Is your lift emergency communication ready for the 2G, 3G and PSTN closing?

As legacy telecom networks are phased out in Europe and elsewhere across the world many lift emergency communication systems face a transition. For lift manufacturers, alarm management providers and response centers, the challenge is to ensure that essential lift communication systems remain reliable, compliant and future-ready.

A changing communication landscape

For decades, lift emergency communication systems have relied on traditional telephone lines (PSTN) and mobile networks such as 2G and 3G. These technologies have provided a familiar and widely used foundation for connecting passengers in distress with emergency response operators.

But the telecommunications landscape is rapidly changing. Across Europe and around the world, telecom operators are retiring legacy networks to make way for modern IP-based infrastructure and newer mobile technologies such as 4G and 5G. While the timelines differ between countries and operators, the direction to gradually move away from traditional communication technologies is clear.

For the lift industry, this means that many existing installations still depend on communication technologies that may no longer be supported in the coming years.

Why legacy network shutdowns matter for lift safety

A lift emergency communication system provides the critical connection between passengers and assistance when something goes wrong.

When a passenger presses the emergency alarm button, the system must establish dependable two-way communication with a response or rescue operator. However, older lift communication systems may depend on analog signaling, tone-based protocols or mobile communication designed for legacy networks. As these networks retire, several challenges emerge:

Loss of connectivity

Systems relying on discontinued networks may no longer be able to establish emergency calls.

Compatibility issues

Existing alarm equipment may not communicate correctly over modern digital networks without adaptation.

Operational complexity

Lift operators and service providers must manage a diverse installed base with equipment from different manufacturers and generations.

Compliance considerations

Any modernization must preserve the safety functions required by applicable standards and regulations.

For providers of lift communication, alarm management systems and alarm response centers, managing this transition can become a significant technical and operational undertaking.

Modernization doesn’t always mean replacing everything

One of the considerations in the transition to modern communications is how to protect existing investments. Replacing every legacy lift alarm unit with an entirely new system can be expensive, time-consuming and disruptive.

Fortunately, modern communication technologies offer alternative approaches. Cloud-based communication services provide modern IP-based communication capabilities to existing lift communication systems, thereby allowing providers of these systems and lift manufacturers to modernize the communication layer while retaining the equipment already installed in the field.

This approach can offer several advantages:

• Reduced need for extensive hardware replacement
• More flexible integration with existing alarm management systems
• Centralized communication services across different installations
• Improved scalability as communication requirements evolve

From traditional telephony to IP-based communication

Moving to IP-based communication is not only a matter of transitioning away from legacy networks, it also creates an opportunity to rethink how emergency communication are built and managed.

Modern cloud-based communication services can support technologies such as SIP, VoIP and WebRTC, enabling voice and video communication to be integrated into applications and workflows.

Instead of developing and maintaining every component of a communications infrastructure in-house, providers can buy specialized communication services and APIs to build the functionality they need into their existing systems. This simplifies development, accelerates deployment and makes introduction of new capabilities faster.

iotcomms.io’s cloud-based communication services easing the transition for the lift industry

At iotcomms.io, we help companies modernize emergency communication through cloud-based alarm, voice and video communication services. With communication APIs that are easy to integrate into existing products and platforms, lift communication providers, alarm management systems and response centers can add protocol support, ensure interoperability between systems and bring voice and video into their offerings.

Specifically for alarm management systems and response centers alike, iotcomms.io’s cloud services also provide a foundation for more advanced voice capabilities such as call routing and control, recording, interactive voice responses (IVR), AI-enabled voice analytics and more.

The iotcomms.io cloud services are delivered as SaaS, allowing customers to add new communication capabilities without developing everything themselves from scratch – and only paying for what they use.

Whether the challenges involve adding alarm protocol support, converting between protocols, or introducing IP-based voice and video communication, iotcomms.io’s cloud services provide the functions needed to make emergency communication systems for the lift industry easier to build, operate and evolve.