Telecommunications and Security (TUS)

The TUS AIN (Automatic Intelligent Notification) was developed by soxes to bring the up to now mainly person-related notification of system faults and alarms to more modern technologies such as SMS, push, e-mail, pager and automated voice calls. Thus, a notification can be automatically sent by TUS AIN to the responsible alarm recipients and to the desired medium. If required, alarms can also be displayed and processed via a mobile app.

Solution

A high-performance IP-based network is used to transmit the messages. TUS AIN is supplied with information about the states of the subscriber terminals and their sensors by the TUS alarmDispatcher system. It mainly serves as a very detailed configurable notification centre.

Technologies used

Technologies such as Graylog Cluster, Redis Sentinel or Galera Cluster were used for the highly available solution. The cluster solutions allow the software to be designed with high performance, which is an important basic requirement for a notification service.

With alarmNET, TUS offers a service for the entire alarm chain of building surveillance. As a result of the discontinuation of the 2G mobile network in 2019, more than 20,000 end devices installed at customers‘ premises will have to be replaced to ensure seamless monitoring.

Challenge

To facilitate the replacement, soxes has developed the TecTool for TUS. This supports the technicians in replacing the old devices in all migration steps. The migration process can be controlled simultaneously on various devices such as tablets or smartphones. Security measures such as 2-factor authentication prevent unauthorised access to the objects affected by the exchange or even the application.

Solution

The TecTool communicates with various peripheral systems and orchestrates the complete migration and test process of the new end device. In case of problems, the technician is accompanied during the rollback to the original state. After a successful migration, a PDF of the protocol is automatically created and sent. A variety of configurations can be made in the tool‘s admin portal. In addition, it is possible to view the status of a job at any time. The TecTool is a very complex application. In order to meet all requirements of the industry sector, soxes was in very close contact with TUS during the project and worked out the specifications in joint workshops.

Result

The introduction of the TUS TecTool enables the technicians on site to carry out a guided and thus efficient migration of the old components. The standardised process also guarantees uniform execution of the migration work and thus reduces sources of error. With the TecTool, conversion systems no longer have to be manually suspended or connected. This task is now carried out automatically by the TecTool. The test process has also been integrated into the tool. Thanks to these and many other innovations, the technicians can complete their tasks even more efficiently and quickly than before.

In line with this, the TUS alarmDispatcher, an integrated alarm management system for the systematic distribution of system faults, emergency calls and alarms, is designed and implemented with the latest technological possibilities. A high-performance IP-based network is used to transmit the messages.

Solution

The TUS alarmDispatcher is a switching unit that ensures that customer terminal devices (e.g. hazard alarm systems) can send corresponding messages to designated alarm receivers (e.g. blue light organisations) within a few milliseconds while maintaining a prescribed persistence.

TUS AIN (Automatic Intelligent Notification) – the smart platform behind the alarmOBSERVER – or eAlarm (Swisscom‘s intelligent alarm receiving point) serve as alarm receiving point. At the same time, the alarm receiving point can send control commands (e.g. lock doors) to the alarm transmission points. Consequently, the TUS alarmDispatcher can function as a duplex.

Technologies used

In order to comply with the high availability and alarm technology guidelines (EN50518, EN50136), the following technologies and solutions are specifically used: Graylog Cluster, Microservices – including Log Service, Input- Checker, System Monitoring (including PRTG), Redis Sentinel, Nginx, Galera Cluster, JSON, Push-pull Methodology, Split Brain Prevention.

The TUS BatchMerger (BTM) serves mainly as a data supplier of the object configuration for the TUS Automatic Intelligent Notification (AIN) system. The object data originate from two different ERPs and three different locations in Zurich, Lausanne and Lugano. In the first expansion stage, a UI is still used for processing the object data, later this UI will be removed. The object data can be enriched with additional information in the BTM or cleaned of superfluous information.

Technologies used

The ERP object data are cyclically loaded into the BTM and then prepared for processing in the BTM UI. All actions on the object data are historised in order to detect changes to the ERP data and then pass the adjustments on to BTM.

The BTM runs as a classic .NET MVC client server application with an SQL-Server database server in the background. With the introduction of TUS AIN, the change to the new media for notifications is completed, which is a great relief for TUS.

TUS wanted to further expand its digital services and planned to create a portal for customers and partners. The aim was to make it much easier to access important information. At the same time, the portal was intended to raise the profile of TUS’s services and strengthen communication with customers and partner companies.

Two target groups, many requirements

The system had to cater to both technically experienced partners and end customers without specialist knowledge. The user interface had to be intuitive to use and at the same time process property data securely. User rights also had to be mapped accurately and dynamically in the event of changes of ownership or new properties.

The solution

soxes developed the “myTUS” customer portal as a responsive web solution with cloud-native architecture and microservices. The first step was an MVP for the “customers” target group, which was later gradually expanded to include other groups such as plant installers, etc.

Special attention was paid to user guidance: various context-sensitive help functions support inexperienced users as they get started. All texts and labels in the portal can be customized and expanded in the front end and translated into German, French, and Italian via a DeepL interface.

Secure architecture, strong integration, well-designed user experience

The new portal is based on a cloud-native architecture with microservices and is operated with high availability in the cloud. Maximum security is ensured by:

• Communication via REST APIs and secure protocols
• IAM-based user management with two-factor authentication
• Role-based authorization and end-to-end encryption
• Full compliance with the GDPR and Swiss data protection regulations

At the same time, the portal offers real added value through:

• Deep system integration with TUS systems
• Intuitive user interface with multilingualism, clear user guidance, and flexible customizability
• Automated rights assignment through a role-based model based on TUS master data