The Customer is an international holding Group based in Greece with long-term investments in key fields, including construction, environment and participation in concession projects; the Group holds more than 60 years of experience and expertise in complex and demanding projects.

The Customer undertook the obligation to construct, operate and maintain the Korinthos-Tripoli-Kalamata motorway and the Lefktro-Sparti branch.

The construction of the 205 km modern motorway was completed exclusively by Greek Companies.

The initial business need of the Customer was the installment of a Telecommunication solution for Emergency Telephony sub-system; so, Exelysis was invited to give the solution. While acquainted with Exelysis’s features, the Customer was convinced that the product gathered a much greater set of characteristics, making it the perfect solution for the whole telecommunication infrastructure.

The initial design was broken down into several Requests for Proposal (RFP), one for each sub system:

• Emergency Telephony System for Open Road
• Emergency Telephony System for Tunnels
• Public Announcement System for Tunnels
• Tolls Intercom communication
• Tolls autonomous PBX Systems
• Tolls Panic Button / Emergency Systems
• Motor Way Management Center (MMS)
• Operations autonomous PBX Systems
• Emergency Short Phone (1025) Management System
• Monitoring and Alarming System

A key requirement was that all the above RFPs had to be combined and installed on a common platform based on IP technology, with high availability, centralized management and easy operation.
Each RFP needed to comply with many requirements, including (but not limited to) legal constraints and regulations. Additionally, due to the critical nature of the project, there were many limitations on the options for communication between subsystems. Some of those challenges were:

• Due to large distances, ERTs should be working as analogue devices converted back to IP at a pillar at open road and needed to operate within extreme temperature ranges. At the same time, monitoring of ERT devices and alarming on problems, was critical.
• Each Tunnel was required to provide an autonomous system, which would be activated in a case of emergency (when communication with Control Center was unavailable) and be able to operate independently, using alternative communication channels locally available (e.g. POTS).
• The Monitoring and Alarming System should oversee all infrastructure, including Public Announcement system, Analogue ERTs, Toll Intercom, PBX, Analogue to IP converters etc.
• Tolls Intercom had to be implemented in such a way that the Control Center operators could talk to specific Toll Station Agent, to All Toll Station Agents of a Toll Station, to All Toll Station Agents of All Toll Stations heading North or South, To All Toll Station Agents of All Toll Stations. The devices used at Toll Stations should auto answer on Speakers only for calls coming from Control Center or Toll Supervisor.
• The emergency short code should be handled in priority on the Control Center and all calls should be recorded and stored for 5 years. If all Control Center Agents were in a non-emergency call, the system should hang up the call and send the emergency call to the agent.
• The Monitoring and Alarming System should be integrated into the MMS platform using APIs and standard SCADA protocols (Modbus) in order to have a uniform Control Management Center at the Control Center.
• The system should be available under any circumstances:

> if the Control Center is down, a DR Control Center should be activated instantly (DR).
> if an IP node is down, all the ERTs should try routing the calls via other nodes.
> if the interconnection fiber is down, the system should use normal Public Telephony lines to redirect the calls to the Control Center.

Exelysis Engineers designed and implemented the project by complying with all RFPs requirements, using Exelysis UCS, Exelysis Contact Center and Exelysis Monitoring and Alarming Platform.

• Two EUCS were implemented, one in the city of Tripolis and one in the city of Kalamata, that serves also as DR. These two EUCS cover all the PBX functionality necessary for the motorway telecom needs. At each tunnel and each Toll Station, there is a separate Exelysis Media Gate-way installed, which can also take DR and backup roles for the ERT communication.
• In each toll booth there is an IP device, instead of intercom allowing for two-way communication but also a speaker control if needed. Under each toll agent desk there is a mushroom panic button that is connected both to the local as well as the central PBXs.
• In tunnels there are speaker phones installed managed by the control center through a selection of tunnel-direction.
• For the Analog ERTs, smart devices, with sensors for vandalism, battery or other failure, are used. Their alerts, together with alerts from the PBXs, the Gateways and the IP Devices are monitored by the Exelysis Monitoring and Alarming Platform and through its integration with SCADA, presents monitoring and alarming of all components through the MMS application.
• Exelysis Contact Center is used for the automated handling and routing of all calls from the ERTs and the central emergency number.
• Finally, except of the motorway network, alternative routings from landline and mobile providers are used to achieve redundancy.

• The Exelysis solution that was applied, totally covered the needs of the Customer – with all limitations and requests being fully met; and this within a unified telecom environment provided by a single integrator.
• Furthermore, the Customer managed to cover traditional needs, using modern technologies, so the organization achieved its digital transformation on that project.
• Cost reductions is another benefit of the solution: the automation and monitoring features of Exelysis, gives the Customer immediacy in locating malfunctions, so repairs happen sooner.
• Last and most importantly, the Customer achieved to provide a safe experience to drivers and employees of the motorway and to respond fully to European Regulations.