"Key" is now a home control system that includes smart intercoms, and video surveillance at the entrance and in the yard, and the issuance of virtual passes, and a smart barrier, digital resource consumption meters and much more. Moreover, all these functions and devices can be controlled through a mobile application or personal web account. We managed to create a cross-segment B2B2C product, which provides us with new clients and enables the residents of houses to comfortably interact with management companies.
But first things first.
Approach and architecture
We decided to make The Key cool. Of course, few people decide to initially make a bad product. But often they want to do it quickly and roll out at least something working into production, just to meet the deadline.
There are two traps here. First, succumb to the general haste and roll out a product so crude that it would be a shame to show it. And then reputational losses are possible.
Secondly, you can turn on perfectionism to its fullest and decide what the hell is a deadline, let's take a little longer to drink, but roll out something beautiful. It is expected that in this case, "a bit" will stretch indefinitely, and nothing will come out at all.
We decided that we wanted to make the product good, but not make it for decades. Therefore, those things that we could do well on our own, we did it ourselves. And the rest of the "Key" components are a set of time-tested and load-tested external services that we have carefully integrated into our platform.
For example, at the time of the birth of Klyuch, Rostelecom already had an excellent video platform, one of the best in the country. It was on it that all video surveillance technically worked at elections of various scales and the Unified State Exam, if we talk about state programs. For business and private users on the same platform, B2B Video Surveillance and Smart Home are built.
We took into account that initially it was a product for legal entities, therefore, using the platform as one of the components for the "Key", we have significantly modified it for our needs. We have implemented the roles of users with different access levels, added binding of cameras to the “Key” equipment, and made additional interfaces.
The user authentication process in such systems is critical. Because here you have access to video cameras, and the possibility of opening an entrance or a barrier, and so on. Therefore, we also did not begin to write from scratch some new secure solution for logging in, but took the unified authentication technology existing at Rostelecom, which allows you to combine accounts and move between personal accounts. This is a solution that has been tested by both millions of users and time, as well as DDoS attacks.
The "Key" contour was configured by our specialists from the information security unit, providing us with the necessary network segmentation and all the necessary tools (WAF, firewall, network activity monitoring, antiviruses, network rules, etc.). Immediately after the start, we conducted testing, including pentests, found a couple of bugs and promptly fixed them.
Smart barriers and intercoms - here we did everything from scratch, this is a native part of the platform.
Telemetry ("Key" allows automatic transmission of meter readings) is based on a partner solution.
In the end, it turned out like this:
- Two clients (x64 / x86)
- Mobile application for individuals on iOS and Android
- Mobile application for legal entities on iOS and Android
- Web applications for individuals and legal entities
- Admin panel
Complexities of the process
It may seem that connecting such a digital product to a residential building is simple - you have made an agreement with the tenants, received approval, and in a day you send out logins and passwords to everyone by mail.
In fact, at this stage, all sorts of bureaucratic obstacles show themselves in all their glory. And if it is still possible to cope with our specific organizational issues within Rostelecom (although we are a very large corporation, and even creating additional connectivity between networks at the administrative level is also a process), then the management company comes into play. And in the case of negotiations with the management company, the approval process can be split into a specific performer in the field.
Stack
Our stack is quite extensive, mostly Python, Go, Ruby, because, as I already mentioned, we not only write something of our own, but also actively connect existing services to the "Key". And all of this should work together.
For example, in the case of the same telemetry and partner solution, we collect data for ourselves that has already been processed by this solution and cleared, we act here de facto as a front.
The intercom, for its part, sends information about ongoing events to the syslog platform, and this is actually a large stream of data, there are many events. There we specifically use a NoSQL solution, databases receive information, and specific scripts are launched based on certain events.
And there are also many APIs through which configs and commands are transmitted. This is what our product can do thanks to this.
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The "key" as a platform is not limited to this list. Globally, we have a rather interesting request from users - to make an analogue of CRM for the possibility of communication between the residents of the house and the management company. Submit requests, monitor repairs and the like. Of course, there is not enough pure CRM here, and you will also need to connect control from the authorized bodies so that the promise to make repairs does not remain just a promise. Now "Klyuch" actively supports the government's initiatives to digitize the housing and communal services sector and develop smart cities.
We are working on various solutions related to biometrics access. Backlog and transport cards. And also a smart elevator that you can call to your floor from your smartphone in advance, while you close the front door and go to the elevators. Or when, for example, you enter the staircase, and the elevator at that moment is already going to the first floor and is waiting for you with a highlighted button for your floor.
Thank you for reading, if you have any questions about the "Key", write, we will try to answer.