The new year 2020 had started innovatively and optimistically. The sales team was expanded by two employees and we wanted to present the innovations in the Alarm Control Center to you at the Hanover Fair. A tiny virus has been presenting us all with the greatest challenges for a few weeks now.

At Alarm IT Factory we continue to work fully for you. We have adapted the processes in the company to the current situation. The support for the Alarm Control Center (ACC) and the control technology was and is available quickly and at any time as usual. We offer on-site appointments for workshops, demonstrations and commissioning remotely in accordance with the many requests from customers.

1. Release of ACC V5.3 on May 25, 2020

With ACC V5.3 you get the current status of professional and safe alarming. Customers who have an upgrade contract will receive this update free of charge. Some of the advantages of this update are briefly presented below:

  • Option Team Plan
    • The Teamdispo option gives you a clear overview of the assignment of employees to service teams. With a click in a table, the participants in the service teams can be activated and deactivated. This can be used, for example, to quickly and easily adapt the changing assignment of maintenance workers to different plant areas. With the iPhone app, this can be done by the maintenance technician himself on his smartphone. The minimum number of available maintenance staff in the service team is monitored.
  • Channel for WORKERBASE
    • Messages from control systems can now also be output to e.g. B. iPhones and DECT phones can be displayed on WORKERBASE smartwatches. The smartwatch from WORKERBASE can thus be integrated into our professional, plant-wide alarm system with shifts and escalations.
  • Agent WinCC OA
    • With this version you can assign alarms from WinCC OA to different alarm groups and clients in the ACC.
  • ACC user interface
    • In addition to the further optimization of performance and operation, it is now possible to query whether configured participants are currently still actively involved in the alarm. Participants who are no longer active can be easily found and, if necessary, deleted.

2. Outlook for the next ACC version

The new ACC version will be available on November 1st, 2020. The focus of this version is on further features of the apps for iPhones and the app for smartphones with Android. Additional functions, such as resetting an alarm filter, will be available for both apps. The app for Android is being completely revised and will in future receive notifications via the Google push service. For the interfaces to the control systems, we are adding an agent for SIMATIC WinCC Unified to our portfolio and expanding the functions of the agent for OPC UA.

3. Obsolescence of older ACC versions

The following ACC versions are hereby discontinued. As of the date below, no more extensions will be available for these versions and technical support will be discontinued:

  • ACC V4.13 as of 09/30/2020
  • ACC V4.14 as of December 31, 2020

4. New support and upgrade model for the ACC

With the new model, support and upgrades are now available to all customers in a cost-effective and predictable manner. The models ADVANCED, PROFESSIONAL and ENTERPRISE represent the support models most requested by customers. With the ADVANCED package, you receive support during normal working hours. In the other packages we offer you an on-call service up to 24/7 with guaranteed response times and other advantages.

In addition, the support can be extended with an annual upgrade of the ACC software at favorable conditions. We would be happy to make you an offer to keep your ACC up to date at all times. For support and upgrade contracts concluded by September 30th, 2020, the one-off upgrade fees for versions ACC V4.13 and newer do not apply.

5. ACC webinars

Take the opportunity and get a comprehensive impression of the diverse areas of application and features of the Alarm Control Center through a webinar. The sales team can be reached on +49 711 62 007 69 - 0 or by email sales@alarmcontrolcenter.de available for your questions and to arrange an appointment.

With best regards from Stuttgart,
Your team from the Alarm IT Factory