This paper discusses a working definition of smartness in protection

automation and control systems (PACS) in substations. A summary is given about the standard IEC 61850 features that support smartness

i.e.

the data model

the multiple communication services

and the system configuration description language (SCL). With help of known examples of application functions for control

supervision

and protection

the building of smart systems out of the modules of IEC 61850 is demonstrated. From the possible architectures

the standardized redundancy is explained. The process bus is exploited in detail since it is seen by users as the core of a smart substation. In this context

attention is given also to the time synchronization in the μs range over the communication network

a rather new part of the standard. In the last part

all features are summarized and it is concluded that IEC 61850 may really be named the backbone for smart PAC systems.