Monitoring system

Last Week

We explored a range of well-known—and not-so-well-known—features in Solomon designed to make life easier for service agents. If you missed it, you can catch up here Service Agent Functionality in Solomon.

​This Week: Monitoring System

​This week, we’re lifting the lid on our monitoring system—how it works, what makes it secure, robust, and reliable, and a few statistics and things that might surprise you.

Monitoring System

The diagram above shows where the monitoring system fits within the overall solution. It’s the component that CTUs communicate with, and it, in turn, communicates with FENZ, fire alarm service agents, and building owners. It does much more behind the scenes, but at its core, that’s its purpose.

Distributed for Resilience

The monitoring system is built from multiple services and applications running across several providers and data centres throughout New Zealand—primarily in Christchurch and Auckland.

We’ve intentionally designed it so we’re never dependent on any single hosting location or provider. All CTUs are aware of all services nationwide and can communicate with any of them. If one provider or location experiences an issue, CTUs automatically and seamlessly switch to an alternative service—no manual intervention, and no interruption.

Fire Service (FENZ) Messages

There are two common misconceptions about how we communicate with FENZ:

1. “We only notify FENZ about fire events.” Not true. We send all state changes for any FENZ-connected property or PFA we monitor—isolations, tests, defects, and more.
2. “There are people in a watch room manually sending fire calls.” Also incorrect. Every state change is delivered to FENZ electronically, and acknowledgements come back in milliseconds, much like an EFTPOS or credit card transaction. Full automation makes the process faster, more reliable, and more secure than manual handling.

FENZ operates multiple services across different NZ locations, and we have dedicated secure connections to all of them.

Messaging, Lots of Messaging

Beyond FENZ notifications, the monitoring system also powers our advanced rules engine, which determines who needs to be notified, when, and via which channel as per their preference.

It’s a busy part of the system. In an average month, we deliver over 800,000 messages to service agents and building owners—and in peak months, that number exceeds 1 million.

Urban vs Rural Monitoring

We monitor buildings nationwide, and the monitoring system is designed so we can provide coverage anywhere in New Zealand with cellular service.

What surprises some people is that urban and rural monitoring are handled identically. Whether it’s a building in the Auckland CBD or a ski lodge on a mountaintop, the process and technology are exactly the same.

Monitoring the Monitoring System

Because the monitoring system is mission-critical, we use several independent services to continuously track its performance and alert our team to any potential issues.

We also follow IT industry best practice for support and maintenance, and undergo annual independent audits to ensure our policies and processes are both appropriate and consistently followed.

What Happens When there are Issues?

While the system is designed for maximum reliability, no complex IT system is immune to issues. Thanks to our distributed architecture, most failures are handled automatically and transparently—often without users even noticing.

After every incident, regardless of impact, we follow the same three-question process:

1. What happened?
2. What was the root cause of what happened?
3. What can we implement to stop it happening again?

This disciplined approach ensures we continue to improve and strengthen the system over time.

Coming Next Week

​A few weeks ago, we mentioned our project to redesign and modernise the CTU hardware. Next week, we’ll share more about that project and some of the exciting capabilities the next-generation CTU will bring.