Vas Product: Audio Conferencing

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“Sir I cannot hear you” – Air Traffic Management Out of Control?

The Problem

Unless you have been hibernating, you have heard about the recent voice communications outages in our multiple Air Traffic Control centers. You remember voice communications, don’t you? Invented in the 19th century and eulogized many times as shinier objects take center stage, voice  is a critical means of communication especially in the financial industry and in command and control. While E911 and other services evolve to include SMS, video, and other features, connecting to a human being on a reliable system that is clear, simple to use, and recorded for compliance is still the foundation of critical communication.

So then why is century old technology failing so often and putting people lives in danger? Voice is looked down upon by today’s technology elite. It does not attract investment. No one wants to make hardware. Everything has migrated to the cloud. While these may not be negative developments, there are legacy systems that are no longer supported that are aging and may not be easily migrated to the cloud. Voice system manufacturers are abandoning their embedded base every day and summarily ending product lines with little to no warning. Some will argue that we took a very simple technology, analog voice, and made it extremely complex with VOIP and its many considerations. Yes, it reduced the costs for consumer and general business, however for critical communications, it reduced the number of vendors and the market size for those vendors thus driving up the price. Government specifications can be complex, and those requirements may not exist in this APP culture and thus drive higher cost customized solutions where once the same PBX provided overlays for every market segment.

So how do all those issues manifest to create the crisis we have seen unfold over the last few weeks? Some level of government issues a Request for Proposal (RFP) that requires technologies and methods that may no longer be available and have to be created for modern platforms. Government bids can take years to create, garner responses, decide, procure, and implement. Many large governmental contractors and integrators take the approach to bid low and make more money in change orders. This drives up costs and elongates the time for deployment, often by years. Antiquated legacy systems must now survive even longer, may not be properly supported, and have contracted service providers scouring online auction sites for spare parts. Add to that the reduction in qualified staffing for cost savings, and it can culminate in a perfect storm of 90-second service failures to critical voice infrastructure at Air Traffic Control towers.

The Solution

The technology problem is not difficult to solve. However, the implementation is often likened to repairing the engine on an airplane in mid-flight. The legacy system should remain untouched. Its delicate status combined with the need for it to operate in a critical environment means high risk to any well-intentioned interim repair. The new system is not production ready and must be extensively tested so as not to introduce new issues. What can be done is to introduce an interim parallel system that leverages the reliable portions of the old solution and provides an alternative that is always available. Bridging the past, the present and the future is the sweet spot for some vendors. Technologies such as gateways, and protocol conversion can provide that evolutionary step from the legacy world to the new world on an interim basis without migrating the entire solution. By inserting these technologies and integrating them via a standards-based API, business continuity is achieved while disaster recovery efforts are conducted in parallel. Properly handled, it can be transparent to the user.

We must rely on publicly available information and make some assumptions. The first assumption is that the failure was only at the voice system. Secondly, we can assume that radar, geospatial data, and the integration of that data to air traffic control center operational systems – all continued to perform. Third, we can assume that the VHF radio network was up and reliably running. Finally, we can assume that the same radar and geospatial data can be presented to another system. Detection of a failure may also be possible which could trigger an automated switch over to the interim system. Or you can simply put a backup device on each desktop. The best backup is one that is always available and requires no intervention.

By taking that same data and matching it to the aircraft identification and geospatial coordinates, a new system can transfer that call to a specific controller in a specific region. A new conference is then created between the aircraft and the controller. It can be handed off as the location changes to a new center, and integrated chat/IM/SMS/Email or any other alert can be triggered and every event logged as desired. A simple example of this is E911 where your phone number is looked up in a database and an address is matched and overlayed on a map and is instantly presented to the E911 operator, then to police, fire, or emergency service dispatching.
If the controller is connected to the new bridge, and the new bridge is connected to the legacy voice service and the VHF radio via Radio Over Internet Protocol (ROIP) Gateways, then a failure of the old system will never even be noticed. Or both systems can exist in parallel. It can work either way, whichever is the best operational fit for the circumstances.

Conclusion

Although this may seem oversimplified, the concept is sound. The variable is a vendor. When you require a partner with extensive aviation emergency experience, who has had thousands of ports in service spanning multiple years without a single failure you turn to XOP Networks. XOP Networks has been providing RFCS (Ringdown Firebar Conferencing Service) to global airports both civilian and military (including the US DoD) for decades, allowing them to achieve FAA regulatory compliance. Their Universal Services Node (USN) provides Mass Notification to municipalities and schools, provides Command and Control conferencing during rocket launches and provides secure trader voice services to financial institutions on Wall Street. Their REST API allows for the integration of 3rd party software and data for additional features and functionality and enhancements to services outlined above. It can operate in a highly available configuration in the cloud, on servers in a datacenter, or a hybrid configuration. It can integrate with existing directories and identity systems, and integrates with recorders, transcribers, and analytic systems.

So why hasn’t a similar solution been put in place yet? Great question. Anyone who is interested can contact XOP at (972) 590-0200, at sales@xopnetworks.com, or at our website at https://www.xopnetworks.com/. XOP Networks, an American company, located in Dallas Texas, and ready to roll up their sleeves and help solve this problem, and already has an extensive track record of helping to keep passengers safe in an emergency.

Bill Wagner is a financial industry technology consultant with over 30 years’ experience as an industry executive in hardware, software, engineering, operations, R&D, product development and introduction, and strategic development.

 

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AI and Enhancing Trader and C2 Voice

The Problem

Is Artificial Intelligence just another shiny object, or can it positively impact your business? Every other job posting seems to be for an AI developer. For  certification factories it’s a bonanza. However, AI developers are long on demand and short on supply. The cynical part of me looks forward to when AI can develop itself without human oversight and the certification factories and developers du jour are looking for new opportunities. Six fingered photos and plagiarism arguments aside, are there opportunities to put this to revenue producing or cost saving use? I for one believe there are, and that  it’s never as simple as a LinkedIn video would have you believe. Knowing there is a dearth of development talent, do you buy, build or partner to catch the market window before your competition?

Years ago, a friend selling communications equipment told me a story of his pitch to his customer, a business owner. He told him they could reduce headcount and cost with this new solution. Specifically, operators and secretaries, as the automated attendants, and voice mail, on this new PBX would replace them. It was a family business. The operator was his mother, and the secretaries were his extended family. He lost the sale but learned a lesson. Technology has long promised, but has it delivered those efficient tools that give employees more free time, or more time to do their real jobs? Arguably, it has led to more demands on their time based on assumptions about the efficiency. Reduced staffing has meant more stress among the remaining employees. The current generations have rejected the ‘rat race’ lifestyles of their parents and grandparents. Is it possible to strike a balance and generate that win-win?

The Solution

 I will leave the hierarchical types and numbers of  AI models to other authors. However, the automation of repetitive tasks is a valid and common use case. In its simplest form, AI can help achieve that. We have all interacted with chatbots or auto attendants and have varying opinions on the experience. Like anything, you get what you pay for. If you invest in the development and training of the bot, your customers will have a more valuable experience. When a client has to say ’representative’ ten times to get a live person because your selections, logic, and training failed to resolve your customer’s problem, you have wasted your money possibly at the expense of your customer. Lesson one is to pick the right application, and make sure you properly invest in the project.

Voice assistants are another powerful too, that did not begin as an AI application but are being powerfully enhanced by it. I use one every day, and for me, as it’s on a separate dedicated device that doesn’t take up my real estate on my screen and doesn’t require me to press or open anything, I enjoy using it. It often fails on more complex questions; however, the new AI version will be shortly released that promises to rectify that shortcoming. So, it has replaced my typing in a browser hoping for a good return and scrolling past the sponsored items that I didn’t ask for to get to my answer. It enhances my experience, and I can continue to multitask with two free hands.

How do we add the value of repetitive task replacement with the enhancement of task? By consuming and presenting large volumes and varieties of data so that a user can synthesize it in their daily roles.

Consider a trader with screens full of changing charts, TV audio playing, internal and external hoots and shoutdowns being broadcast, calls coming in and going out to specific traders and firms are being made and logged and you can’t access it. Social media, news and market information are constantly changing, memos and emails are constantly coming in, voice recorders are transcribing events that you had no idea were even taking place let alone having access to. And there they are in the middle of that cacophony as the human information processor responsible for synthesizing everything into a transaction that will make your firm a great deal of money.  Now imagine you are that same trader, and AI was synthesizing all of that for you and presenting it into one easy to consume, visual user experience.

Using that same technology in Command and Control (c2) applications, information may be sent on social media long before the first emergency services call is ever made to  public safety officials, especially where the geography is remote or that hour is late. A report of some natural catastrophic event may begin as a post to a group. Hey, did you feel/hear/see that? By aggregating all of those same feeds and social media, can a disaster preparedness center get a jump on the response to an event in the same way the trader could and thus saves lives?

Conclusion

Systems Integrators, who supply mission critical solutions such as XOP Networks, are building AI into their core applications such as their Universal Service Node that provides financial industry and C2 critical communications systems.  Whether it is for their own customer service application, or for traders and first responders to visualize, synthesize and respond to massive amounts of data, XOP is focusing on enhancement use cases. The technologies mentioned above are available and in commercial use today. None of this is a vaporware or futures discussion. While your specific applications and integrations may require development or SDK/API work, these tools will assist with the dissemination of vast amounts of data to help humans make better, faster, and more informed decisions that can impact financial success and public safety.

Anecdotal Chat GPT use cases may be getting all of the press, but business applications will drive the success of AI and determine whether it is a flash int the pan or has longevity beyond the next shiny object. As with anything, how solutions providers architect and market the value will make the difference. So, learn the lesson of pitching the staff reduction aspect of the business  owners family with automation,  and instead focus on the value of the result. Visualizing and enhancing voice communication has always been a challenge, and XOP Networks is helping enterprises realize the value of the data they have access to and are turning that potential into voice with vision.

 

 

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ROIP Gateways: The Trusted Airport ‘Crashphone’ System and Its Capabilities Beyond

The Problem

Communicating over a distance has always presented a challenge to humans. From signal mirrors, semaphore flags, and satellites, people have leveraged technology to overcome communications challenges. In my Army days I had radio relay system in my vehicle that took up half the space, so that I could extend the reach of battlefield commanders to their resources. Today, we take speed, availability, and distance for granted with such innovations as cellular telephony, and Starlink. However, in a mission critical environment such as Command and Control (C2), this presents a unique challenge. The communication must be instant, reliable, and able to reach the responders regardless of where they are and what they may be using for communications.  Add to that the need for immediate access to decision makers and experts, and the complications begin to pile up.

How does a dispatcher in an emergency center served via the cloud not only reach their field assets, but the experts and leaders necessary to coordinate a unified response? That dispatcher may be on a console with a Radio over IP (ROIP) interface while the field assets may be on push to talk (PTT) radios, and the experts and leaders who may be travelling and on a cell phone or in conference room located far away in a municipal capital. How does an IT manager securely integrate, provide universal and secure remote access, and archive it for later analysis and compliance? C2 is estimated to be a $45 Billion market with a 6.6 CAGR by 2029. So, solving these problems is not only critical for emergency preparedness, but is a lucrative market for potential vendors.

The Solution

Mass notification services have become standard fare for municipal communications. With one call civic leaders can reach all their residents without sirens or public address systems. These can be further integrated with SMS to send the same message via text messaging, email, or other forms of media. In airports, these systems are used as ‘crash phones’ to bring all the airport emergency services and management together on one system rapidly, securely, and independently of the device they use for communicating. This same concept that has served airport management for years will work in other C2 use cases as well.

Imagine the first responder on the scene on a handheld radio, their supervisor enroute in a vehicle, the dispatcher at a console in a command bunker, and emergency management resources in a conference room, or in transit. You need one system capable of bringing all of them together. Specifically radio, VOIP telephony, cellular telephony, collaboration and conferencing services, and their underlying infrastructure. To do this you need a common denominator – SIP. XOP Networks provides the pieces required to integrate this secure, reliable, universal service. Their services can be deployed in a highly available manner, using data centers, cloud, premises based, or in a hybrid model.

Starting at the edge, XOP provides a ROIP gateway that can be deployed on a processor in your existing routers, or in a separate dedicated unit or units in a diverse, redundant fashion. They also provide the Universal Service Node (USN) which can convert and bridge any protocol into one conferencing system which supports voice, video, chat, screen sharing, document sharing and does so securely and privately on a platform dedicated to your requirements. XOP also provides device independent access to the USN, so users can dial in from a satellite phone, cell phone, VOIP phone, collaboration system, or use any device with a browser to access the conference. Through its robust API, XOP provides a variety of recording, AI, and other interfaces and integrations to comply with recording regulations and all 3rd party applications and partners with the best of breed MSPs and manufacturers should their customers desire one stop shopping. XOP has even developed custom software and designed CPE telephone stations to meet specific customer requirements.  And of course, they provide professional services to manage your project from start to finish and maintain it for the life of the system.

Conclusion

As the technology landscape continues to evolve, ROIP will evolve as well. How will technologies such as AI inference and network slicing provide new features and functionality to this market? Will enhanced mobile broadband/massive machine type communications provide large groups of first responders and their support to areas requiring a temporary or even long-term large emergency services presence? Using the airport crash phone example, how does a regional airport scale to support a massive first responder presence if an incident occurs and lasts for extended periods of time? Access is one portion of the solution, but as the access evolves and presents greater numbers of users, you will require a flexible, scalable, proven collaboration system to integrate and efficiently bridge the audio, video, and sharing for any given situation.

No matter what the future may hold, C2 use cases cannot tolerate service interruption as their constituents face potential life or death situations. XOP networks provides these services in a comprehensive solution that ticks the boxes of technology, compliance, procurement, reliability, and performance. They are acutely aware that the acronym CIA (confidentiality, integrity, and availability) is a critical component of any IT policy. Their solutions have been used by users and vendors to provide over 1 million ports of secure services for over 20 years without a millisecond of downtime. These customers and users include service providers, government, financial institutions, the military, first responders and more.

When you select a vendor partner, you choose one based on experience, reliability, performance, and TCO. XOP excels in these areas as is evidenced by their 25-year history in the very demanding C2 and financial sectors. Is your C2 systems integrator an XOP partner? If not, you may want to have them contact us today for a demonstration and discussion of their solutions. As a former XOP customer, I can assure you that after we did, they were deployed in our cloud environment globally. The value was unparalleled, and the decision was easy to make.

Bill Wagner is a command and control, and financial industry technology consultant with over 30 years’ experience as an industry executive in hardware, software, engineering, operations, R&D, product development and introduction, and strategic development.