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dividuals speaking on telephone. For an electrical network, the end points are generating stations and consumers. Similarly for a gas network, it is the storage points or wells and the end consumers. While this is a simplified view of a network, in reality, several components, systems and stakeholders together constitute the network (Figure 1). A typical electric utility serves more than a million customers while a communications network operator serves several million customers. These complex networks though are only as good as their weakest link. For these networks to operate with minimal downtime, several components and systems need to perform in symphony, without errors. Challenges in operating networks Independent departments perform diverse functions to operate the networks. While the operations division addresses the aspects of delivery reliability, fault repair, maintenance and crew management, finance handles the commercial aspects and the planning, design and engineering divisions ensure that the radial and fixed assets of the network support operations in delivering the commodity. Although all these de-
partments work towards a common goal, the absence of a synchronised view of information pertaining to their network components often results in these functions operating in silos — a recipe for inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Deployment of smart electronic devices and the availability of low cost communication bandwidth to haul information across the network is leading to an information ex-
Figure 1: Stakeholders in a network