Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the CloudSurgard Analog Multiprotocol Receiver


About CloudSurgard

What is CloudSurgard?

Cloudsurgard is a completely software multi-protocol alarm receiver in the cloud that replaces the current ones. analog receivers and the copper or digital lines of your central

What can I do with CloudSurgard?

You can receive directly by IP the analog signals sent by the alarm panels that transmit by line analog and definitively eliminate the obsolete analog receivers and the lines of your alarm center.

How do I get started with CloudSurgard?

You just have to contact us and request a Demo.

What can I do with CloudSurgard that I couldn’t do before?

With CloudSurgard you will have practically unlimited call admission capacity, your lines will never communicate, you will be able to have active-active backup in the reception of analog signals and you will be immune to fiber optic lines of your customers.

See this CloudSurgard feature list.

What makes CloudSurgard different from analog receivers?

CloudSurgard is a software in the cloud, a managed service with much more processing and storage capacity than an analog receiver

It can execute several simultaneous signal processing algorithms, it can be added functionality in progress, remembers past events to improve the detection of new signals, such as remember the last handshake to which a specific panel responded to repeat it as the first option in the following calls

Does CloudSurgard use analog receivers internally?

No, CloudSurgard is a software that runs in a virtualized environment, without hardware, does not depend on specific servers and is fully elastic, being able to scale automatically if necessary.

Installation and commissioning

Which of the Alarm Monitoring Applications is it compatible with?

It is compatible with all: SBN, Manitou, MasterMind, SoftGuard, etc., from the point of view of Software of Alarm Monitoring, at the plot level, CloudSurgard behaves like a Surgard MLR-2000 receiver.

Do I need the phone lines?

No, it’s a thing of the past, CloudSurgard receives the calls

Can I use numbering offsets with CloudSurgard?

Nope.

Can the connection to CloudSurgard be redundant?

Yes, the signals can be sent to multiple Alarm Centers and each Alarm Center can have several connections With CloudSurgard, the signals will always arrive in order.

How does CloudSurgard send signals to my Alarm Monitoring Software?

Through IP using an encrypted SSL proxy with digital certificates issued by Peoplecall.

The Alarm Monitoring Software connects with CloudSurgard as if it were an analog receiver through a proxy, very simple to install that can reside on any machine.

This proxy is responsible for reconnecting with any of the CloudSurgard servers in case of a connection drop. and the identification of the Alarm Center with the SSL certificate

Is there a call limit in CloudSurgard?

No, the price does not depend on the calls made by the panel.

Compatibility

What analog protocols does Cloudsurgard support?

All the most common protocols, and we are adding more protocols over time, is available list of protocols supported.

What happens if I use a protocol that CloudSurgard does not support?

At CloudSurgard we are open to adding more protocols to the list, we can study developing the detection of the protocol but in most cases we need technical information or test signals.

What happens without an alarm panel is not understood by CloudSurgard?

In this case you can use spy mode while the solution is found, which is usually fixed by changing the broadcast protocol of the panel to a supported protocol.

Do I have to install something in my Data Center?

Only the SSL proxy software together with the certificates provided by CloudSurgard.

This proxy, which is a utility that consumes very few resources and is installed as a service on any machine, Ideally, it should be installed on the same machine that used to connect to the analog receiver until now.

We help throughout the installation process and we can even install it remotely.

Can the signals be sent to several Alarm Receiving Centers?

Yes, in active-active backup mode so that a signal is delivered to one and only one ARC, preserving the order of arrival of the signals.

They can also be duplicated between several points, even filter some signals, for example, send to the central A all signals and to CRA B only those that belong to a group of accounts.

And any combination of all the above options.

Billing and Pricing

How do I pay for CloudSurgard?

The CloudSurgard account is enabled for a number of panels, the monthly cost is based on this number of panels.

There are volume discounts.

Are there any installation or start-up costs?

Nope

Security

Is CloudSurgard supported by Private Security?

CloudSurgard is outside the scope of Private Security and is affected by the General Telecommunications Law.

It is not affected by Private Security since CloudSurgard is seen as a protocol converter, from analog protocol to IP protocol. CloudSurgard does not interpret the signals or decide what is an alarm and what is not.

What is the Service Level (SLA)?

Peoplecall will use commercially reasonable efforts to make CloudSurgard available at a percentage monthly uptime during any monthly billing cycle of at least 99.99%.

In the event that CludSurgard does not comply with the Service Commitment, there are a series of compensations that specified in the service agreement or SLA

How does CloudSurgard report service issues?

A Heartbeat frame is sent through the IP Connection of the CRA with CloudSurgard, all Management Software of alarms have alerts that report the loss of these notices.

Additionally, if there are signals that have not been delivered to the CRA for more than 100 seconds, an email is sent alerts those responsible defined in CloudSurgard, reporting both the error condition and the condition incident closure.

For other issues, there is a service status page that supports subscriptions through which it reports alerts and incidents.

Problem resolution

What happens if the connection to the Alarm Receiving Center is dropped?

In this case, the signals are stored in a queue and accumulate until the control panel reconnects. When this happens, they send the signals in order of arrival.

The capacity of the queue is unlimited and the signals are kept waiting for up to 48 hours, from that moment only can be consulted through the CloudSurgard Web interface.

What if a panel calls too many times?

There are hyperactivity alerts

How do I see that a panel is sending the wrong signals?

at the error signals

Can calls from a panel be blocked?

Yes, blacklist screen

Web interface

How long are recordings available?

1 year

Who can access the CloudSurgard Dashboard?

All authorized persons

Does CloudSurgard work with new fiber optic lines?

Yes