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Maintenance of Legacy networks – Spares, Connectors and Cables

Continued use of Legacy Telecoms – Nokia PDH ‘Dynanet’

Public Operator and Private Network Customers across the Telecoms, Utilities, Transport and Public Safety markets maintain ‘legacy’ infrastructure for mission critical applications, which continue to deliver good operational service with high availability.

Typical products utilised are those from the ‘Dynanet’ family of PDH Transmission telecoms products, which were first introduced by Nokia over 20 years ago, and were continued in recent years by DNWP. Production of the majority of the product range was ceased in 2019.

In order to maintain these systems and networks, it’s still possible to supply spares from surplus stocks and refurbished items to keep networks operational.

Don’t forget the Connectors and Cables!

One challenge for the continued use of existing infrastructure, particularly when installing replacement parts, is sourcing the appropriate specialised and often propriety connectors for cabling of interfaces and management connections.

Regarding ‘Dynanet’, fortunately some products can still be produced, notably the Euro / SMB connectors, along with the DCN Adapter C4.0, related management software products and other items such as the TPS64 and NDUE. Listed here are a few of those currently available new:

Part Number	Description
21475	SMB Connector for RD179 cable
21472	Euro Connector 3×32
21470	Euro Connector 3×7

Part Number	Description
24201	TPS Control Unit
24202	TPS Channel Unit
T37882.02	NDM DC Unit, enhanced (NDUE)
T31094.01	DCN Adapter C4.0

We are able additionally produce a wide range of cable products to suit most connection requirements, utilising our UK-based manufacturing partner. Bespoke cable assemblies, control boxes, harnesses, wiring looms, panels, fibre optic products are some of the network solutions available.

@YellowsBestLtd satisfies world-wide customer product sourcing requirements for current and ‘legacy’ equipment technologies from a wide range of Original Equipment Manufacturers (O.E.M.s), surplus stocks and refurbished items.

Hence, please check and if you do have any requirements, please let us know. We look forward to hearing from you.

Solar Power – eCharger project – UPDATE #2

FIX & UPGRADE – Restoration and increase of Solar Panel energy production

Project Re-cap

The project from 2 years ago, detailed here, built a solar energy charger using these system elements: Solar Panel, Charge Controller, Battery, Inverter. Last year, an upgrade was performed to increase the batteries to provide more storage capacity, as described in Update #1.

Solar Panel Failure

The system has operated satisfactorily for almost exactly 2 years, but then it was observed that no energy was being produced. After investigation, it was discovered that the solar panel had developed a fault. The panel was a flexible’ model, and by slightly bending it, energy was intermittently produced. Hence clearly there was an internal breakdown of connectivity.

Solar Panel Replacement & Upgrade

Since a replacement was needed, it was decided to purchase a more robust, ‘fixed (i.e. non-flexible) solar panel, which has a solid frame and securely mount onto a brick wall. Taking advantage of the overall lower cost of fixed vs flexi panels, it was decided to opt for an increase to 100W for the replacement.

This will bring the advantage of producing more energy during sunny periods, which will compensate for the need to mount the panel on a wall where it receives slightly less direct sunlight hours.

The installation of the replacement panel was relatively straight-forward, using ‘Z-brackets’ to affix to the wall.

It came with MC-4 connector terminated cable ‘tails’, which were plugged into the existing positive and negative connections.

Power generation was resumed immediately, with an extremely healthy 4A (roughly double of the previous 50W panel, as expected) confirming the success of the remedy.

Conclusions

Alas, it transpires that the originally chosen ‘flexi’ type of solar panel is not very ‘robust’ and consequently is only warranted for 1 year. It is somewhat disappointing that only such a short life-span is achieved, especially since it had been mounted on shed-type roof without experiencing disturbance or damage.

Happily, the replacement ‘fixed’ type of solar panel is warranted for 10 years, so should operate for a considerably longer time. And given that like-for-like it is less expensive, then it is concluded that this should be selected to ensure maximum lifetime and collection capacity for the same outlay.

@YellowsBestLtd we are always looking to expand our portfolio services for #business development and #enterprise support, and increase the mix of solutions for #sustainable systems and maintenance of new and legacy #technologies and products for our customers. Please get in touch to discuss your requirements; we look forward to hearing from you.

Remaining stocks of Nokia ‘Dynanet’ spares – Update

Surplus and Refurbished Items for continued operational service

Many Customers have ‘legacy’ telecommunications networks which are continuing to provide good operational service. Particularly where functional requirements have not changed, it makes sense to avoid or delay costly and time-consuming change-out replacement projects, by obtaining spare parts.

@YellowsBestLtd satisfies world-wide customer product sourcing requirements for current and ‘legacy’ equipment technologies from a wide range of Original Equipment Manufacturers (O.E.M.s).

Stocklist of Nokia ‘Dynanet’ Spare Parts – Available for immediate supply

For the ‘Dynanet’ family of PDH Transmission telecoms products, which has provided 20+ years of service, we still have a few spare units are in stock and available for immediate supply. These items have been mostly retrieved from operational service during Customers’ decommissioning projects, and have been refurbished, tested and are warranted for working operation.

Given that production of the majority of the product range was ceased in 2019 or before, it is recommended to consider purchasing spare parts whilst there is still availability.

Here is a list of the main items currently in stock, though there may be a few additional parts that can be supplied. Hence, please check and if you do have any requirements, please let us know. We look forward to hearing from you.

Part Number	Description
CC 24002	DB2 2×2 Mb/s Branching Unit (B2), 75ohm
CC 24011	DB2 2 Mb/s Switching Unit (X2), 75ohm
CC 24101	DN2 2×2 Mb/s Interface Unit (IU2), 75ohm
CC 24111	DN2 Control Unit (CU), 75 ohm
CF 24186	DN2 19in Subrack
CF 24186.09	DN2 19in Subrack, grey-L91 EMC
CG 24170	DN2 Bus Power Unit (BPU)
CG 24171	DN2 Extended Bus Power Unit (EBPU)
CU 24013	Data Interface Unit (DIU) 2M, nx64k: G.703/704, 75ohm
D-21470	Euro Connector, 3×7
D-24204	Optical Teleprotection Interface Unit, C37.94
T30506.09	17-slot DYNANET Subrack
T30851.02	Subrack Power Adapter (SPA)
T31094.01	DCN Adapter C4.0

Part Number	Description
T37870.01	NDM 19in 17-slot Subrack
T37871.01	NDM DN2 19in 17-Slot Subrack
T37882.01	NDM DC Unit (NDU)
T37882.02	NDM DC Unit (NDUe)
T37885.01	NDM Ring Generator

Part Number	Description
T37885.02	NDM Ring Generator + DC/DC converter

Part Number	Description
T37889.01	NDM Backup Unit (NBU)

Part Number	Description
T65520.01	ACL2 RM DC Power Gen
T65580.01	ACL2i PF GEN Line Terminal Card

Part Number	Description
TA 21513	Optical Line Terminal Repeater (DF2-8), 1300 nm LED MM/SM
TA 21516	Optical Line Terminal Repeater (DF2-8), 1300 nm LASER SM
TA 21518	Optical Line Terminal Repeater (DF2-8), 1300 nm LASER LP

Part Number	Description
TC 21101	DM2 Multiplexing Unit, 75ohm
TC 21301	DM8 Multiplex Equipment, 75ohm
TC 21705	Supervisory Substation
TC 21710.01	TMS Adapter
TG 21261	Ring Generator 25HZ 15W
TU 21122.5	Data Interface Unit (DIU) 48..64k, V.11, 10ch
TU 21124	Data Interface Unit (DIU) nx64k, V.11/V.35/X.21, 2ch
TU 21124.05	Data Interface Unit (DIU) nx64k, V.11/V.35/X.21, sync
TU 21125	Data Interface Unit (DIU) 48..64k with sync, X.21

Part Number	Description
TU 21205	Channel Unit SUB/SUB
TU 21206	Channel Unit SUB/SUB

Channel Unit Subscriber / Subscriber – TU 21206

Part Number	Description
TU 21215	Channel Unit SUB/EXCH
TU 21216	Channel Unit SUB/EXCH

Channel Unit Subscriber / Exchange – TU 21216

Part Number	Description
TU 21234.20	Channel Unit E&M/VF-P, 10 ch, 20 E&M ch
TU 21236.10	Channel Unit 8ch E&M/uP: 2xe&m/vf
TU 21255.01	Channel Switch, 4 port
TV 21640.08	Power Interface Adapter DC

Legacy Telecoms Spares – Nokia ‘Dynanet’ Update

Nokia DCN Adapter – Management & Other products

The ‘Dynanet’ family of PDH Transmission telecoms products were first introduced by Nokia over 20 years ago, and were continued in recent years by DNWP. These have well served Public Operator and Private Network Customers across the Telecoms, Utilities, Transport and Public Safety markets with high availability mission critical infrastructure, and indeed some networks are continuing to provide good operational service.

Production of the majority of the product range was ceased in 2019. However, some products remain available to order, notably the DCN Adapter C4.0, related management software products and other items such as the TPS64, NDUE and Euro / SMB connectors.

Continued Supply of Spare Parts – Surplus and Refurbished Items

@YellowsBestLtd satisfies world-wide customer product sourcing requirements for current and ‘legacy’ equipment technologies from a wide range of Original Equipment Manufacturers (O.E.M.s).

For the ‘Dynanet’ range, we should be able to continue to supply refurbished and surplus equipment for as long as required, but the effect of the discontinuation of production is squeezing the availability of remaining stocks, with a consequential impact on pricing.

Hence, for those customers continuing to maintain their networks, it is recommended to consider purchasing spare parts whilst there is still availability. Please get in touch to advise what you need!

RadiFlow – Cybersecurity Solutions for the Industrial IoT

A portfolio of comprehensive yet simple security solutions to protect critical assets is produced by RadiFlow.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, used for controlling and monitoring remote operations in critical infrastructures such as power utilities, oil & gas, water and more, often extend across multiple remote sites, allowing automation devices to be controlled from the control centre.

Cyber threats to SCADA systems have in recent years been on the rise. Terrorists and criminals have set their sights on critical infrastructures that utilise SCADA systems due to these systems’ inherent vulnerabilities and the huge potential to disrupt civilian life and may cause high financial losses to the utilities.

Radiflow’s security tool-set validates the behaviour of both M2M applications and H2M (Human to Machine) sessions in distributed operational networks.

Radiflow’s security solutions are available both as in-line gateways for remote sites and as a non-intrusive IDS (Intrusion Detection System) that can be deployed per site or centrally.

A Complete Security Solution for SCADA installations

Visibility – Radiflow’s iSID Intrusion Detection System (IDS) automatically learns the network topology (links, protocol and devices) using passive scanning. Any new activity is highlighted on the GUI.

Protection – Radiflow’s IDS and Secure Gateways protect the SCADA networks from a variety of cyber threats such as network scanning, infected RTU and technician activity.

Compliance – Radiflow’s security products help make networks compliant with major security standards: NERC CIP version 5, NIST SP 800- 82 V2, ISA 99 and IEC 62443.

About Radiflow – founded in 2009 as part of the RAD group, a family of ICT vendors with over $1Bn in annual revenues. Radiflow’s security solutions, introduced in late 2011, have been successfully deployed by major utilities world-wide, and validated by leading security research labs. Radiflow’s security solutions are sold both as components within global automation vendors’ integrated end-to-end solutions, and as standalone security solutions by local channel partners.

@YellowsBestLtd seeks Solutions and provides Services to support Customer requirements to maintain and keep operational critical infrastructure networks. Please get in touch to discuss how we can be of assistance.

Cyber Security challenges and solutions for Utilities

Industry Background and Future Trends

For many years Electricity, Water, Oil and Gas Utilities as well as Transport companies have required bespoke, robust, dedicated network critical infrastructure solutions with high availability and reliability. Historically, these tended to use bespoke well-proven technologies aimed at providing key functionality and high availability, with redundancy, protection and long service life favoured over ‘cutting-edge’ performance. These aspects are still important, but the drive towards modern, efficient and interconnected operations, has resulted in the adoption of mainstream Internet functionality and movement from TDM to IP technologies.

In the past, the very nature of the deployed bespoke systems has meant that security issues didn’t arise, since wider threats didn’t apply. A case of being safe by being unknown. But with the adoption of Internet technologies, along with the growth and increasing sophistication of cyber-threats, Utilities and other private network companies are needing to apply Information Technology (IT) security solutions tailored to their Operational Technology (OT) systems.

The issuing of the NIS directive by the European Union Agency for Cyber Security has raised the profile of this topic and generated the needed drive towards the implementation of the required solutions.

October is Cyber Security Month, so it’s an ideal time to find out more …

Nokia ‘Dynanet’ PDH Telecoms Spares

Continued Supply of Spare Parts – Surplus and Refurbished Items

@YellowsBestLtd satisfies customer product sourcing requirements for current and ‘legacy’ equipment technologies.

Despite the recent ‘rampdown’ announcement by DNWP for the ‘Dynanet’ range, we should be able to continue to supply refurbished and surplus equipment for as long as required, but the likely effect of the discontinuation of production will be to squeeze the availability of remaining stocks, with a consequential impact on pricing.

Hence, it is recommended that if there is anything that might be needed, it would be best to consider purchasing it in good time to ensure availability of items and best prices.

Here is a list of the main items immediately available from current stocks, though there may be a few additional parts that can be supplied. Hence, please check and if you do have any requirements, please let us know. We look forward to hearing from you.

Part Number	Description
24204	TPSO H/W Module
CC 24002	DB2 Branching Unit, B2 2×2 Mb/s 75 ohm
CC 24011	DB2 2 Mb/s Switching Unit, X2 75 ohm
CC 24101	DN2 Interface Unit (IU2) 2×2 Mb/s 75 ohm
CC 24111	DN2 Control Unit (CU) 75 ohm
CF 24186	DN2 19″ Subrack
CF 24186.09	DN2 Subrack 19″, grey-L91 EMC
CG 24170	DN2 Bus Power Unit (BPU)
CG 24171	Extended DN2 Bus Power Unit (EBPU)
CU 24013	Data Interface Unit (DIU) 2M, nx64k: G.703/704, 75 ohm
T30506.09	17-slot DYNANET Subrack
T30851.02	Subrack Power Adapter (SPA)
T37870.01	NDM ACM2 19in 17-slot subrack
T37871.01	NDM DN2 19″ 17-Slot Subrack
T37882.01	NDM DC Unit (NDUe)
T37882.02	NDM DC Unit (NDUe)
T37885.01	NDM Ring Generator

Part Number	Description
T37889.01	NDM Backup Unit (NBU)

Part Number	Description
T65520.01	ACL2 RM DC Power Gen
T65580.01	ACL2i PF GEN Line Terminal Card

Part Number	Description
TA 21513	Optical Line Terminal Repeater 2-8 M, 1300 nm LED MM/SM
TA 21516	Optical Line Terminal Repeater 2-8 M, 1300 nm LASER SM
TC 21101	DM34 Mux Card
TC 21301	DM8 Multiplex Equipment, 75 ohm
TC 21705	Supervisory Substation
TC 21710.01	TMS Adapter
TG 21261	Ring Generator 25HZ 15W
TU 21122.5	Data Interface Unit (DIU) 48..64k V.11 10ch
TU 21124	Data Interface Unit (DIU) NX64k V.11/V.35/X.21 2CH
TU 21124.05	Data Interface Unit (DIU)
TU 21125	Data Interface Unit (DIU) 48..64k with sync, X.21

Part Number	Description
TU 21205	Channel Unit SUB/SUB
TU 21206	Channel Unit SUB/SUB

Part Number	Description
TU 21215	Channel Unit SUB/EXCH
TU 21216	Channel Unit SUB/EXCH

Part Number	Description
TU 21234.20	Channel Unit E&M/VF-P, 10 CH, 20 E&M CH
TU 21236.10	Channel Unit (CU) 8ch E&M/uP: 2xe&m/vf
TU 21255.01	Channel Switch, 4 PORT
TV 21640.08	Power Interface Adapter DC

‘Dynanet’ Telecoms – ‘Rampdown’ notice

Phased Discontinuation of Production – 31^st May 2019 – 31^stJanuary 2020

The production of the ‘Dynanet’ family of PDH Transmission telecoms products, first introduced by Nokia over 20 years ago, and continued in recent years by DNWP, is finally being ended.

This product range has well served Public Operator and Private Network Customers across the Telecoms, Utilities, Transport and Public Safety markets with high availability mission critical infrastructure, and indeed some networks are continuing to provide good operational service.

Essentially almost all the old equipment items, with a very few exceptions such as the TPS64, are being completely discontinued in a phased way according to these milestones, which have already commended:

31^stMay 2019 – DM8 Multiplexers, DF2-8 Optical Terminals, RPSA

31^stOctober 2019 – DM2 Multiplexers, Subs/Exch & VF Cards, DN2 IU2, Service Terminals, V.28/V.11 DIU

31^st January 2020 – DB2, DN2 CU & BPU, G.703 & V.110, DIU, Ethernet I/F, Ring Gen, NDM 19” Subrack, NDA

@YellowsBestLtd satisfies customer product sourcing requirements for current and ‘legacy’ equipment technologies.

Should you wish to read the full ‘ramp-down’ notice and know more about obtaining equipment before it is no longer available, then please get in touch.

Mobile Communications for Professional Users

Mission Critical Technologies

For many years, pioneering mobile communications technologies have been developed and implemented to serve the operational needs of professional users, such as public safety, utilities and transport organisations.

Initially based on radio technologies predating the public cellular networks and offering bespoke functionality, these were implemented as individual regional networks. Technology evolved from Analogue to Digital and deployments increased from regional to national rollouts.

We are now on the verge of next generation of mission critical communications with the arrival in the UK of the Emergency Services Network (ESN)

A brief history of PMR

When mobile communications were in their infancy, major organisations with mission critical requirements chose to build their own ‘dedicated’ networks to ensure availability of service. The users of such systems had operational requirements that shaped the technology developments, and gave rise to features such as Press-to-Talk (PTT), instant call set-up, encryption, user priority, 1-to-many and group calling.

Initially such networks were analogue-based and collectively known as ‘Private Mobile Radio’ (PMR). Inter-operation between systems was rarely possible, though one standard that did evolve was MPT1327 ‘Trunking Radio’, implemented by a range of vendors such as NOKIA and TAIT. Individual organisations built, operated and maintained their own infrastructure.

The next generation of technologies were digitally-based; one of the most widely adopted standards was TETRA. A break-though was the standardisation of the ‘air-interface’ permitting the inter-operability of user mobile terminals with infrastructure from a range of manufacturers, such as NOKIA and Motorola.

In the UK, two nationwide networks were rolled out, AIRWAVE for public safety users and DOLPHIN for professional users. The latter of these hit financial difficulties and was closed. Other regional networks were deployed, such as that on the London Underground, whilst other organisations continued to maintain their analogue-PMR systems.

ESN is coming

As on show at this year’s @TechXLR8 expo, the Emergency Services Network (ESN) is set to revolutionise professional mobile communications in the UK again, ultimately replacing the existing Airwave TETRA network and offering existing and updated services.

Essentially, acting as an overlay onto EE’s 4G network, the software from Motorola solutions will deliver an advanced mobile communications experience, including the PTT, group-call, priority and security features demanded by professional users.

The new service will bring PMR into the modern era with ruggedised mobile-phone-like user terminals providing advanced data capabilities, offering high quality colour-displays, GPS-mapping and location-based services.

A huge investment in development and rollout is taking place, which will result in additional network capabilities and coverage provided by 500 new base-station sites. The new network will serve the needs of the Police, Fire, Ambulance services as well as other professional users such as local authorities and utility services.

Supporting existing and future requirements

@YellowsBestLtd satisfies new and ‘legacy’ requirements for the operations and maintenance of systems and networks by providing services including consultancy, technical support and hardware repairs, and solutions, with the supply of functional replacements, spare part items and software support.

We would be keen to hear from you regarding your existing or future operational needs; please get in touch.

Apple macOS 64-bit transition – Software ‘Legacy’ issues

32-bit Application compatibility Issues resulting from macOS updates

Issues have started to appear using existing and older software applications on Apple Macintosh computers with the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit operating systems, commencing with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4, and it’s set to get a whole lot worse!

Current Difficulties

Noticeable problems with applications have surfaced with the update to macOS Mojave.

Strange and unwanted things have crept in. For example:

opening a new Finder window causes a new tab to open instead. It’s like the wrong option has been selected – now opening a tab or a window are incorrectly identical. If you want a new Finder window, you need to then select ‘move this tab to a new window’. So suddenly this is a two-stage process

New Finder window opens a New Tab instead

Trying to print from Microsoft Word causes the application to ‘crash’. The work-around for this is its still possible to print by using the toolbar button, instead of selecting ‘print’ from the drop-down menu. But then this doesn’t allow for changing print settings etc.

Microsoft Word quits when trying to print

Promise of worse compatibility problems

This is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’. A whole range of software applications which currently run happily on the Apple Mac are set to become unusable in the next update to macOS. We’re talking about mainstream applications such as Microsoft Office as well as ‘niche’ applications that you may utilise. This appears to represent the biggest shift in software compatibility since the change from Mac ‘Classic’ (OS 9 and before) to Mac OSX, more than 10 years ago.

A warning is displayed when a 32-bit application is launched in macOS High Sierra, and in macOS Mojave the alert appears every 30 days.

The official Apple advice is to ‘contact the application developer’. For the average user, that’s unlikely to achieve anything, particularly for mature applications that perhaps are no longer available or don’t have ongoing development. With something like Microsoft Word, then it should be possible to obtain the latest version, but naturally that will require a new purchase and/or an annual subscription.

Purchasing a new version of existing software will be an expensive business to just maintain your existing functionality

Maintenance Decisions

The standard maintenance advice for computers is to upgrade to the latest available version of operating software; that way, security patches are up-to-date, keeping the system secure, with new functionality as well as bug fixes provided, and support for the latest applications.

On this occasion however, it is worth taking a long considered look at the benefits of upgrading verses sticking with your current macOS release. If you haven’t yet moved to macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or macOS Mojave 10.14 then you may wish to stay where you are for now, particularly if you’re happy with your current applications and functionality, such as Microsoft Word 2008. If you’re contemplating upgrading, either because you ‘must’ for security purposes or need to support a new generation application, then it will be worth taking the time now to review all of your existing software and work out what the upgrade path will be, or find out what the alternatives you could migrate to e.g. Apple’s ‘Pages’ to replace Microsoft Word, etc.

The most worrying situation will be for owners of specific hardware e.g. the M-Audio USB Midi interface, which may not (and never will) have a suitable updated driver software alternative

In such circumstances of uncertain application support, backups are as always essential; ideally you should be in a position to ‘roll-back’, dual-boot and/or run virtual machines to maintain previous applications and functionality.

Consideration should also be given to maintaining a dedicated computer at the existing macOS version, and over time, migrating day-to-day applications (where they can be) to a new computer, keeping the old machine for ‘legacy support’.

Further Assistance

Take a look at the full Apple announcement about the transition to 64-bit technology and how it affects 32-bit apps.

@YellowsBestLtd satisfies new and ‘legacy’ requirements for the maintenance of systems and networks by providing services, such as technical assistance and hardware repairs, and solutions, including the supply of spare part items and software support.

We would be keen to hear from you regarding your operational needs, please get in touch.