Business Continuity & Security

In Italy, Public Safety Operations Centers act as contact points for ambulance, police and rescue services. A European Union mandate requires member states to support a single European Emergency Number (112) for health and security assistance. The Emergency Medical Service number (118) is also supported. The Centers are structurally integrated with regional information systems and mobile information systems on the ground, enabling response units to seamlessly exchange information with hospitals and provide real-time information about patients and their situation while being treated in the field. This mission requires continuous application availability and non-stop operation of all hardware even in the most challenging circumstances.

NEC partner Beta 80 Group provided the Express5800/R320a Fault Tolerant Server to guarantee continuous uptime for all mission-critical applications within the emergency service center environment. All hardware components are duplicated in a single solution, eliminating common points of failure with real-time synchronization. This solution maintains data protection under conditions where every second counts and each component is an essential tool in helping to make life-and-death decisions. And, importantly, no skills are required – the fault Tolerant Server and utilities are completely automated and invisible to the administrator, and replacement of any failed parts is done with modules that synchronize automatically upon installation. Bundled remote diagnostic monitoring services provided by the NEC partner supply yet another level of vital operations continuity with no manpower overhead for the internal IT administration team.

Oscar Bocchini, Beta 80 Group Senior Vice-President/International Development Manager, describes the security and benefits this product offers: “The 99.999% operational continuity of the NEC Fault Tolerant server is the essential feature of the integration with the emma (emergency management) platform. The NEC Fault Tolerant server has made it possible to achieve the objectives of infrastructure reliability and data security and secondly to study new developments and integrations that may need to be added to the public safety service, without having to worry about upgrading the technological component.”

The Ministry of Education in San Juan, Argentina creates innovative educational programs for the province's pre-school, primary, secondary and higher education levels. The Ministry required a voice and data network solution, streamlined administrative processes, and a new information management system together with biometric access control to secure data processing and development areas. NEC delivered an end-to-end network solution for 400 workstations at 192 schools and administrative offices. This was a Secure Cloud Solution with Desktop Virtualization and IP Telephony using US110 thin client terminals with NEC Express5800 virtualization servers, an Express5800 Fault Tolerant Server for continuity, and a UNIVERGE SV8500 communications server. Each school is networked seamlessly with the Ministry of Education and its management offices via the UNIVERGE SV8500, an open standards application server that can support voice, unified communications and mobility solutions for tens of thousands of users. The whole system is managed with Education Management Suite (EMS) software. Gustavo Quiroga, Project Manager at the Ministry of Education, was extremely impressed by the installation: “NEC's staff was committed to a smooth collaboration with our IT personnel. We felt very comfortable with their work. From the beginning, we wanted a close working relationship with NEC. It was so close that at times it was difficult to distinguish between internal resources and NEC!”

For improved data security and minimized maintenance, all back-end hardware and software is housed in the data center. Data security is reinforced by integrating biometric access control between the Ministry of Education and management units, and the system also tracks time and attendance to secure the data processing center and development areas. In addition, replacing the organization's many PCs with a desktop virtualization solution has ensured a secure computing platform and simplified management. The US110 thin client terminals provide rich PC-quality high-speed video and audio without the hands-on maintenance of typical PCs. Quiroga found that “We were able to increase the number of desktops available significantly” and in addition “We were surprised that although the number of users had increased, the number of end-user support requests decreased considerably. Management is much easier now.”