Before discussing operational applications over utility telecom networks, a brief introduction is necessary on IEC 61850 standards. The initial objective of this standardization effort was to define vendor-independent data exchange architecture for the electrical substation automation system allowing interoperability of devices from different vendors. It defined substation automation data and application models and adopted standard existing communication protocol stacks and services. Over the years, IEC 61850 has grown out of the substation boundaries to cover substation-to-substation, substation-to-control center, asset condition monitoring, and synchrophasor applications, as well as communications in other power system domains. At present IEC 61850 standards are an architectural reference for data modeling of new communicating applications.