Tata Communications helps Surbana Jurong take lift security in the Internet of Things to the next level

Tata Communications, the digital infrastructure provider, is working with Surbana Jurong, one of Asia’s largest urban, industrial and infrastructure consulting firms, to equip its Internet of Things (IoT) enabled lifts and escalators with secure, scalable connectivity to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Tata Communications, Microsoft and Surbana Jurong will be discussing their collaboration in a keynote panel at IoT Asia on March 21^st.

As a key part of its Smart City in a Box solution, Surbana Jurong’s Lift Monitoring System enables property management companies and public sector organizations to remotely monitor the safety and maintenance of lifts and escalators. The IoT-enabled monitoring system uses artificial intelligence tools on a Microsoft Azure cloud platform to predict when a lift or escalator is likely to fail, and trigger an alert for maintenance before a breakdown occurs. Given the critical nature of this operation, Surbana Jurong’s Lift Monitoring System uses the highly secure Microsoft Azure cloud platform coupled with Tata Communications MOVE™. This IoT connectivity service enables data to be carried over an edge-to-edge encrypted virtual private network (VPN) for maximum reliability.

“As the threat of cyber-crime continues to grow, safeguarding our customers’ applications and data is our number one priority,” said Joe Keen Poon, Managing Director of Smart City Solutions at Surbana Jurong. “If unscrupulous individuals were able to intercept mission-critical lift or escalator data, the knock-on effect could be hugely disruptive for many buildings and communities. By-passing the public Internet and using an ultra-secure VPN instead helps enhance the reliability of our customers’ lifts and escalators and minimise their downtime.”

Surbana Jurong’s monitoring system is used in around half of all lifts and escalators in Singapore, and the company is beginning to make significant inroads in China, the world’s largest market for these infrastructure assets. The combination of Microsoft Azure and Tata Communications MOVE™ enables Surbana Jurong to collect and manage its customers’ lift maintenance data seamlessly globally, facilitating its expansion to new markets.

Surbana Jurong is on track to deploy IoT devices in all lifts and escalators that it monitors, with all data stored in Microsoft Azure data centres in Singapore. Tata Communications MOVE will help these IoT devices to be deployed quickly by leveraging the company’s relationships with more than 600 mobile network operators, and its private connectivity into Microsoft Azure data centres globally. The fully virtualised, API-enabled, software-defined and fully automated Tata Communications MOVE platform also gives Surbana Jurong real-time control and visibility over lift monitoring data, simplifying the management of lifts on a global scale.

“IoT has the potential to transform how businesses operate, streamlining processes to save time and resources – but many IT decision makers haven’t embraced these technologies because of security fears,” said Anthony Bartolo, Chief Product Officer, Tata Communications. “The more connected the world becomes, the more important it is to safeguard the billions of ‘things’ around us. That’s what Tata Communications MOVE™ is designed to do, providing businesses with a secure, reliable way to capture, move and manage information worldwide.”

Tata Communications MOVE is a part of the company’s aim of creating truly borderless mobile experiences for people and things.  It is underpinned by Tata Communications’ relationships in the world’s mobile ecosystem and its global network, which today connects 4 out of 5 mobile subscribers and carries over 25% of the world’s Internet routes.