It has been six full months since SGS formally began fulltime operations. Starting with all the issues associated with opening a business through where we are today. Now that the office is furnished and outfitted, and employees are on board, you might be wondering where we are and what has been accomplished. This initial blog entry, is a sort of state of the union, as of July 2007, and there are many exciting updates to report.

Immediately we went to work. In the beginning “work” consisted of endless discussions of what to do and how to do it. Our first order of operation was to become familiar with an existing product we felt was right for the alarm security industry from an IT perspective. GoldenEye, a network monitoring product, was then customized to provide key metrics unique to a Central Station. Since that time, GoldenEye has been installed in several Central Stations, and is helping to prevent and uncover IT problems, as well as provide insight into signal traffic patterns. We believed in the product and its fit within the industry so strongly, that by May 1st SGS acquired Phoenix Data Security (PDS). Besides the unique and robust GoldenEye product, we felt having a 24-hour Network Operations Center (NOC), would allow us to provide additional products and services in new and exciting ways. The Phoenix Data Security NOC is integral to all our plans moving forward.

In concert with the efforts surrounding Phoenix Data Security, we began evaluating the landscape. Along the way we talked with many old friends within the industry. Most called to say hello just to keep in touch. However, each conversation had two distinct characteristics. First, a warm welcome with best wishes for success. Second, with the question “Are you building a monitoring product?”. Eventually, we had to take this question seriously and contemplate the project, and the opportunity to build something from the ground up.

Once the decision was made, we began designing our development tool set. In the end we feel we have settled in on a foundation that will provide robust, reliable, and flexible products. With the acquisition of PDS, we partnered with a breed of developers who are well versed in the Open Source community. The addition of talent from a completely different environment allows us to combine our experience and technical foundations to create the best products with the best tools available. Today we are utilizing everything from Windows to Linux, .NET to PHP, Microsoft SQL to MySQL, and on and on. Each new component is evaluated, and the best development tools are considered.

The very first product to come from our joint efforts is a “Line Tester”. The Line Tester, known as the “SGS backStage LineTester”, solves the age old problems of failed phone lines in a central station. The product is a Linux appliance that sits on your network and connects to outbound POTS phone lines. On a periodic basis, it places automated calls to each of your inbound phone lines, and reports the results. For any Contact ID receiver, it can act as a panel and send a test signal to the receiver that is pushed all the way through to automation. When failures are detected, they are recorded and visible through the unique user interface as well as sent to automation as line failures/restores of a genericSur-Gard receiver. The product is based on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), and runs on hardware that is near solid state. From conception, to beta testing, to product launch, it took 90 days to bring this product to market.

In the meantime we continued our efforts on our Dispatch Automation software product, Stages. Stages, set to launch in Q1 of 2008, already caught the attention of several companies interested in the next generation of Dispatch software. A modular approach has been taken, isolating the responsibilities for database interaction, user presentation, workflow management, and rules enforcement. Each module has a specific function, and can be upgraded independent of the others. Likewise, external modules to provide inbound and outbound interfaces (receivers, IVR, telephony, etc) are being developed, many as appliances specific to their task.

The tool set being developed for Stages is very unique, and as I mentioned before, is best of breed. The database foundation is Microsoft SQL, a proven platform for performance and reliability. The database has been designed from the ground up, and includes XML web services that will let customers access the data in an open standard never before available across an entire automation database. The primary development environment utilizes C#.NET, JavaScript, AJAX techniques, Web Services, and SQL Stored Procedures. The result is a browser-based experience that you have never experienced before. There are no plug-ins, no ActiveX controls, and it is cross-browser and cross-platform compliant. The results are truly remarkable!

Beyond the technology we are taking the time to carefully contemplate the structure of the data, and organizing it to better reflect the real world usage today. From zoning to schedule and contact management, each element is contemplated and designed from the ground up. Many powerful new approaches have taken, adding flexibility and ease of management along the way.

As with all of the other fresh approaches being taken, we are also taking the time to reconsider what it means to deliver quality support in 2007 and beyond. This website is a reflection of our concept. Beyond a static marketing and corporate site, this site will be a living breathing site for our customers. You can look to this blog for updates and discussion of timely issue. The backStage LineTester already has a wiki, where you can see online documentation that grows through user involvement. In parallel there will be an online forum where users can help each other, and SGS experts can chime in to address issues that will forever be documented and searchable. Rounded out with a knowledgeable support staff in a true 24-hour NOC, and we believe we will deliver world class support for every product we deliver.

Today we have GoldenEye, and the backStage LineTester. We are knee deep in Stages development, and are building up our support infrastructure to meet our customers needs. We remain excited about our opportunity to start fresh, and we think our products and services will reflect this excitement. Visit our site (and this blog) often to keep informed of our progress and see how we are meeting industry needs in new and exciting ways.

Thom Meyer
in SGS Blog
Posted at 23:31:34 UTC