Originally published in 2004, the standard series anticipated very early that the standardisation of communication protocols was not enough to reach a real seamless interoperability over the whole life cycle of systems.

From its start, the IEC 61850 series encompasses many facets to offer to the market a unique way of building-up multi-manufacturers interoperable solutions, including a structured set of standardized machine level words (data model), possibly handled through a standardized machine processable language (SCL – especially for engineering tools), together with a set of standardized communication services, supported by a limited set of standardized communication protocols.
Together with the IEC 62351, it help specifying and implementing secured interfaces between products and tools during the whole life cycle of assets.

The beauty of this approach is that these parts can be used mostly independently from the others, offering a real future-proof and open approach

All European countries and Russia have adopted this standard, starting by equiping the transmission and distribution substations and expending now power plants and DERs.

European manufacturers have been among the very first to offer to the market IEC 61850 compliant devices and system

China, Korea, Japan, Australia and many others are among the most dynamic countries spreading out the IEC 61850 technologies .

Asian and Australian manufacturers are as well nowadays all offering innovative solutions compliant with the IEC 61850 standard

North and South Americas have been very early in adopting the IEC 61850 technology for their transmission and distribution networks, and also expanding to power plants and DERs, as well in supporting the international IEC 61850 users association.

Manufacturers of these regions have also been very early engaged in offering IEC 61850 series compliant solution, and count today among the most dynamic market players