“lo” was the first message sent over the internet over half a century ago. It should have been “login” but the system crashed after the programmers at UCLA typed in the second letter. Then, about an hour later, they managed to transmit the entire word.
Web technologies have come a long way since that October day in 1969. We could spend the whole day writing down the milestones and we’d end up with a list that was nowhere near comprehensive. After all, thousands of books have been written about the subject. Despite all the remarkable advances, however, one thing hasn’t changed: sharing information and data is still the most distinctive feature of the internet. Everybody relies on that, no matter their business. Participants in the European gas market do, too.
Gas market data exchange made easier
Without the electronic exchange of large amounts of data, market players couldn’t do business with each other and the market simply wouldn’t function. But as is often the case, individual countries use different IT solutions and standards, which greatly hinders cross-country trade and prevents the creation of a single European market area. Or at least that was the case before 2015. That year, the European Union approved the data exchange protocol AS4 (Applicability Statement 4) and Edig@s, the format for electronic data interchange, as international standards. This regulation has made data exchange and communication between all market players - distributors, system operators, traders, etc. - much more efficient, even though some markets have yet to adopt these standards.
At Navitasoft, as part of our Communicator Suite we have created AS4-CS, a data exchange service that not only complies with EU regulations but can easily be integrated into the software network of any organization. Our application works smoothly with the systems of the following operators: Gas Connect Austria, Bulgartransgaz, Conexus Baltic Grid (Latvia), Elering (Estonia), DESFA (Greece), Gasgrid Finland, Eustream (Slovakia), FGSZ (Hungary), Gas TSO of Ukraine and Transgaz (Romania), and now it is available in Croatia, too.
Croatian gas storage adopts communication standard
Plinacro, the Croatian natural gas TSO, recently enabled market participants to use the AS4 protocol-based automated Edig@s data exchange. We are pleased that PSP, Croatia’s only natural gas storage system operator and our long-time business partner, has decided to use Navitasoft Communicator Suite in order to enable safe, secure, automated and convenient data exchange.
PSP has been using the storage configuration of the Navitasoft Operator Suite for the past eight years, and has now considerably strengthened our cooperation. As Robert Tolić from PSP’s Sales & Compliance Department put it:
“Navitasoft has been our trusted partner ever since the liberalization of Croatian gas storage. Back then, we contracted them to deliver and maintain our commercial dispatching platform that enables third party access to our storage. They not only provide a reliable service for a very competitive price, but also assist us in our everyday operation as well as analyze and deliver custom needs in a speedy manner. We are really pleased to extend our service portfolio with the AS4 app of the Communicator Suite.”
As a company that develops software solutions, we owe a lot to those programmers at UCLA. Still, we doubt that they could ever have imagined the technological advances that would come to pass - it is quite a leap from sending only half a message to what we can accomplish today. Yet here we are, a little over 50 years later, and data exchange is a vital part of nearly every human activity, whether it’s texting a friend or trading in energy.
By offering AS4 as a service, we can help you experience first hand just how efficient and reliable data exchange can be, wherever your business is based within the EU. We will also assist you in achieving full compliance with the Common Business Practices of EASEE-gas.
