In electrical engineering and power system automation, IEC 60870 standards define systems used for telecontrol (supervisory control and data acquisition). Such systems are used for controlling electric power transmission grids and other geographically widespread control systems. By use of standardized protocols, equipment from many different suppliers can be made to interoperate. IEC standard 60870 has six parts, defining general information related to the standard, operating conditions, electrical interfaces, performance requirements and data transmission protocols.