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Topic |
Question |
Answer |
| 1 |
Training |
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| 1b |
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What
training will Genesis provide through
the webinars? |
To
date, the installation field engineers
have requested sessions on Setting Up
GenWatch3 and Operating GenWatch3.
Other sessions / training can be
provided on request.
The tentative date for the preliminary
training on Set Up should be around July
13. We would also like to get the GW3
Commander manual into the hands of the
field engineers around the same time. |
| 1a |
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What
are the differences between Advanced SMT
and EzSaveWin? |
The two main differences between
Advanced System Manager Terminal (SMT)
and EzSaveWin are:
1) Advanced SMT is DOS-based, and
EzSaveWin is Windows-based.
2) In systems with two controllers, SMT
updates both simultaneously, and
EzSaveWin updates one controller at a
time. Both systems provide a
Synchronize feature to assure they are
in sync. For systems with only one
controller, there would be no change.
As
far as commands go, EzSaveWin uses CSAVE,
CLOAD, MSAVE and MLOAD commands that are
100% identical to Advanced SMT. In
addition, EZSaveWin provides ASCII
backup and reload commands with view and
edit capabilities.
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| 2 |
Planning-Hardware |
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| 2d |
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If I have a SIMSII
client that is off
premise with an agency
that is on my system,
what is the plan when I
switch to GW3? |
As a
general statement, GW3
Clients are all
connected via TCP/IP
rather than the old
fashioned RS232, 19.2Kb
lease line method.
There
are two basic options.
(1) Replace the
leased line with a VPN
from the off premise
Client into your GW3
Host. You might consider
replacing the leased
line with a DSL that is
configured as a VPN. (2)
We have one location
where they are replacing
the off premise Client
with a GW3 Commander LE.
This is a rather
intelligent option. It
will require another set
of RF-modems and RIMIIs,
however it will
eliminate any monthly
cost. At setup time, the
system owner can easily
set the GW3 LE to view
only certain Talkgroups
and even restrict
functions that the users
can perform. |
| 2c |
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Do I
order ONE or TWO RF-modem / RIMIIs? |
We
are aware that many SIMSIIs and SIPs
operated with one RF-modem/RIMII. GW3
Commander WILL operate this way but we
DO NOT recommend this configuration. We
highly recommend that you run dual RF-modem/RIMIIs
for all GW3 Commander variants where
Control Channel input is needed (L3517 &
L3518). The reason is that with only one
RF-modem/RIMII, GW3 will stop receiving
Control Channel activity while it is
transmitting any RCM commands. This same
situation occurred with SIMSII & SIP
instllations operating with only one. In
addition, with two RF-modem/RIMIIs, you
have 100% redundancy if one should fail. |
| 2b |
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Have
there been any suggestions as to
equipment if the customer does not have
any LAN equipment in place? |
For a stand alone system, there will be
no network requirements. For a system
with clients, network impact study
information will be made available to
assist in determining LAN requirements
and system configurations that will best
meet the customer's needs. Simply said,
if the customer has an existing 100Mb to
1Gb LAN, we will have more than enough
LAN capacity to run client machines. |
| 2a |
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If
customers elect to install their own
second monitor, what impact will there
be on GenWatch3 performance? |
While
we are not certifying that a second
monitor can be hooked up, technically,
it can. Certain modules can be placed
on the second monitor with very little
impact. We DO have minimum requirements
for the graphics card. NOT ALL graphics
cards are adequate for GW3. It is
advised to allow Genesis to supply the
hardware for this reason. |
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| 3 |
Planning-Software |
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| 3c |
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Will
GW3 work with Microsoft Vista? |
NO. Not at this time. First, Vista needs
to ‘cook’ for quite a bit longer before
we will do any certification of GW3 on
the new Operating System. Second, the
trials that we have done indicate that
there are significant issues with SQL,
MSDE and other pieces that we need that
are external to GW3. Third, the way
Vista handles graphical things is very
different and it appears that we will
need to do modification to the code to
make it operate in the Vista
environment. We will continue to pursue
our testing as Vista matures. |
| 3b |
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Could
the CAD be tested with GenWatch3 CADI
remotely? |
No,
GenWatch3 CADI has to sit between the
CAD system and the RF modem. |
| 3a |
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What
CAD system was used to test GenWatch3? |
The Genesis Group had to write our own
CAD tester for Alpha testing. We
developed software that met the
specifications described in the Motorola
document for CADI protocol written about
1998 (the most recent version we found
available). The document for the
Motorola CADI protocol is provided on a
CD that ships with the GenWatch3
system. If a CAD vendor wants to verify
in advance that GenWatch3 will work with
the vendor's system, we can provide a
copy of the document to the vendor.
For Beta testing, Genesis is arranging
to field test at locations that use
Tiburon and Printrak CAD systems. Both
are currently used with SIMS II. |
| 4 |
Installation |
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| 4a |
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Is it
still true that you can take an Alias
Database Manager (ADM) file from a
console and import it to GenWatch3? |
Yes, although we do not have a formal
procedure in place at this moment,
Genesis has done it. Informally, it is
an easy thing to do. The console has the
ability to export the ADM to a comma
separated value (CSV) file. GW3 can
easily import CSV files. |
| 5 |
Support |
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| 5a |
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What
kind of support can we expect and how
can we get that support? |
Genesis will try to capture all
questions/problems as they arise and
document them on this web site. A Read
Me First sheet will be provided with the
system. An 800 number for on-call
support will be available normally
between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm CDT; this
can be extended for special
circumstances, if needed, for
installations in different time zones.
Our goal is for Genesis to track events
and solutions, and hopefully, Motorola
will open cases for tracking, as well.
You will be updated as procedures are
developed for this. For customer
operations, we will have 24 hour call
capability. We will have on call people
for after business hours calls. |
| 6 |
Sales |
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| 6a |
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If I
want to purchase some of the extra
Genesis modules that are not included in
the bundles (like CloneWatch), how do I
do that. |
First, these extra enhancements were not
included because the really do fall out
of the 'equivalent facility' doctrine.
In most cases, it is a simple thing to
get the extra modules like CloneWatch,
Channel Status, Affiliation Monitor and
SysVista by simply contacting
Genesis. Once we receive a PO from
you, we update your GW3 Commander
license file via email, and the new
module becomes available to you. It is a
quick and painless process. |
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| 7 |
Reported
Issues |
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| 7a |
12/21/06 |
Field
reports indicate that if there is a hard
shut-down (total power loss), the Rocket
Ports sometimes are left 'open' and on
restart CADI will not connect the first
time. |
We suspect that the Comtrol RocketPort
does not handle hard shut downs very
well and thus it left the ports open.
Upon normal shutdown and restart of the
computer (reboot), everything
automatically came up and operated
correctly. We are investigating this,
will try to duplicate it and will
attempt to find an automatic and more
graceful recovery solution. |
| 7b |
04/04/07 |
GW3 loses connectivity
with the database (DB) or times out
trying to connect to the DB |
Losing connectivity to the database (DB)
or attempting to connect to the database
timing out is what the user sees. Behind
the scenes, this means that the DB has
become very busy for some reason.
Figuring out that reason might be a
challenge.
In one customer
instance, we found that they had
inadvertently changed the date of the
GW3 machine by a drastic amount. Again,
this was a mistake on their part, but it
was done. The GW3 DB purging logic took
over and said "oh... I have a lot of
records that I need to get rid of". It
then used all of its resources to delete
old database records. Normally, on a
regular basis, this happens after the
maximum database time length in small
chunks, like one hour at a time and the
user never notices the impact. Some GW3
bundles come licensed for 60 day limits
on the DB to keep the cost of the bundle
lower. You can easily see that if the PC
date were moved ahead by one month or
more, that GW3 would see that it had a
large amount of housekeeping to do.
We are taking steps
for future releases to help protect the
user from these type of mistakes. |
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