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LiftComm's EAV Elevator Phone: High-End Safety and Accessibility · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: We also have integrations and we also have the ability to pull IP camera fees.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we are working right from the client's camera that's already in existing infrastructure.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: The second that we are putting this on a client's network, we're making sure that it's meeting all their standards, right?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: We're not worried about a cloud.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: We're not worried about any other hosted service, third party things of that nature.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: Beyond the operating system, the robust aspect, it's a hardened lock-down computer.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: So this thing's going to be exposed to the public in these elevators.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: So we make sure that there's no risk, no vulnerabilities there.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, ultimately, these clients, when they have the infrastructure, the teams that are already focused on it, they really get into it early on when we start these conversations.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: They they want to know what it can do, what it can't do, the whole nine.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then we design it together.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: You had mentioned some of your other customers that for them security is a huge deal, right?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so them wanting to kind of own it, control it so that they can make sure that everything is totally secure makes a lot of sense.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome to Elevator Tools and Tech, a special series from the Elevator Careers podcast, where we spotlight the latest innovations, tools, suppliers, and technology driving the vertical transportation industry.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: In each episode, we sit down with the creators, engineers, and solution providers who are helping elevator companies work smarter, safer, and more efficiently.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: This episode of Elevator Tools and Tech is brought to you by Liftcom, a product of tech solutions and providers of high-end elevator emergency communication systems.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I met with Joe Barone, senior client manager.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: We discussed their audio and text communication solution in compliance with ASME 17.1 code that allows speaking or hearing impaired people to communicate in case of emergency.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: We discussed the progression of elevator emergency communications, rigorous testing processes for these devices, and available integration.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Learn more at liftcom.com or email Joe at jvarone at techsolutions.com.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's dive in.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Joe, welcome to the show.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Matt.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm I'm glad to have you.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Excited to talk about your product and uh honestly, you know, get to know Lyftcom a little bit better.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So uh first question I have for you is, you know, kind of for the the listeners who've never heard of of Tech Solutions or Lyftcom, what problem do you solve in the elevator world in plain English?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: In plain English, uh what we solve at LyftCom is we helped to satisfy an ASME 17.1 code that in in short, it requires that inside the elevator, someone's trapped and they hit that call button.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Not only is audio supposed to pass through now, but also text messaging in case a passenger is visually impaired or speech impaired.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: So that's gonna help me code, and that's something that we've actually helped develop and has have been rolling it out through the country over the last few years.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and your elevator story actually starts outside of elevators.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tell us how the MTA relationship led you into IP intercoms and two-way communications and ultimately into elevators.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: So our story does go a couple decades back, actually, early 2000s, Tech Solutions uh started as just a security engineering company, mainly focusing on a product line called Cyberlock that you see above me.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's an access control system that we implemented through a lot of state agencies and a lot of end users, but ultimately we got into MTA around mid-2000s.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then just through our relationships, you know, we were a solutions provider for other options.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: So come 2015, they decided to swap off their intercoms from analog to IP.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: So they approached us for a solution, we submitted one, uh, and we we ultimately won, and now we have thousands of our IP intercoms throughout the MTA, New York City Transit, Long Island Railroad, the whole infrastructure.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that was actually a you know a great relationship that we'd have.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: So we've been doing that now called about 10 years.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then come 2019, I had mentioned earlier this code that now there's this requirement for text messaging as well.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we're already in there.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: They they approach us again, and rather quickly we were able to develop a system.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's called REAV.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's an example of what it would look like on a panel.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: That is the system that actually contacts back and forth with yes and no answers, uh, meets the code.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: And arguably we were one of the first to meet this code, just given the way that it was rolled out into New York.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, got a few hundred of these now every day growing.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: They're they're doing a very nice job with ADA improvement plans through all the subway stations.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot of these in the field and continuing to grow.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it sounds like you were kind of right place, right time with the right technology when they said, hey, can you essentially add this piece?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, boom, yeah, we we can.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was something that it was as an engineering company and consultant, you know, security, it's it's our focus.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: And we said, yeah, we would love to take a crack at that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: And it's exciting.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: We like to make new products, make new solutions.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it was a really great opportunity.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and you've talked to your, you know, about your approach as kind of higher end, even Rolls-Royce, uh, we I I may have used that term, right?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: But what does that mean in real features and outcomes?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: True.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: I I'll say we say Rolls Royce, we say the higher end ultimately because of that opportunity we had with a clientele that had a high standard for what they needed in their infrastructure.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Anytime you work with a state agency, an authority that you know, they want something that's proven and built around their requirements.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, of course, us being the ones to provide that solution, we were given this opportunity to really develop a solid system.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: So, for example, our hardware, our operating system is Lennox.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's a hardened operating system compared to the alternative.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: People use general purpose boards, uh, Raspberry Pi, things of that nature.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: We also have integrations and we also have the ability to pull IP camera feeds.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: So we are working right from the decline's camera.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's our existing infrastructure.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, ultimately, it's something that's proven the test of time, especially over these last few years.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've been in there since 2019.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and reliability, security, these were some of the headlines that needed to be met, and that's ultimately where we satisfy.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and you've you've kind of pointed at some of that equipment behind you.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, can you kind of walk me through uh a little bit of the communication process?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned the panel on my right, your left, but uh what else is there?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you got it.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll actually work backwards here.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: So this is an example of what you might see in an elevator cab on the COP, usually above the floor buttons, the open and close.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: You've got the screen, seven-inch display.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it could be touch screen, but we actually put a protective cover throughout the MTA, and some of our other clients just vandalism.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um ultimately, if that button is pushed, uh it's kind of it's gonna ultimately go to uh either a command center.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of our clients have in inside command centers.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um it could go to a phone, it could go to a workstation.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: But in between here, the wiring is actually quite simple.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: So what we actually like to do is it's an IP device, POE device.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's how it's powered, that's how it gets communication.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh as when it comes to the install, you all you do is you take a twisted pair off the traveler cable, and it actually converts into IP in the cab.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: So you have this black box right in the panel.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then in the machine room, we have an enclosure that would house the other end of that.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's called a two-wire device that's then going to turn it back to IP.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: And behind me, it goes to a network switch, uh, either in a comm center or you know, down the hall in a data center.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: So when it comes to the actual install process, we've got guides and some videos, but relatively, you know, not too much equipment to make this actually work.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And you you you you kind of talked uh and touched on some of these pieces, but walk me through a little bit more about kind of the back-end architecture, like the on-premise server, uh, PBX.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what do those actually mean?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And and why would a customer you know, care or or say, hey, yeah, I want that.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'd say that's a good point.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's definitely one of the larger things that set us apart from the rest is our offering for a total solution, meaning the client can own everything out, right?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: We could provide, we have our UCM, we hand over to the client, and that's their server, that's their PBX, that's everything that they own, what's called on-prem.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's within their network.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: They own it.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: No cloud subscription services, um, they don't have to worry about any infrastructure outside of their four walls.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: That people like that usually with the higher security.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um usually the end users have their PBX teams.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: They have these teams that are focused on having that higher standard.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: And again, security is always going to be the forefront of that.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it gives the client an option just to own everything outright.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we of course like to maintain it.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: We have you know different agreements, we want to be there as a support factor, but oftentimes we we set it off with success out the gate.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it sounds like if they've already got teams in place, if they've already got a similar structure, they probably just want to roll it into to what they're already doing and own it, like you say.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Which kind of leads me to a next question.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because you you have said to me in a previous conversation that that security is really a big part of the first conversation you have with with new customers.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm curious what makes your solution more secure?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the second that we are putting this on a client's network, you know, we're making sure that it's meeting all their standards, right?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: We're not worried about a cloud, we're not worried about any other hosted service, third parties, things of that nature.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: Beyond the operating system, just the robust aspect of it, it's it's a hard-immed lock-down computer.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: So this thing's gonna be exposed to the public in these elevators.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: So we make sure that there's no risks, no vulnerabilities there.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: That would be mainly, I think, the the huge factor.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, ultimately, these clients, like you said, like when they have the infrastructure, the teams that are already focused on it, they really get into it early on when we start these conversations.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: They they want to know what it could do, what it can't do, the whole nine, and then we design it together.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and you've you've talked a little bit about, you know, certainly MTA, and you know, you had mentioned some of your other customers that for them security is a huge deal, right?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think them wanting to to kind of own it, control it, know, know, you know, all of the ends of it so that they can make sure that everything is totally secure makes a lot of sense.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk a little bit about reliability because you you did mention the hardened Linux system.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about the uptime standard you referenced.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: What did you have to do to achieve that?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: No, you got it.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: So a standard that we like to be held to is called the five nines.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's a 99.999% uptime.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh meaning that our devices in the field, they're going to be working, and it's not a matter of if this call button's going to be pushed, it's when this call button is pushed.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it better go to that end spot.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so it's a standard that, of course, was passed down through our relationships with some of our government accounts that they want to see the highest possibility of standard met.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: So to meet that, ultimately the testing process is pretty robust.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we ran these things for months on end.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: We stayed logged in, we we exposed them to different temperatures.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: We've put them kind of through the ringer to make sure that they're going to be able to fit these environments like a government agency, like a heavily trafficked area, better than most would.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so it's it's gone through some pretty rigorous testing and and now we're reaping the benefits of that on the send now.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that sounds uh that sounds kind of intense.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, from I'm not a Six Sigma expert, right?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember hearing and learning a little bit about that in college, and that sounds like you've actually gone beyond that to make sure it's going to be up and running.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's certainly, you know, it raises the ears and the eyebrows a little bit in eating.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: So when you say something like that, and when we mentioned Lennox, you know, we're on with these IT guys, they hear that, they get more comfortable about it.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I think then they get, like I said, like a little excited about it and say, all right, well, what could we do with this?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what are the capabilities?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: Can it work with X, Y, and Z?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, they'll say, yeah, they love designing with them.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me a little bit about um, you know, some of the new prospects that come to you and have had bad experiences uh besides that they don't like maybe having a monthly subscription.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: What are some of the most common pain points you hear?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you know, over the years we've heard just some feedback about reliability of the device, you know, some screens not working, and then when there it's time to actually swap them out, some difficulty with working them back into that infrastructure, getting a program to making sure that they're calling the right spot.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's one thing that we kind of pride ourselves on when uh if we are retrofitting a situation, then we're gonna make sure we hear the customers say, All right, what were the concerns here?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: And kind of make them comfortable about, well, this is why we're not gonna be in that situation.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: We even had one of our clients down south, it's an airport.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: They reached out even before the initial device was even installed.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: When they started doing some research about it, they kind of saw the way that it's built and some of the infrastructure, the cloud aspects, and and there it was a communications manager, and she said, No, I'm not not doing this.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: They found us online.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: And since then, they've been amazing to work with.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: They've really into it.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, they're one of those clients that actually care, you know, and they bought right in.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're building, you know, a real nice system with them over the last couple of years.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you you mentioned swapping out devices, like maybe while the while the system's still up and running, right?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Being able to do that.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and you had talked a little bit more in a previous conversation about kind of the white glove approach, like configuring something before it even goes in.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you've already got it keyed up and you just plug it in and it goes.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: In addition to that, what are some of the things you do before before it's installed, uh, you know, to make commissioning and installation easier?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think that our main focus in the beginning, if this is a new project, an existing project, if a contractor comes to us, a fixture company comes to us, our goal is always to have a conversation with the end user.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: And this is mainly to take that onus off of the contractor because now they've moved to this IP computers versus an analog phone.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: So to provide that white glove service, it's speaking with those IT teams with the end user, learning about their expectations, how they want it to work, you know, their call routing, where is the call supposed to go?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: If it's not answered here, it goes here, you know, it goes to the next person that could be pushed.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of different configuration aspects that we like to get after early so that when it is actually installed, it's plug and play.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, that would be the main, I'd say, white glove service aspect.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then once it's installed, similarly, another client wanted to uh work out a SIP trunk where you know the phone calls 911 and it works through their PBX.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: Then a couple days working with them, we got this set up.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't think a lot of other people can offer that as quickly as we can because we're working with some pretty intelligent people that really care about the device, and we love it.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're engineers, we love them working with them, finding solutions.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we're we're really into making sure we're responsive, we have a great support structure, and they're getting the system that they're designing for themselves.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's no one system for everybody, and we're open to that.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and obviously with the 2019 code, the the device is no longer just a phone, right?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's a computer on the customer's network, you know, there's there's a lot, uh obviously security, you know, some of these things that maybe you didn't have to worry about when it was just a phone in a in an elevator.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, who should own this internally?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've you've talked about kind of the IT team, obviously your team is involved.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it could be could be the the elevator contractor, maybe they don't want to own it, right?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: But what would that be ideally?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, for decades it was always the same thing, right?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's a hundred-year-old industry, hundreds really, and and then for a while it's always been the same thing.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: The phone is always part of the installation of the elevator, almost like a widget.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's an analog phone, it gets plugged in, calls, creates, move on.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Now that it's become more towards this IP computer-based, ultimately, yeah, we we like to speak with the end user.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: We need to kind of get in there, not to cut anyone out, really just to take it off their plate, because it goes far beyond, I believe, their scope of just installing something.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's a lot more to it.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: And we work in tandem with them, we work through them, we work directly with the client, whatever it is.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: But ultimately, I think that is it's a big change.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the world is getting away from analog.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: The elevator industry, in some cases, are still installing analog phones.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: So it's yeah, it's a very odd, you know, approach, but we're trying to not only look ahead for the immediate future, but down the road, you know, sustainability, reliability, the whole nine.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I think getting out in front of the end user is the only way to truly do that, to build those relationships with them and take it off of an otherwise, you know, an industry, like we said, been around for a while.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: And we laugh too, because we've been doing IP phones, like I said, for over a decade now.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: But in the elevator industry, it's it's historically a very old industry.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we listen to your podcast, you got guys on generational guys have been in this industry.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: So as Lyftcom now coming up with a focus meeting this code, going to shows and having these conversations.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: And we've actually even gotten questions like, where'd you guys come from?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, who who are you guys?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like it's it's odd to penetrating industry this long.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: But it's it's been fun, it's been interesting, meeting a lot of these these guys and and and and girls, and it's it's really been interesting.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, our approach is a little bit unique, but to answer your question, mainly, it would be reaching out to that end user and getting out in front of them early.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we talked a little bit about integrations and how your system can integrate with uh you had mentioned you know, cameras, things, but give me a couple examples um, you know, for our listeners of some of the integrations you have.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's a Linux hard hard-end operating system, but we're still open source, right?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: So we have our own code, but we're SIP compliant.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we we have these this ability to work with other systems as well.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: So, an example for a software integration would be a lot of our clients, because they're state agency, uh, you know, public sector, they use a system called Genitech Security Center for their CCTV systems.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Genitech's done a great job penetrating the industry, so they're pretty common now.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: So we had one client approach us, they said, Hey, you know, we're using Genitech, and because we pull their IP feed, we don't have to install another camera.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: We use existing cameras if it's there.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: They say, Well, we're using Genitech and we want it a little bit easier if someone pushes that button to know that that camera is gonna be stamped.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: So then we've developed something called bookmarking, right?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Where in short, you click that call button in the elevator, it's gonna stamp in the Genitech camera system that a call was placed.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: This is gonna help make it easier if you go back for the footage.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: You you know, for whatever it be, you want to go recover that footage and know what happened.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's already there.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: So it takes out a lot of the time, makes things easier.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we've worked with other call operating systems, answering services, you know, Viper, you know, these different systems that people have to answer calls.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: We can work with them.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then I like to mention the hardware aspect.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the Acrobat EAV here has a relay, you know, simple, normally open, normally closed, that can tie into elevator monitoring services.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: So one specifically that we work very closely with is cloud monitoring.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Bali, Angelo, those guys, those guys are great over there, and we've been working with them for a little bit.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: And essentially the the benefit there is if this elevator phone goes down, network drops, power goes out, and it's a UPS backed up, but let's say network drops, uh, through the cloud monitoring system, alert will be sent out, depending on how that software is set up.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: Emails get sent out to the appropriate people, you know, and cuts down on response times, improves overall operability.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so we like to we like to work with different people, differ, especially different inventors, people with different ideas.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: We're open to it.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: If any of your listeners want to reach out, you know, they have an idea that can integrate with a phone, we're more than open to that.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, integrations are part of that aspect of let the client design what they want, and we're here to make it all work together.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we're we're definitely proud of that aspect of it.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that sounds like a a really smart idea because you know, if somebody's doing remote monitoring or somebody's, like you say, they're monitoring the the cameras, they want to be able to have everything in one command center, be able to respond to it, act upon it, find it.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's that's a huge point.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think once you start adding more and more equipment into any infrastructure, those so that we're using the elevator as an example.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: You already have an existing camera.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Now you gotta worry about maintaining another camera or surface-mounted camera that really doesn't even look that satisfactory.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it passes inspection, but tougher to monitor.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Our if there's not an existing IP camera, typically that's our first approach.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: We uh we supply a corner-mounted camera because it has all those capabilities that I think a clean system would.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: And again, if you're not editing stuff, there's less points of failure, and it just makes for an overall cleaner system.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: So um you mentioned uh proactive supervision TPS, you know, continuously checking the communications path.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: What does that accomplish versus monthly testing or or don't know what all the other uh processes are out there, but no, yeah, it's so that's something that uh we've helped to design and we're you know working on we're still learning a lot about the industry, right?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: We're still figuring out everyone's kind of rushing to have a solution.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: One thing that we feel should really be highlighted is really having a good supervision of that this this line, making sure that not again, not if the button's pressed, but when it's pressed, that call is going to go through.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: So previously a little archaic, but you used to have people go out once a month, go press the call button, make sure the phone's still or something like as basic as that.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: What uh what we're developing ECPS, emergency communication path supervision, its focus is not only are these two devices talking to each other, meaning is that elevator phone speaking to you know the call agent or the call center, but are there any other factors that might be blocking that call from going through?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Because remember, we're not talking about just a phone call over you know a copper line.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Now we've got internet involved.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: So not only is it going to check that I can communicate with this device, but are there any firewalls blocking it?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: Is the network still good?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: Any changes on any of the URLs, IP addresses?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: So it's called SIP option ping, where ECPS is really going to continually be monitoring this stuff.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Again, so the ease of mind for the people that do care, if you hit this button, what's going to happen?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Now you got that piece of mind.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, and that's I think that's where the industry should be heading, putting a little bit more time and effort into this emergency device.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, what what comes to mind is uh essentially, you know, kind of like remote monitoring for your elevator, but in this case it's for your elevator communication system, just to, you know, and and maybe I mean, does this let's say it goes down, I I assume it it it takes a uh a message, sends a message back to the you know whoever's monitoring it and says, hey, you know, the the camera's out or the You got it, you got it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a series of things happen.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the code itself requires that if anything were to happen to this device, you know, it trips the relay, and then you get an enunciator down at the landing, you get an LED and the screen with display, emergency phone unavailable.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: In addition to that, for the remote aspect, yeah, you're getting alerts out for the people that need to be reached, you know, all different ways that again cutting down response time, making sure that this elevator is back up and running soon.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because for especially with the ADA community, people depend on these to travel.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if an elevator is out, especially about the subway station, airports, transportation, really throw the wrench in their plant for their trip.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it's so important that these things are well maintained and hardened and reliable because they they hold a very heavy weight as far as their responsibility as the buttons as are the bikes.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, Joe, who is uh, and we talked a little bit about this, but who's the perfect fit customer and who would not be a fit for your system?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: We really our clientele over the last five years has heavily remained with the state agency higher-end government style, for lack of a better term, the ones who really care about the security and what they're putting on their network.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: And typically it's been that little bit more higher-end clientele that has some infrastructure that they want to meet.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um people that care, really.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I'd say for the flip side of it, we're open to having a conversation with anyone.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: Anyone that calls, we've truly never had a bad demo.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's always been educational and oh wow, that's really cool, X, Y, and Z.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: But let's use a residential, for example.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a small residential building that are just trying to meet the code, this might be a little too feature-rich for your use case, you know, maybe not as cost-prohibitive as an alternative might be.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: So we've actually had calls where we've had that conversation and say, yeah, this has been great, but we'd actually recommend, for lack of better terms, a competitor, because we feel like their system actually really would help meet what you're looking for.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we we like to say, we're looking for the higher end, the white glove service, the ones that we can grow and and build relationships with, versus just being a widget and in an elevator.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and you'd mentioned I think uh, you know, some some airports, obviously the MTA, I mean maybe a college campus.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, this is this infrastructure has to be here, has to work.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: And not that some of the others don't, but if it's like you say, if it's just one and there's not a team to kind of support it or monitor it or pay attention to it, um, maybe maybe that one doesn't make as much sense.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's funny.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: We actually go around, we don't click on the button.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: We've seen some interesting things in the field.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: You start to notice things more, right?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: I never would have thought 10 years ago I'm staring at elevator phones whenever I get in an elevator, but you know, change the way you see the world a little bit.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: But there was one incident actually at a building over in New Jersey, and and we'll show you the photo where their elevator phone wasn't even a phone.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: It was a walkie-talkie on the handle of the elevator that said in case of emergency, use the walkie-talkie.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: Use this walkie-talkie.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: And it it really just helps further the idea that this is an industry, it's an ever-growing industry, it's a very old industry, but the phone aspect has always been so overlooked and kind of just been uh I forget about its style.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: And in that case, we actually tried to use the the walkie-talkie, no one even answered.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: So things like that, I think the industry should be heading, and it seems to be heading in a more focused area that these devices shouldn't just be forgotten about or overlooked, especially in heavily trafficked areas.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they're holding a lot more weight than ever.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's it's been it's it's very interesting.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, Joe, if somebody's interested in having that conversation, how would they get a hold of you and your team?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I mean, you go to liftcom.com, we we have contact information there.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh anyone that's wants to have a conversation about features, capabilities, or like I said earlier, partnerships, different ideas that they feel would really help advance this product or even help their product, you know, advance because of the capabilities over here.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we we always say we're not a very salesy bunch.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: We're more operational focused and just demonstrations.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: We love just doing demos.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: We do it here in this lab and this conference room here, simulate calls, and it's always a conversation.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think one thing that we've been really trying to focus on lately, in addition to reaching out to the end user and educating a little bit on what's out there and what your options are, we even have some great relationships with architects and consultants, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: People that when they're designing these jobs, now we're giving them an option to offer this in their tool belt when they're having these conversations.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: This way it gets in early, and now you know, we work with the fixture company and everything, and it's all set up.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: And and while that construction is being done, we can start having these conversations.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: So anyone, you know, I really encourage anyone just to reach out.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's there's a lot to learn.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, the industry is still growing uh when it comes to this phone.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's relatively new.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: This code's relatively new in an otherwise 100-year-old industry.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: So five years, people are still trying to figure out what works, uh, you know, what people really want to see in their phones.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know, we're no stranger to that, too.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we welcome conversation about it, and we just really are into it and want to keep seeing it grow.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for for being with me today.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've enjoyed the conversation.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: No, thank you for having me.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: This is really exciting, and uh yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing more of these coming out.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate that.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: You bet.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks again for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Please remember to visit Liftcom.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: You can find them at L I F T C O M M dot com or email Joe at Jvarone at TechSolutions Inc.com to learn more.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: The link will be in the description below.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: Please like and subscribe.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay safe.