IBM helps merge giant utility database

NEWS Following the merger of Scottish Hydro-Electric and Southern Electric to create Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), the task to merge the customer details of 3.4m customers into a single database has begun under the supervision of IBM. The multi-utility was formed last December but it is only recently that the data of 2.7m Southern Electric and 650,000 Scottish Hydro-Electric customers has been integrated. Under the terms of the contract, IBM Software Business recommended the three tools companies who have been chosen to clean and move the data. Enterprise data integration specialists ETI, Vality and Evoke have provided the tools to ensure the data is cleansed and transferred in bulk. Evoke's Migration Architect analyses the data and sees how clean it is prior to transfer; Vality's Integrity cleans the address; and ETI's Extract tool pulls the whole process together. David Barkway, consultant at ETI, explained: "SSE is using a combination of three products to ensure the customer details are clean and easy to understand by the split team in Scotland and the South who are managing the databases. It also saves money as SSE gets a discount from the Post Office if they get the data in a walk order for delivery of customer mail by the postman." Robert Eskinazi, data management consultant at IBM Software Business said: "IBM has a data migration factory where we show the tools working. SSE liked the concept, approach and tools and decided to procure them through IBM. This is a major project and while the exact details are confidential, it should be finished by April/May of next year."