The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) wanted to upgrade the intercom system throughout its subway stations. However, during the planning process, the TTC discovered several obstacles that needed addressing.
The agency wanted to upgrade its intercom system with IP devices but did not know how it would ensure a robust and effective local area network to support it. Given the unique characteristics of a subway station, re-cabling would be extremely expensive, disruptive, and time-consuming.
Any disruption to subway operations would devastate the city’s transportation infrastructure, as city residents use TTC services to make over 1 million trips per day. Additionally, re-cabling the subway stations would take several months and far exceed the project’s budget. The TTC searched for an innovative solution to overcome its digital transformation barriers.
FLEX 24-10G switch
The TTC discovered NVT Phybridge and its long reach Power over Ethernet (PoE) innovations and engaged with one of their subject matter experts to learn more. After discussing the project and its challenges, NVT Phybridge recommended the FLEX24-10G switch. The agency was intrigued and organised a no-cost, no-obligation proof-of-concept to test the solution on site.
After a few simple setup steps, the FLEX24-10G transformed the existing network into a robust PoE backbone to support the new IP intercom system.
FLEX24-10G delivers Gigabit speeds to standard reach and 10/100Mbps symmetrical, full-duplex, and PoE++ (50W) over 4-pair UTP or PoE+ (30W) over 2-pair UTP with up to 2,000ft (610m) reach. With six times the reach of standard switches, TTC was confident that they had found the perfect solution.
Digital transformation
The TTC used the NVT Phybridge FLEX24-10G switch to deploy over 1,500 NetSpire IP intercom devices
The TTC took a proactive approach to find new and better ways to achieve its digital transformation objectives in a financially and socially responsible manner. The agency used its existing infrastructure and the NVT Phybridge FLEX24-10G switch to deploy over 1,500 NetSpire IP intercom devices throughout 75 subway stations.
“NVT Phybridge allowed us to re-use our existing cabling,” said Norbert Koot, Senior Engineer, TTC. “Re-cabling all our subway stations would have represented a tremendous scope increase, which would have drastically amplified time and budget requirements to complete the project.”
Robust and secure network
“The NVT Phybridge FLEX24-10G switch allowed us to create a robust and secure network backbone for our new NetSpire Passenger Intercom System,” said Jeff Thurston, Project Manager, TTC. “The new solution provides greater communication flexibility to help TTC Operations improve the response time to customer’s needs.”
The Toronto Transit Commission was extremely impressed and satisfied with the solution, using the FLEX24-10G switch to achieve incredible results.
- Leverage existing infrastructure to drastically decrease network readiness costs.
- Simplify the entire digital transformation project while collapsing planning and deployment time.
- Eliminate business disruption during planning and deployment.
- Create a robust and secure IP platform that is easy to configure, manage, and troubleshoot.
- Per the TTCs Green Procurement Policy, the agency chose the FLEX24-10G switch to avoid more than 9 tons of cabling e-waste.
- Network / IP
- IP video surveillance
- Industrial security
- Commercial security
- Network monitoring
- Industrial security systems
- Network cameras
- Security software
- IP Surveillance
- Industrial surveillance
- IP security solutions
- Corporate Security
- Central Monitoring
- Network Video Recorders
- Digital Video Recorders
- IP transmission
- PoE
