CyberData has become a leading SIP-enabled VoIP device provider for facility-wide communication, paging, and notification systems. Now, CyberData's portfolio is even better with the introduction of its notification and management platform called Terminus Cloud ControlTM.
This cloud-based controller service is designed to simplify emergency and non-emergency notifications, as well as the management, configuration, and monitoring of CyberData's SIP-based devices. In this article, we review this service, show how it works, and highlight its significant features and capabilities.
CyberData has extensive experience delivering SIP-based VoIP services for education, warehouses, manufacturing, and retail sectors.
Focusing primarily on notification, paging, intercoms, access control, alerting, and emergency communication services, the company delivers a unique set of VoIP products geared toward large-scale facilities of all types.
These systems can easily integrate with SIP-based unified communications (UC) and telephony systems from many vendors, creating a fully integrated communications, notification, and PA system.
As such devices are increasingly deployed across larger networks and infrastructures, managing and administering them becomes even more challenging. To address this, CyberData has developed the Terminus Cloud Control system.
Terminus Cloud Control is a powerful cloud-based notification solution enabling access and control of CyberData-based VoIP paging and notification devices from anywhere.
A single interface lets you remotely manage and monitor CyberData devices across multiple disparate facilities for the efficient and versatile management of notifications and VoIP paging.
CyberData designed Terminus ingeniously, taking advantage of an on-premises gateway device. CyberData offers three versions of devices that can function by themselves without an internet connection or as a gateway to the Terminus cloud. These devices play the role of local gateways for all connected endpoint devices.
They are designed to act as communications relays for transmitting commands and monitoring information between the individual endpoints and the Terminus cloud service.
To see this more clearly, look at the following diagram.
The diagram above shows two separate locations where CyberData infrastructure is deployed:
Each site has a central device that act as a network gateway for communications among all local CyberData devices and the Terminus cloud. This arrangement has several advantages:
Once you adopt the central devices and their peripherals to the Terminus cloud server, you can take various actions from this centralized control system. Here are some key features.
Terminus can create automations, which are "if this, then that" scenarios. It is possible to configure specific events to trigger particular alarms, such as emails or text messages being sent out or audio notifications being transmitted when certain events occur.
It is also possible to cause one alert to trigger another alert, which, in turn, will create a particular notification. Automations can be as intricate and detailed as you need them to be.
You can view the current status of all connected devices from the main dashboard, which gives an overview of all connected devices. A convenient endpoint view also shows a list of all amplifiers, paging servers, and peripherals registered to the controller.
You can see the current status, MAC address, location, and date and time of the last "heartbeat" received from the device. (The heartbeat is a periodic polling of the device that occurs to ensure continuous operation.)
Terminus is capable of scheduling various events and alerts. The most common feature under the scheduling functionality is the built-in bell scheduler, which is especially useful for schools and training facilities to indicate the end of one time period or the beginning of another.
It is also helpful for noisy workplace environments that require an audible bell or horn to sound to indicate a shift change. You can configure the bell scheduler using an interface that looks much like Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar, indicating dates and times of particular bell soundings.
Even if the connection to the cloud is disrupted, the Terminus-enabled gateway device will continue to operate in the local mode and scheduling will continue as normal.
The Terminus interface allows you to conduct web-based administration of any and all devices connected to the cloud service. You can access a web-based interface that is virtually identical to the interface you would see if you connected directly to the device.
This is extremely useful for larger, multi-facility enterprises, where devices are spread out across geographically remote locations. You can connect, modify, and manage all your devices from the comfort of your office!
Within each individual amplifier or paging server, you can also view real-time and historical events that are logged and maintained within the devices themselves. This is an excellent way to get a detailed view of the current status of a device, and it is also a useful tool for troubleshooting possible problems or strange network behavior.
When you adopt a device on the Terminus cloud controller, its configuration is uploaded to the cloud. In the future, if that device loses its configuration or has its configuration wiped when it connects once again, it will automatically be restored. The cloud acts as a central repository for these configurations, ensuring that they are safely managed and backed up.
CyberData provides Terminus Cloud Control for three particular devices: the 25/70 amplifier, the paging server mentioned above, and the InformaCast-enabled 25/70 Amplifier.
By enabling the Terminus license on one of these devices, you can manage the endpoints connected to them and ensure continuous operation even if there is a temporary interruption in cloud connectivity.
In addition, CyberData now offers a 30-day, fully functional free trial for managing up to 10 endpoints, so you can get a feel of what it's like to connect, manage, and control CyberData endpoints.
To see Terminus in action, CyberData periodically conducts live demos of the service online. Simply register to participate.
Terminus Cloud Control simplifies emergency and non-emergency notifications, as well as the management and monitoring of CyberData's SIP-enabled VoIP devices.
With its centralized cloud-based interface and useful features like scheduling, automations, and configuration management, it is ideal for large-scale, geographically dispersed facilities that use paging and notification systems.
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