REFERENCE Client: the Control Centre of the District of Unna Sector: Public Product: Optical Transport Platform MSP 1000

Redundancy that saves lives: The control centre of the district of Unna opts for wavelength-division multiplexing

REFERENCE Client: The control centre of the district of Unna Sector: Public Product: Optical Transport Platform MSP 1000

In a few words: In order to ensure that the fire station can be reached at any time in case of an emergency, the Optical Transport Platform MSP 1000 of MICROSENS GmbH & Co. KG - a powerful data center interface based on wavelength-division multiplexing, was implemented in the district of Unna. Redundantly planned communication channels often run via a central node, so that the availability of the emergency number is not always guaranteed in the event of a failure. Thanks to dark fibre, the fire station in Unna will be connected in the future to the Lünen site. The automatic redirection system used ensures that all data at both locations is being transferred and found. The emergency call infrastructure is not affected either by the failure of the telephone exchange or by the destruction of the control centre in Unna. The safety of the population will not be compromised.

The Story: As early as kindergarten, our youngest learn that in case of an emergency, they should call the number 112. This emergency number puts citizens in touch with trained specialists in the control centres around the clock. They accept all emergency calls centrally, alert the emergency personnel, and coordinate the process. But what happens if the number is unavailable or if the control centre itself malfunctions? In the district of Unna, the persons responsible have dealt with this topic in detail and have set up a secondary (backup) control centre, which is fully operational at any time. This is ensured by means of a high-performance coupling of the data centre on the basis of wavelength-division multiplexing. For this purpose, the district of Unna relies on the Optical Transport Platform MSP 1000 of MICROSENS GmbH & Co. KG. Statutorily regulated redundancy Since December 2015, the new law on Brandschutz, Hilfeleistung und Katastrophenschutz (BHKG; legal regulations on fire protection, general aid and disaster control) has been in force in the county of city of Hamm, is considered to be a pioneer in this field and offers North Rhine-Westphalia. In §28, this law stipulates that the control a high-performance and modularly extensible CWDM/DWDM centres must be able to perform their tasks even in the event of a solution with the Optical Transport Platform MSP 1000. MICROSENS disaster. The administration of the county operating the control centre was able to successfully emerges as the winner of the invitation for fire prevention and rescue services has been dealing with this to tender. topic for a longer period of time already. At the latest when the main distribution switch of the Telekom in Siegen broke down as a result of a fire and the emergency call number was unavailable for days Full-scale backup at any time afterwards, the topic of redundancy moved into the focus of the Today, the district of Unna has a reliable, redundant IT infrastructure fire protection services. This event made it clear to the responsible for the control centre and is well-prepared for the case of an persons that the redundantly planned communication paths are still emergency. In the course of the reconstruction measures for the frequently connected over one central switch. If this switch breaks fire department in Lünen, four workplaces were set up which can down, the telecommunications service provider is faced with big be used immediately. In addition, there is the option to set up challenges. As a result of the damage in Siegen, the district of Unna two further workplaces in the neighbouring room in case of an performed a stress test – and had to find out that here, too, the emergency. All emergency calls can be rerouted to the backup control main connections and substitute paths led over one central node. centre at the push of a button. Moreover, the system also detects the absence of a reaction and then automatically reroutes all emergency Double separation of the buildings calls. As a result, all data records are stored and available both in To provide full protection for the 400,000 persons residing in the Unna and in Lünen. Thanks to the wavelength-division multiplexer, district of Unna, the local administration implemented a completely the Dark Fiber provides both a 10-Gbit Ethernet and two 8-Gbit Fiber redundant and autarkic backup control centre this year. Sebastian Channel connections. All data records stored on the three computers Koch, systems administrator and project manager of the local in the control centre in Unna are permanently mirrored to the administration of the district of Unna, has been working to achieve computers in Lünen, which means that they are operable at any time. this for a long time. He checked systematically, which locations would Neither an outage of the telephone switch, nor the destruction of the be appropriate for a backup control centre. He made his find in Lünen. control centre of the district of Unna endangers the functioning of Unlike the previous site of the backup control centre in the former the emergency infrastructure. The members of the control centre administrative building of the district of Unna just 2 kilometres away, of the district can direct and control the operations for fire protection, the fire brigade in Lünen, located more than 15 kilometres away, is rescue services, and air ambulance any time from Lünen. connected to a different node of the Telekom. This does not only ensure the spatial separation of the facilities, but also the completely Reliably working infrastructure separated routing for all emergency calls. Working towards this new infrastructure, the IT experts were able to benefit from the forward planning of the city of Lünen, Variously usable Dark Fiber explains Sebastian Koch: „The project almost failed, since there In addition, the newly built Main Fire Department and Rescue was no continuous fiber optic trunk that we could have used. Centre in Lünen offers the appropriate constructional prerequisites. Fortunately, the city of Lünen had installed empty conduits, which The core component of the backup control centre is the IT we were allowed to use for our fiber optic connections, thus infrastructure. Here, Sebastian Koch initially evaluated the option permitting the fast installation in the first place.“ The MICROSENS of a leased line between the two sites in order to quickly re-route Optical Transport Platform MSP 1000 could then be commissioned the emergency calls over this line in the case of disaster. The without any problems. The modular system can be adapted mirroring of the data on the computer systems of the control centre to the individual demands of the customers very quickly and of the district, however, would not have been possible with this can be extended, where required. Moreover, it wins over solution. The option permitted the lease of a Dark Fiber, i.e. a fiber the user with its reliable operation, which Sebastian Koch optic connection without preinstalled services in combination with already experienced in the scope of other projects: „We have competitive wavelength-division multiplexers. The district of Unna already been using MICROSENS products for data mirroring followed the advice of the project manager and implemented in the administration of the district. The solution has been the connection between the two sites over a Dark Fiber. In terms working absolutely reliably for a years.“ This is a decisive criterion of the wavelength-division multiplexers, the decision-takers for the local administration of Unna and the responsible project did not have to search far. MICROSENS, located in the neighbouring manager, because, after all, the safety of the public is concerned.

Reference The control centre of the district of Unna MICROSENS GmbH & Co. KG – Küferstr. 16 – 59067 Hamm / Germany