National Service Company Integrates Key Security Devices to Next Generation Networks Using Sangoma Vega 60G Gateway
The Customer
The customer is a nationally known company that provides services to business and consumer customers via thousands of storefronts in the United States. In addition, the company has a network of distribution centers to support these storefronts. The storefronts often have security devices such as gates, alarm panels, call boxes, and other essential devices for their business operations. The fire or alarm panels need to connect to centralized monitoring systems periodically. The company’s distribution centers have an even wider assortment of safety and security devices, along with elevators for their multi-story buildings. Due to the substantial investment in their facilities, meeting the industry and local standards for safety is a critical requirement. Many safety devices currently rely upon connections to analog telephone lines that national and rural telecom providers are phasing out over the next several years. Maintaining these safety and facilities devices is a necessary cost of doing business. The company wants to be able to deploy migration approaches that will be cost-effective and provide flexibility. They also wish to avoid a complete “forklift” replacement of all devices currently connected to the analog telephone network in each region.
Business Challenges
The customer contacted 10T Solutions, a Sangoma partner, which has substantial experience as an integrator in developing customized solutions using technologies used in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Telecommunications. Working with the customer, 10T identified the need to continue support for various safety devices such as gates, alarms, doors, and elevators that are historically connected to analog phone lines to be managed by a variety of control systems. In addition, the customer works with telecom service providers throughout North America who are in the process of replacing analog telephone lines with newer technologies that run over IP and mobile. Therefore, the customer needs to support their safety solutions using either their current devices or investing in replacement devices that tie directly into the newer network technologies. The challenges are compounded by the fact that the centralized monitoring systems often use dialup data technologies to provide critical services, such as confirming the safety devices are active and responding to alarms. To meet these challenges, 10T Solutions needed a telecommunications equipment partner with expertise in connecting to analog telephone devices and could also integrate to the SIP Trunking technology that is now being widely deployed in the United States. Since the applications involved data connections, 10T solutions needed a company with deep experience in utilizing data modem technologies over legacy and SIP networks.
Solutions from Sangoma
10T Solutions developed a customized solution for the customer, which used the Sangoma Vega 60G Gateway in either 4 or 8 port configurations to provide conversions between the customers’ analog safety devices or panels and the SIP protocol used by the service providers. The solution also included 10T’s 5G-capable LTE (Long Term Evolution) routers, which can interconnect with multiple cellular providers using either a direct IP connection, typically via Ethernet or 4G LTE and 5G. The Sangoma Vega 60G Gateway can use either FXS ports to connect to analog phones and other analog devices or FX0 ports to connect to analog phone lines. For this solution, the customer needed to use the FXS ports to support their analog safety devices such as alarms, fire panels, and elevators. The Sangoma Vega 60G gateways can support various session types, including voice, fax, and data. For the safety applications needed by the customer, the ability to convert legacy data modem sessions for transfer via SIP was a critical “must-have” feature. The updated solution was cost-effective because the customer could continue to use their existing safety equipment instead of immediately investing in new replacement equipment. For sites using this solution, the customer could also eliminate the expense of paying for the analog telephone service. In addition, the customer gained the benefit of moving to modern communications infrastructure and could choose between direct IP connections or mobile networks to connect with external monitoring systems or external solutions.
The Results
The service company has successfully used their existing safety devices and utilized a customized solution comprised of a Vega 60 Gateway, a 10T LTE router, and a backup battery to connect via Internet or Mobile networks to centralized monitoring devices. The solution can be scaled for both small locations such as storefronts and larger locations such as distribution centers. By using this solution, the customer has utilized their current array of safety and security devices and maintained connections to various centralized monitoring solutions that confirm that the safety devices are active and still working correctly. The deep knowledge of analog networks, data modem communications, and integration to SIP networks provided by the Vega 60G analog gateways has been a critical element enabling both backward and forward compatibility with the customer’s on-premise safety equipment and the centralized systems used by the customer for monitoring the health and activity of their safety equipment. The customer can utilize this drop-in solution to bypass the connections to analog phone lines traditionally used to enable communications between safety devices and the related monitoring systems. This provides the customer with the flexibility to migrate away from the use of analog phone network connections for cases where this service will be discontinued in the near future. The solution reduces operating costs by eliminating the need to maintain and pay for analog telephone line connections. In addition, the updated safety solutions can integrate with modern communications approaches such as direct IP connections or via mobile networks. These other communications approaches are typically already being provided by communication service providers for other services used by the customer, such as voice communications.