C

Case Study

When Only 100% Reliability Will Do

In Brief

How Orlando Sanford International Airport Deployed an

Orlando Sanford International

Innovative WAVE-Powered IP Crash Phone System.

Airport faced regular failure of

their crash phone system,

Needless to say, the delays from this service

The Challenge

disconnect were a source of frustration for

For more than five years, the Sanford

compounded by the extended

SAA personnel and a potential risk to

Airport Authority (SAA) had been vigilantly

repair delays and recurring costs

passengers, crew members and emergency

waging a campaign to keep Orlando

responders themselves. On one particular

Sanford International Airport's outdated

of leased line services and an

afternoon an airport incident occurred that

crash phone system up and running.

external maintenance source.

required an emergency response. Despite a

Relying on an entirely analog infrastruc-

successful 7:00 a.m. system test that same

ture of local phone lines, the system was

Leveraging the efficiencies of

day, the crash phone was inoperative at

regularly failing on a monthly basis.

non-proprietary, standards-based

the crucial moment.

As the critical piece of equipment behind

software, their new WAVE-

Fortunately, SAA staff were able to

a coordinated emergency response, above

powered crash phone system

successfully orchestrate the necessary

all else, a crash phone must be absolutely

emergency actions by radio and the

reliable. Because of the age of system at

provides them with a reliable,

crash phone failure did not result in

SAA, however, problems arose as a result

scalable, cost-effective solution

unnecessary harm or damage. Regardless,

of anything from lightning and power

it was clear that SAA could not continue

surges to simple rain. If the six miles of

they can maintain and optimize

to rely on the old system. A new solution

old cable buried under the airport

using internal resources.

had to be found.

grounds got wet, the best they could

hope for was static on the line. The worst,

First and foremost, SAA needed a crash

a complete outage.

phone system that offered near-infallible

What's a Crash Phone?

reliability. As a close second, they desired

Confronted with the recurring failures, SAA

a system that they could completely

continued an ongoing regimen of daily

An airport's crash phone is

manage and maintain using responsive,

testing. Unfortunately, when the system did

perhaps its most important piece

cost-effective in-house personnel, and

go down, maintenance was out of their

of emergency equipment. In the

ideally, existing hardware. And obviously,

hands. SAA had to coordinate repairs with

event of an emergency, air traffic

given the state of their existing crash

the local telecom company. In addition the

control personnel in the tower

phone, they needed a solution that could

recurring expense SAA incurred for the

simply pick up the phone and

be implemented in a relatively short

maintenance contract, it also meant a

are connected instantly with a

period of time.

downtime of at least four hours before

combination of first responders

anyone even looked at the system. At

and airport operations staff. A

The Solution

times, the crash phone was nonfunctional

crash phone operates like a

SAA opted for an innovative new IP crash

for a day or longer. In the interim, SAA

conference call, but in reverse.

phone solution presented by VoiceInterop

relied on radio as a backup system, a much

Instead of different parties calling

of Boca Raton, Florida. VoiceInterop,

less effective means of communication for a

in to a single point, a single call

whose crash phone technology is powered

group conference call.

simultaneously goes out to a

by WAVETM unified communications soft-

number of recipients.

Crash Phone | Case Study