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www.swissphone.com Edition 2 | 2011 The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry HYBRALERT: Swissphone’s hybrid alerting system Page 18 DE935: The pager that adopts your demands Page 10 Swissphone: In action during the thunderstorm in the eastern part of Switzerland Page 4 South Tyrol opts for Swissphone Page 8

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Page 1: s.press 2011/2 En

www.swissphone.com

Edition 2 | 2011

The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry

HybralErt:

Swissphone’s hybrid alerting system Page 18

DE935:

The pager that adopts your demands Page 10

Swissphone:

In action during the thunderstorm in the eastern part of Switzerland Page 4

South Tyrol opts for Swissphone Page 8

Page 2: s.press 2011/2 En

2

Editorial

SOLUTIONSSwissphone in action during the thunderstorm in the eastern part of Switzerland

robert bosch’s fire and rescue services are recorded and evaluated by secur.CaD

South tyrol opts for Swissphone

PRODUCTSDE935 - the pager that adopts your demands

Customer specific programming saves time and money

alerting terminals: safe and reliable thanks to highest quality standards

BACKGROUNDalerting: From the beginning to the present…

…and the future: Hybralert - Swissphone’s hybrid alerting system

3

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

CONTeNT

Page 3: s.press 2011/2 En

The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 3

Helmut Adamski,Chief Executive Officer

the quality of an alerting system is best demonstrated in an emergency. On July 10, 2011, for example, eas-tern Switzerland faced heavy rain-storms. Enormous masses of water raged through the community of Herisau in appenzell-ausserrhoden causing severe damage. thanks to the fast and efficient intervention of rescue forces only material damage was caused.

Swissphone conceptualized and manufactured the emergency con-trol centre for canton appenzell-aus-serrhoden, which would prove crucial to the rapid dispatch and response of rescue forces to this potentially de-

vastating rainstorm. all components of the alerting chain - control centre, alerting networks and pagers- worked seamlessly together to form a func-tioning alerting solution which, even in the face of catastrophe, operated well. an overview of these events is published on page 4 and 5.

the key to Swissphone solutions’ abi-lity to handle extreme stresses is our effort to improve every detail of the alerting chain, as the chain is only as effective as its weakest link. and while it is important to acknowledge new technologies and to analyse their suitability, new technologies do not unequivocally improve a system’s per-formance. With this concept in mind, Swissphone has analysed the GSM network and will not use it for primary alerting because of its unreliable and end-dependent network design; how-ever, it will be used as a fall-back or a back channel to return feedback to the fire station. this function will espe-cially help volunteer fire departments to plan and execute assignments and improve the overall alerting solution. More details can be found on page 16 to 19.

Swissphone is well-known for its ex-cellence in product development and is therefore a highly sought partner when it comes to building alerting sys-tems. It is therefore no surprise that Swissphone participated in the bid to build a new alerting system for the as-sociation of fire brigades in South ty-rol and was ultimately selected as the

Editorial

Dear Customers and Partners

ideal purveyor. the alerting system requirements in South tyrol are very high because of its geographical loca-tion near the brenner motorway and dolomites, which attract numerous tourists annually.

It is very important to have a reliable partner to perform this huge amount of assignments in these climatically problematic conditions. this is one reason why the association of fire bri-gades of South tyrol opted for Swiss-phone. More about the project frame-work can be found on pages 8 and 9.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue of s.Press.

Yours Helmut Adamski

Page 4: s.press 2011/2 En

4 author: Arthur Lenart | MarCOM media relations, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern

SOLUTIONS

Swissphone in Action

During Thunderstorm in

East Switzerland

On July 10, 2011 at approximately 3:30pm, eastern Switzerland faced heavy rainstorms which caused severe damage. In only one hour about 60 litres per square meter of rain poured down from the skies stopping public transportation and road traffic. the railway between Herisau and Urnäsch was not availa-ble for several weeks. Herisau in canton appenzell-ausserrhoden suffered the worst. In a short period of time small streams like the “Glatt” and the even smaller “Sägebach” converted into raging torrents and flooded cellars, garages and even houses. Seve-ral vehicles were washed kilometres away and could only be written off as a total loss. In the industrial complex “Untere Fabrik” the water stood nearly two meters high and caused severe damage.

Successful rescue mission

the apparent extent of destruction in the days fol-lowing the catastrophe makes it hard to believe that the thunderstorm caused only material damage. thanks to the quick intervention of rescue forces no one was injured. the local appenzell police control centre received over 200 emergency calls within the first few minutes which were coordinated using Swissphone’s “secur.tPa” tactical alerting system along with Swissphone pagers for each fireman. the fire brigades of the surrounding communities, Heri-sau, Waldstatt, Urnäsch, Hundwil, Schwelbrunn and Schönengrund were, on continuous duty until the event was under control.

A bridge shortly before, during and after the thunderstorm (Photo by Arthur Lenart)]

Page 5: s.press 2011/2 En

The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 5

the national data network and the seamless usage of various communication channels had to be ensured.Secur.tPa offers an easy to operate user interface to send alarms and messages to emergency forces using a variety of communication channels like Swis-sphone paging network, Swisscom Fixnet and Swiss-com GSM network. and if technical problems occur in one location –trogen-, the staff can continue to work using a partner system at their second location

-appenzell. this connection enables mutual represen-tation, for example during the night shift.

The structure of the emergency centre in Appenzell-Ausserrhoden

the emergency centre in appenzell-ausserrhoden handles all emergency calls addressing the police (117), fire brigades (118) or international emergency calls (112). Emergency responses are initiated and police, fire brigade and other emergency forces are monitored continuously.Swissphone was asked to implement its tactical aler-ting system «secur.tPa» facilitate this process needed to alert emergency responders and mobilize units. a redundant system in the headquarters in trogen and appenzell also had to be installed and integrated into

KNZ Trogen Server 1

Pager

Server 2 KNZ AppenzellTelecom Operator

Swissphone radio network

Cantonal network

Tel. FAX SMS

Mr. Fässler, tell us about the intensity of the thunderstorms on July 10th 2011?

It is very difficult to compare events. In 2002 a similar disaster occurred causing enormous damage, too. Compared to that disaster the cur-rent one devastated a smaller area,

but had a much bigger impact. It is definitely an event of the century.

Give us a brief description of how the assignments were processed.

the assekuranz appenzell-ausserrhoden has a predefined alerting plan which is divided into different phases. We quickly rated the event as a phase 5 event because of the numerous calls we received. this means that we had an event which required full mobilization of every unit. the alerting of rescue

nterview with Robert Fässler, fire inspector of Assekuranz AR

forces follows a specified order: pagers, landline and SMS. the assignments are arranged due to their priority. Saving lives is the highest priority. In Herisau several rescue assign-ments had to be performed, followed by draining cellars. to prevent environmental damaged, several cellars which were contaminated with heating oil had to be drained.

Did the secur.TPA control centre solution prove itself?

the control centre solution performed well because it was well planned to handle bigger events. Fire commanders can organize and update their staff by themselves.

How do you rate the interaction between all Swissphone components?

the interaction works perfectly, we never had any problem. In order to check the systems availability, we perform several tests every quarter which lead to the same result: the com-munication works perfectly.

Page 6: s.press 2011/2 En

6 author: Michael Christoffel | project leader, Swissphone Systems GmbH, Stuttgart

SOLUTIONS

Swissphone Systems GmbH and Robert Bosch GmbH have developed a system to record and evaluate all Bosch private fire brigades assignments to help to identify cost producers.

Secur.CAD records and evaluates all

Robert Bosch GmbH

fire brigade assignments

robert bosch GmbH has 27 private fire brigades. With over 280,000 employees, it is one of the most important industrial companies and maintains the biggest private fire brigade in Germany. regardless of their size and the number of events, all brigades record their assignments in a central database. the evaluation is done by the department of fire preven-tion and danger aversion to assign incurred costs to the appropriately parties. the development of the system to capture the assignment data is based on Swissphone’s secur.CaD software and does not re-quire further administrative efforts.

Different types of user groupsthe basic pillars of the secur.CaD system are fire sec-tions, user groups and material logistics. Within these pillars are three user groups: dispatcher, shift manager and administrators that are assigned different access rights depending on their range of authority. Members of the central department have access to all areas to create statistics about all private fire brigade activity.

Material logistics and coststhe evaluation of assignment costs requires accu-rate data acquisition of the consumables. Materials

works fire brigade

intranet web server Citrix server database server

works fire brigade

works fire brigade

works fire brigade

Page 7: s.press 2011/2 En

The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 7

and prices are stored into an assignment database. Used materials along with their corresponding costs are allocated to each assignment. the material stock can be monitored any time. the secur.CaD system monitors minimum inventories or expiration dates and calculates the total costs of every assignment.

Adapting utilization to needsthe different sized fire brigades require unique assign-ment databases. bigger departments can use the customized secur.CaD solution as a command and control centre to accept assignments and dispatch personnel simultaneously. Smaller brigades can use the same solution; however the implementation is slightly different due to a lack of administrative per-sonnel. Smaller departments profit from the ability to enter protocol after the assignment is completed.

Germany’s biggest industrial works fire brigade

robert bosch GmbH with its 280’000 employees is one of the most important international companies and maintains Germany’s biggest industrial works fire brigade. the single units are equipped according to the seize of the single factories. there are larger fire brigades with several special vehicles and full-time fire fighters, and smaller fire brigades according to limited hazard potential.

Page 8: s.press 2011/2 En

8

SOLUTIONS

Company founder Helmut Köchler and the president of the association of fire brigades in South Tyrol Wolfram Gapp sign contracts in Bolzanoon July 15, 2011. Standing in the background from left to right: Roland Bilger, Ing. Libero Cannarozzi, Walter Oberrauch and Pierre Matiz.

the association of

fire brigades in South Tyrol opts for Swissphone

autoren: Roland Bilger | project manager, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern Arthur Lenart | MarCOM media relations, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern

Page 9: s.press 2011/2 En

The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 9

Swissphone wins the South tyrol association of fire brigades bid to build a digital POCSaG alerting net-work containing two control stations in bolzano and Vilpian, 54 POCSaG base stations and nine sending units between the two districts.

The South Tyrol association of fire brigadesthe South tyrol association of fire was founded in 1955 and is divided into nine districts. It contains 306 volunteer fire bri-gades and 12,800 active fire-men. While the number of fire assignments has remained

constant since 1985, the number of technical assign-ments, which include catastrophe scenarios and me-dical responses, have increased dramatically. In 2010, 8,942 technical assignments and 1,347 fire assign-ments were performed. the South tyrol association of fire brigades has set a time limit on response time:

an incident site must be reached in no longer than five to ten minutes after receiving an alert.

In order to achieve this goal, better training is required. the number of seminars and num-

ber of participants in 2010 increase cons-tantly. about 3,372 participants attended

seminars for fire fighting, 2,114 for fire prevention and 2,407 attended external seminars for water and mountain rescue services.

training is particularly important because fire depart-ments offer several services beyond fire related inci-dents. they check air cylinders, maintain respirators and clean protective clothing. In 2010 alone 13,235 services were performed by the fire brigades of South tyrol.

The province of South Tyrolthe province of South tyrol covers an area of 7,400 km² (2,900 square miles) and has 500,000 residents. the landscape is dominated by the Dolomites which attract numerous tourists every year. because of its geographical location the brenner motorway, which is the most important connection between south and central Europe, goes through South tyrol.

In addition to the brenner motorway, the climatic and geological surroundings provide many other sour-ces of danger which force the fire brigades to be on continuous duty. For such strenuous requirements the association of fire brigades in South tyrol needs fail-proof equipment and that’s why they voted for a Swissphone solutions.

BOZEN

MERAN

GLURNS

STERZING

BRIXEN

BRUNECK

Page 10: s.press 2011/2 En

10

PRODUCTS

Today a pager faces various demands. While fire brigades, emergency services and police officers all need an alerting system, their needs differ. Alerting requirements can even differ within the same orga-nisations. Furthermore, a pager has to meet the individual country standards of where it will be used.

today fire brigades are composed mainly of volun-teers who can perform diverse functions. Many vo-lunteers work for their community fire brigade and are also employed. Many times members of emergency services also work as volunteers in a fire brigade. Since it is unacceptable to carry multiple terminals for each activity, Swissphone has developed a versatile pager which meets these demands: the DE935.

High level of customizationthe DE935 offers many customization options. the frequency can be programmed within a range of 10 MHz and within that range the user can switch bet-ween frequencies by selecting one of the various pro-

files. Even with the ability to navigate multiple frequen-cies, users are guaranteed to receive messages on all frequencies thanks to the integrated scanner. the DE935 offers 64 rICs with up to four sub-addresses each. Select- and Toggle-ProfilesSelect-profiles allow users to switch between groups of addresses. For example, users can define one pro-file for workdays and one for the weekend. to avoid an overlap between assigned addresses, only one select-profile can be activated. Profiles can be defi-ned by the user as a select-profile or toggle-profile

– featured exclusively in the DE935.

DE935 The terminal that adapts itself accord-ing to your needs

authors: Simon Ulrich | product manager, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern Arthur Lenart | MarCOM media relations, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern

Page 11: s.press 2011/2 En

The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 11

the new toggle-profiles are an innovation of the DE935. these toggle-profiles can be configured with a single or several addresses, which equals an offe-ring of 64 toggle address-groups for each terminal. the precise naming of profiles allows the menu to re-main simple and clear.

the DE935 offers more customization possibilities. a user can either scroll line by line or page by page through a message.

Field Strength IndicationField strength is measured every time a message is transmitted over the alerting network. Shown on the terminal display, this feature gives users an overview of reception quality which aids in pinpointing network weak spots and ultimately helps administrators im-prove and optimize the alerting network.

The DE935Overview of key features:

• Up to 10 MHz of programmable switching bandwidth (Wide Pll)

• 64 call addresses (rICs) with up to four sub-addresses each (256 independent addresses)

• 64 select- or toggle-profiles

• 256 rIC names with eight characters

• Field intensity indication (rSSI)

• Message encryption IDEa™ (128 bit) optional

• Multi-channel, scanner in one terminal optional

The DE935 has a full graphical display allowing different forms of text depiction:

• 5 lines x 21 characters in small, up to 105 characters at a glance

• 4 lines x 21 or 20 characters in regular

• 3 lines x 16 characters in bold

• Proportional font size available

Page 12: s.press 2011/2 En

12

the usage of digital pagers is increasing in popularity because of the expansion of digital alerting networks. Customers prefer to program their pagers themsel-ves; however, this can lead to programming errors, lost time, and even unanticipated costs if the user is not experienced.

Swissphone programs

If requested, Swissphone can program customer pagers in its production facility at its headquarters

in Samstagern, Switzerland. because of its extensi-ve know-how, Swissphone can help customers with every aspect of programming including planning rICs and assigning addresses. In preparation for program-ming, customers have to store their data in a master and an Excel file. General data, which is the same for all pagers, is stored in a master file. Individual data (like rIC addresses) is stored in an Excel file.

before the programing process takes place, Swiss-phone configures the incoming data in order to assign

Customer specific programming

saves time and money

PRODUCTS

authors: Stefan Hälg | head of product management public safety, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern Simon Ulrich | product manager, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern

Page 13: s.press 2011/2 En

The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 13

it to the individual pagers and then programs IDEatM encryption keys and passwords, too. Of course this kind of data will not be archived by Swissphone.

at the end of the programming process, a list inclu-ding the specific serial numbers is handed out with the programmed pagers. this process makes it easier for customers to identify the programmed pager and to hand them to the individual users. the program files and the assignment lists are stored electronically and can then be filed centrally by the customers.

Fast pager activation

thanks to programing provided by Swissphone, fire brigades can activate their pagers and hand them out to the corresponding staff faster. this reduces the amount of work and time customers to invest into the initial pager setup.

New multi configuration tool for programming RES.Q

Swissphone’s newest terminals (like the rES.Q) can be programmed quickly in high volumes by custo-mers themselves. their configuration can be changed later by the multi configuration tool.

In order to program multiple rES.Q pagers at once, an organisation must first store the general pager configuration into a master file. the individual para-meters such as profile names, call addresses or pin codes must be stored in a second file. after that the terminals can be programmed.

the multi configuration tool requires that the corre-sponding programming software be installed on a

personal computer along with a programming station with ten inserts. the programmer installs a SIM-card into the rES.Q terminal and inserts it into a free slot. the programming software reads the serial numbers of the installed rES.Q and SIM-card. afterwards the master file configuration and the individual parame-ters will be programmed into the rES.Q terminal. a label is placed on the unit so that it can be issued to its future user.

Ten terminals can be programmed simultaneously

ten terminals can be programmed simultaneously with the Swissphone multi configuration tool. a skilled programmer can process up to one hundred rES.Q terminals in one hour.

Most customers only use the multi configuration tool for the first setup of units; therefore, Swissphone of-fers its customers the opportunity to borrow the tool for the initial configuration of their terminals.

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14authors: Werner Schär | head of quality management, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern Bruno Jentner | head of business unit industrial communication, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern

BACKGROUND

alerting terminals:

safe and reliable thanks to

high quality standards

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The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 15

Seconds can decide between life and death, which is why Swissphone focuses primarily on reliability and accuracy when producing products. With its emplo-yees devoted to quality assurance, Swissphone de-velops reliable alerting and work safety solutions at its headquarters in Samstagern that makes its custo-mers’ jobs easier.

Quality awareness from the startFor over 40 years quality awareness has been rooted in the Swissphone company culture. Swissphone headquarters has several testing facilities which use the latest measuring technologies (see box below) to perform complex and elaborate tests. Swissphone also adheres to ISO 9001:2008 certification testing and therefore guarantees its products accordingly.

the quality of products and systems is taken into consideration at every step of development and con-struction process as a result Swissphone products work impeccably even when they are climatically, technically and corrosively influenced.

Quality confirmed by our customersSwissphone is unquestionably the quality leader in the safe alerting and work safety segments for lone wor-kers. Customer satisfaction surveys certify approval in terms of product and service quality. this confirmati-on is no reason for complacency; it truly motivates our employees to intensify their efforts. Swissphone con-tinuously renews its quality leadership by improving all processes to reach maximum quality and reliability.

Environmental tests and approval:

Out team of quality experts employs certified test la-boratories for special environmental test like electro-magnetic compatibility (EMV), electrostatic discharge safety (ESD) or admissibility for explosive areas (atEX) and accompanies these processes.

Mechanical tests:

Mechanical stresses can occur during transport or normal usage. Stress tests including fall tests- from a height of two meters-, vibration, acceleration and shock tests are performed to make sure that the pro-ducts meet our demands.

Climatic tests:

Swissphone products are used all over the world; therefore, various thermal and climatic stresses have to be tested. Swissphone performs intensive tem-perature and climatic tests (from -20 to +55 degree Celsius with a relative humidity between 5 and 98 per-cent), temperature changing and temperature shock tests.

Combined tests:

Combinations of mechanical and climatic tests can be performed for customer specific solutions. the following stress tests are possible: heat/cold with me-chanical shock, temperature change with vibration or humid heat with vibration.

IP safety tests:

these tests indicate how rigorously cases are pro-tected against dust or water. a possible result is the protection class IP54.

Corrosion and salt tests:

Salt tests examine how well a product is secured against salty atmospheres by continuous spraying or cyclical moisture and normal climate storage.

Swissphone quality measurements

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BACKGROUND

Discussions of how to improve the alerting process have been held for ages. Over the past few years, particular emphasis has been put on creating an efficient GSM or tEtra alerting network. Even as far back as 2005, in the first issue of Swissphone’s s.Press a GSM alerting solution was discussed; how-ever, there have been many conclusions as to why such a system would be unsuccessful. GSM is net-works are slower, inadequately secure, reception is poor and redundancy is unreliable.

Since the release of the GSM article in 2005, howe-ver, the GSM network has improved with optimization focused on network coverage, reception quality, and speed. this optimization along with other benefits such as its simple application and pervasive nature raise the question: is the GSM network ready for aler-ting at last?

GSM vs. PAGING

Mobile phones can be used to place calls, to surf the internet and to send/receive SMS messages. these features explain precisely why alerting solutions via GSM or tEtra networks continue to face the pro-blem of the past: they are optimized for speech and data transmissions, not for alerting.

Company founder Helmut Köchler used the example of a primitive alerting system to illustrate the alerting chains of today: a «türmer», a person who lived in a tower, would alert people using a horn, bell or light in case of an emergency. all three of the alert medi-ums share one important attribute: end-independen-cy. the sound of a horn or bell is heard by all people standing nearby the tower and the light is seen by anyone within range of the tower as well. the number of people are located nearby the tower is unimportant and has no effect on the alert delivery. It is a signal, which spreads out consistently to all sides.

Alerting: From the

beginning to the

present ...

authors: Harald Pfurtscheller | corporate technology manager Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern Arthur Lenart | MarCOM media relations, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern

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The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 17

The end-independency is the decisive factor

this end-independency is the decisive advantage pa-ging networks have over end-dependent GSM and tEtra networks. GSM and tEtra networks are designed for speech and data communication which require an up- and down-link channel. In order to re-ceive messages GSM and tEtra devices must be logged into their respective networks. GSM and tE-tra networks are divided into several network cells which can handle only a finite quantity of logins. When too many devices are logged into a cell, the network first decreases its speed and ultimately collapses.

Paging networks are end-independent and do not face this problem. Just like the sound of an alerting bell the alerting signal spreads out over a large area and can be received by any pager within its reach regardless of the amount of pagers in this area. this factor is very important when during an emergency many helpers are located inside one single cell.

The human factor

to understand how alerting works, the “human factor” must be consideration alongside the technical factor. Even the most sophisticated alerting system is usel-ess when rescue forces do not comprehend the mes-sage being sent. It is therefore necessary to carefully choose the content of alerting messages. too much or too little information can influence the alerting chain negatively.

During the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2011, firemen received a numerical code on their pagers, which indicated the collision of an airplane into a buil-ding. Unaware of the magnitude of devastation which had taken place, many firemen thought that only a small plane hit the building causing minimal damage and therefore remained at their stations. Slowly but surely the true extent of damage was revealed by the media and the finally firemen joined in the in rescue efforts. In this case the alerting system failed to com-municate the severity of the incident.

Firemen must react without knowing the details of their forthcoming assignment and immediately make their way to the station after they are alerted. too much information may cause failure in the alerting process as shown during the September 11th terro-rist attacks.

Every alert seeks to mobilize rescue forces im-mediately. the success of every operation de-pends on the interaction between technology and human beings. reacting to an alert, the human being must immediately take on the role of a rescue person. the technology must be able to reach the human being in a worst case scenario without incident. Swissphone has over 40 years of experience in these areas and is the ideal part-ner to plan, design and develop alerting systems.

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alerts indicate an emergency situation and have to be distributed fast and safe. the previous article «alerting: From the beginning to the present…» exp-lained why it is recommended to use local- and end-independent alerting networks like the POCSaG network. It transmits alerts which can be received by all pa-gers in its surroundings.

Increasing reception possibilityHybrid alerting is intended to establish safer message delivery and to close reception gaps. It supplements and combines existing alerting systems with additio-nal transmitting technologies. the alerting distribution

increases the reception possibility in areas with poor or problematic network coverage. In the past, alerts were transmitted via sirens or land-line telephones. the latter are stationary and do not meet today›s mobility demands. the GSM network is suitable to be combined with an alerting network to build up a hybrid alerting solution because of its pervasive nature.

Paging might use GSM either as a fall back or for simultaneous alerting. alerts have to be transmitted primarily via an alerting network which offers a high-er transmission safety due to its end-independency. the «Gebäudeversicherung Zurich» GVZ, for example, uses two separate alerting networks and GSM: their own, private SIKaN and the national tPS network.

Multiple technologies in a single unitthe safe reception of alerts via various networks and technologies in one single unit requires sophisticated solutions. regardless of the technical complexities, users should be able to use the terminal with ease.

BACKGROUND

... and the future:

HYBRALERT

Swissphone’s hybrid alerting system

GSM can enhance the accessibility in many parts of the United King-dom e.g. in Wales.

authors: Ingo Schmuckli | head of business unit public safety, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern Arthur Lenart | MarCOM media relations, Swissphone telecom aG, Samstagern

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The Swissphone magazine for public safety and industry – Edition 2 | 2011 19

Swissphone developed hybrid alerting with the following in mind:

• Different reception technolo-gies influence each other

• the battery life of a GSM ope-rated device is shorter

• SMS messages require cost control

• redundant messages must be suppressed

Swissphone has already integrated some hybrid aler-ting systems: the rES.Q system with SMS fall-back is used in the canton Schwyz and SDIS64 in France deploys HybralErt based on GPrS for its fall-back solution.

Many years of experience enabled Swissphone to de-velop complete and self-contained solutions as well as implement them into existing systems successfully.Progress reports will be published in the next s.press.

Hybrid alerting by SwissphonePOCSAG

GSM

GPRS / SMS

sup

rare

gio

nal

reg

iona

l RES.QControl centre

Page 20: s.press 2011/2 En

eveNTS

In the next issue:

Work safety for lone workers

Record-breaking: new equipping of Bremerhaven’s police control centre

Alerting of Paderborn’s airport fire brigade

Editor & Publisher

Swissphone telecom aGCorporate Communications

Fälmisstrasse 21CH-8833 Samstagern

tel.: +41 44 786 77 70Fax: +41 44 786 77 71

[email protected]

EN

11/

2011

034

2384

bU

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