficient.
13:33
Yeah, and you're not going to put something that has, you know, you want instantaneous. There are certain edge solutions that you want to be able to and then the stuff that's not so dependent on the latency, you know, realities up there. Melanie, I had to write it down, if you can explain, because I think we just glossed over it. Rugged communication, rugged community. What Is
14:00
that so from Rugged communications, I would say, I think communications is like, I would say the, I guess, a fourth layer, the infrastructure, the backbone, where, you know, of the grid, and I think it gets lost, you know, in how important, the importance of it and the necessity of it. When you're talking about, you know, enabling digitalization or digital substations, but it plays a really significant role. So when we talk about our offering, we're usually, you know, focusing on secure, reliable and redundant communication solutions. Yes to, I would say improve, like, maximize ot systems, ensuring that we're creating, you know, keeping systems running efficiently. 24/7, around the clock. But also we are, you know, ensuring that we can have the secure. Security, you know, ensuring the security, making sure the systems are secure, right, while you're maximizing your availability. Yeah, we need to also now look at that part and make sure you're, you know, adhering to regulations and making sure you're being, you know, have the right solutions that where you can identify, protect, detect and, you know, manage and respond to those threats. So we need to really look at that, and that's what we're doing more and more now with our technology, is looking at the cyber security aspect as well. So that's a very important part of our whole communication story, and this is how we're helping utilities, you know, completely transition to the digital substation. Because, you know, when there's digitalization, there's also, you know, factors like Jeff mentioned, you know, connected devices. Yeah, you're talking about security now becomes an issue. So, you know, looking at that. Okay, well, we have a solution for that too, and that's how we're addressing these inefficiencies, right? So we kind of give the whole solution to ensure that they don't have to worry about this. And with Siemens, we're ensuring their regulatory compliance everything is covered in that journey. So really, this will help them make that decision at the end of the day.
16:24
Love it. There's going to be a lot of legacy systems that exist in utilities. I remember using a soupy line, an old copper soupy line.
16:36
You're not going to hear a lot of people say
16:39
that. I've never heard of this.
16:41
Never heard of soupy like,
16:42
yeah, yeah. Substation to substation, substation. Anyway, communication device. How do you address the security with existing, you know, infrastructure or something that's sort of legacy, or do you have to go in and and, you know, rip it all out and put something in there. No,
17:00
I've always talked about security is no, what do you have today? If I look at a legacy network today, I can always add some level of security to it. So if you have some legacy stuff that, no, you can there's not intelligent, you can't add that. It's there's network segmentation. You just segment that off into a different portion of the network so it's not impacted by anything else, or it cannot impact anything else, so if it does become vulnerable or something like that. So Siemens, we have a lot of layer two solutions, a lot of layer three solutions, a lot of next generation firewalls and intrusion detection solutions that can help you understand what's happening on the network. And for that legacy stuff, and that legacy stuff, a lot of times, is critical, right? It's deterministic. It's very critical from the state of network. You don't want to impact that or have a negative impact on that. So we want to be very cognitive of that, make sure that we keep that up and running. But we also want to look at, let's look at every part of the network, and make sure that we segment it out so we can add the right level of security to the right
17:59
portion of the network. It seems daunting. It is. I mean, when you say, have these, Jeff, when we have these, these assets, I mean it's, it's, it's not, it's not. It's even more challenging when you when you know that the boundaries, it's not like a manufacturing process where, okay, I've got it inside the fence here, and this is what I'm this is my world. No, in the case of utilities, there's so so many dynamic realities and and it's stretched over a gazillion miles of, you know, whatever, to be able to secure that, that just that's, that's an amazing and task
18:40
cyber security is a journey. You have to look at it as a law. Nobody likes it. No it's and it's one of those things. It's not one and done. It's a journey. You have to look at that. You have to embrace it. You have to come up with a plan, a philosophy and a program to do that. But if you pick the right partners and the right solutions to go forward with this, it can make it less of a headache and all that. So you can start doing stuff in bits and bytes of it, and doing it if there's a small thing that you can do, as in securing your network, securing your assets, adding role based access, doing these small things in that, and then you build upon that for the bigger picture. And know what drives security most of the time in utilities is compliance. It is a need to make that compliance, yeah. And as Milouni mentioned, Siemens has a lot of products and a lot of solutions that can help our customer address those compliance requirements.
19:30
You know, throw this one at you, Milouni, put on your future hat. You're in the you're in the trenches, you're you're talking marketing, you're talking communication. You're talking about that messaging you've been here at this particular conference. What is that? What does that future? What are you getting from people? But what are they concerned about? What's that future? I mean, or challenges, not concerned challenges? Well, technology,
19:58
like I said, is. We're changing, and now today, we have AI, right? And I think that's a big topic, maybe that's becoming of concern, but we're also addressing that. We're looking into, you know, concepts of how AI can maybe enhance and play a role, even in cyber security. So I think this would be kind of looking into the future for technology. How can we use that, as you know, to be more efficient? And it's not. I mean, it depends on how you use AI. So if you use it the right way, and you know, you have the right partners, you have experts by your side, you know, then there isn't as much to worry about. So I think that definitely something that needs to be considered in the for future.
20:44
Yeah, Jeff, there's, there are tons of people that are hanging their shingles and saying, We're AI experts. I always, I always, sort of rest on the fact that there are companies that can help me along with the journey that I can trust and and be able to sort of lean on on that journey. It's happening, but I need to make sure that I have trusted partners, Siemens right in that you guys are leading the way in that right?
21:14
Siemens is most definitely in that good we do a lot. We working a lot with our customers on zero touch and zero touch, zero touch, and a lot on AI that Milouni mentioned. So a lot of that stuff, and AI is a great tool, as you mentioned, it is a great tool to help look at what's going on in the network and all that, but then it's a matter of how you implement it. And then on the alternative side is you look at what AI can do from the outside and what it can do going to as an adversary standpoint. Yeah,
21:47
that's a whole other conversation. I didn't, I didn't realize that you're absolutely right. All right. Milouni, how does somebody get a hold of you out on LinkedIn? I
21:56
have my LinkedIn profile. You can just search for my name and you'll find me right there. There
22:02
you go, Jeff, what about you? Same way, definitely LinkedIn for scenes. How do you say
22:07
your last name alone? Chef? Chef,
22:11
yeah, she No, see, it's close. I'm just telling you. Chef, all right.
22:19
You guys were absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much. Thank you for having us absolutely All right. We're broadcasting once again from distribute tech here in Dallas, Texas, and it is a collect, as you can tell, by melonia and Jeff, they have they want to help you succeed. And if you're in the world of distribution, transmission, power generation, even in water. We were talking about water, you need to make sure that you connect with these two incredible professionals. And all that contact information is going to be out on Industrial Talk. Once again, we're sponsored also by Siemens smart infrastructure and grid software. Go up to siemens.com Make It Happen, Captain, you will not be disappointed. All right, we're gonna wrap it up on the other side. Stay tuned. We will be right back. You're
23:05
listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network,
23:15
Milouni and Jeff Siemens is the company rugged com, is the solution talking cyber security, how to, how to, how to keep current, how to how to properly protect your assets. Yeah, is it important? Let me look around. Yes, it is important. This is these two are a must connect. I really appreciate them being on Industrial Talk, sharing their insights. Okay, your company, your company that wants greater visibility, you want your company that wants greater attention, you're looking for marketing and sales solutions. Look no further. You need to come to Industrial Talk. We have a team of incredible professionals steeped in industry knows your challenges, each each of your challenges and and put together a proper solution. All right, we're gonna have another great conversation shortly. So stay tuned. You.
