Success Story

Ready for anything: The General Secretariat of the German Red Cross adopts a failsafe modern IP communications solution times of natural disasters. The rather dated telephone system in use however no longer met the growing needs of the General Secretariat of the DRK and therefore the management decided to find a new telephone solution.

The obsolete telephone system at the General Secretariat of the German Red Cross (Deutsche Rote Kreuz, DRK) has been replaced by an ultra modern IP Centrex solution developed by the provider from Karlsruhe CNT AG. The headquarters of the DRK now has an extremely flexible, scalable and highly redundant communications solution – characteristics that are only possible with a virtual PBX IP. The offices of the DRK were also fitted with new IP telephones made by the Berlin manufacturer, snom. The General Secretariat of the German Red Cross in Berlin is the focal point for coordinating humanitarian aid operations in national and international emergency situations. The DRK e. V. is the federal association of the National Society of the Red Cross for the Federal Republic of Germany and is part of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Movement that helps victims of conflicts and natural disasters and people in need who have particular health problems or who are socially disadvantaged. The DRK, as a national society support agency to the Red Cross as well as the main independent association for social assistance is inspired by seven fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. The German Red Cross is the largest non-profit organisation in Europe. The DRK General Secretariat in Berlin coordinates all activities of the numerous regional and local associations and also manages the centre for crisis management that is set up to coordinate operations and missions of the DRK on a large scale or in foreign countries. As such the Secretariat needs a communications system that guarantees functionality even when standard lines of communication are interrupted, for example in

“Our obsolete equipment had already caused us problems and the system could not be extended any further”, was how Christoph Intemann, head of telecommunications services at the Secretariat of the DRK explained the initial situation. “We therefore decided to look for a new solution. It was clear from the start that the functions of a PBX did not meet the basic needs of the DRK so we looked for an external supplier to entrust the task to. “ No future with traditional telephone systems During the decision making process it became immediately clear that only IP technology based telephone systems would be able to guarantee the flexibility and security desired by the Secretariat of the DRK. As a result four of the six bidders were quickly ruled out. Of the two remaining candidates only CNT AG in Karlsruhe was able to meet the required needs of the Red Cross: they had already successfully installed a facility of the same magnitude. After an interview with the Secretariat of the DRK and a customer the CNT won the bid with their virtual IP Centrex based telephone system. “The virtual PBX IP, a centrally managed, data centre solution such as IP Centrex, is the latest evolution in telecommunications systems. In large projects however this type of system has only been implemented rarely until now. Our solution is based on technology that was developed entirely by us and that at the DRK has once again shown that such technology is mature enough to be implemented into large projects. Our solution is highly scalable, has numerous functions and maximum security. All decisive aspects for the Secretariat of the DRK “, explained Christian Renze, CEO of CNT. “Of course the overall cost played a significant part in our decision. Not having to bear the high initial costs of a fixed structure on site also impressed

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us greatly. The thing that made the real difference however was the reliability guarantee even in the event of a problem with the CNT solution, an unattainable guarantee for any other technology”, added Christoph Intemann. Double security thanks to two telephone systems To ensure that the DRK did not remain isolated from the outside world during a natural disaster, the new telephone system had to meet stringent requirements. CNT therefore installed two identical IP Centrex systems in two different data centres, in Berlin and Frankfurt. The Secretariat of the DRK also set up a failsafe power supply even for the emergency generators. Furthermore the internet connection was made redundant for both the fixed line and for emergency calls via a radio link. “In conventional systems all the technology is concentrated in a single physical location and connected only via a multiplexer”, declared Renze. “In our solution if there is a problem an alternative routing system automatically starts to ensure that all incoming and outgoing calls are routed to the second system”. The data centres that host the systems meet the highest safety requirements starting with a redundant internet connection passing power through physical access controls as well the strictest fire safety standards. The possibility that both systems fail is virtually impossible.

Intuitive IP telephony with snom devices Within a few weeks the installation was completed and in April 2013 the new system was officially operational. As well as the PBX IP, the Secretariat of the DRK was also fitted with new IP telephones. “In general it is possible to connect all main IP telephones to our system”, said Renze. “Nevertheless we recommended snom devices to the DRK because we have always had extremely positive experiences with them. snom telephones are intuitive and easy to use and especially because they have high standards of compliance. This aspect combined with the possibility of configuring the phone in advance thanks to automated provisioning

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greatly facilitates their implementation and use in administration. Provisioning only works effectively if the manufacturer meets SIP standards and unfortunately this is not always obvious for all suppliers. “Another advantage of snom telephones is that they do not require any particular training for new users because all the basic functions are easily accessible just like on a normal telephone. The more than 400 employees at the Secretariat of the DRK did not have to change their habits very much and acquired new programmable function keys with the snom 710 and snom 760 telephones that give them rapid access to the functions they use more frequently.” “With the new CNT telephone system we now have the necessary tools to communicate effectively to do our job correctly”, declared Christoph Intemann. “The IP Centrex system ensures economic and reliable communication between the centres that can also be integrated with mobile devices”. The DRK is also ready for the future. “For regional or local organisations that choose to follow the example of the General Secretariat we could easily expand the system”, promises Renze. “Even if all members of the DRK, for a total of about 140,000 people choose to implement our solution we will be able to expand the system easily without any major complications.” CNT is the acronym for Communication Network Technologies, a pioneer and technology leader in IP telephony. snom technology AG is a leading developer of high quality IP telephony that pays particular attention to security and privacy.