Success Story: Service and Emergency Management

Commend Italia was able to deliver a system that fully complies with the relevant standards, in particular IEC 62820, as well as other customer requirements. Six GE800 Intercom Servers were installed on three different levels to allow Intercom terminals in the respective zones to be connected to the relevant server. The three groups of Intercom stations were then interconnected using the cyber-secure Commend IPBridge technology, which enables the use of a copper pair connection without passing through a network switch.

The operator stations have been equipped with the EE980 Control Desk, featuring a large 7” display, with OpenDuplex® audio quality in eHD quality for natural hands-free communication at high volume levels. The touch screen display can be customized according to the user’s needs by adding, for example, specific function keys or direct call keys. The display allows the visualization of video streams from the IP cameras at the entrances. The EE980 IP terminals, like the GE800 Servers, are connected by using the Commend IPBridge technology.

WS211VD SOS terminals have been installed at “quiet spaces” to allow direct calls to the appropriate operator station and to receive voice announcements. The Commend terminals are extremely robust and protected against shock, dust and humidity (degrees of protection IK09 and IP66) and guarantee excellent speech quality at 16 kHz under all noise conditions. Thanks to specific features such as DSP-based background noise and echo cancellation, IVC and OpenDuplex®, Commend guarantees excellent speech intelligibility (STI - Speech Transmission Index - of 0.96 on a maximum scale of 1.00 - measured in the laboratory). Therefore, the SOS terminals are ideal for the use in any environment.

Digital terminals (EE320AR - EF862 - WS212VD) have been provided for the management of service communications with the elevator shaft (pit, elevator roof and machine room), while WS800PD devices with full keypad have been installed in the technical rooms to ensure a wide extension of communications.

The access communication to the tower was managed with WS800VD digital terminals in different configurations (standard installation, with custom terminal, installed on column) equipped with IP camera: also in this case, the secure connection through telephone pair allows wide availability of the system, making it possible for rescue teams to use a “global and secure” communication terminal outside the building. Cameras at the entrances have been directly connected to the LAN network considering that, in case of an event, the video function is of secondary importance compared to the audio communication. The entire intercom system has been connected to the Siemens Siveillance BMS system for management and diagnostics.

Going beyond the requirements and achieving excellence was a “must have” and Commend Italia’s solution made it possible to do so: in fact, the products supplied are all tested and certified with extremely high MTBF values (MTBF stands for Mean Time Between Failures, a reliability parameter applicable to mechanical, electrical and electronic devices). Some special features of Commend systems have been particularly appreciated, such as:

• Loudspeaker/microphone monitoring - ensures operational continuity of the intercom terminal and reduces the need for manual functionality checks;
• Monitoring of the network connection of each individual terminal;
• Audio Monitoring - programmable user security feature for automation of system actions (e.g., emergency call) based on predefined noise levels;
• Dynamic background noise suppression eliminates all ambient noise;
• IVC - intelligent volume control based on changes in ambient noise; and many more. 

The experience and professionalism of the Commend Italia team is a further guarantee of success because it is not enough to have the best product in the world. It’s necessary to have the competence to configure, manage and exploit it at its best.