Interview ITchanelPRO magazine: Teams is central hub in communication and security

CyberTwice's Team has decades of experience in Compliance Recording, Communications and Surveillance. Otto van Linden is an inspiring personality. We speak to him in his role as CEO of CyberTwice but also of Robin Telecom Development, which is under his care as well. Typical someone who understands what is involved in telecom, frontline workers, and public safety.

CyberTwice's spearheads are Capture (capture audio and video in Microsoft Teams), Control (integrate audio and video streams from IP devices into Microsoft Teams), Communication (improve business processes), and Comply (secure processes in ATTEST to comply with the facts in accordance with regulations). Safe & Simple!

New legislation, new opportunities
The basis of CyberTwice is the regulation Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II, Article 16) launched by the EU in 2018. This, according to Otto, has caused a massive increase in recorded and analyzed audio data at banks and other financial institutions, including having to capture mobile data. CyberTwice then developed a cloud-based Mobile Voice Recording service for a major Dutch telecom service provider that works entirely following the MiFID policy and is offered as a service by this operator to the financial market.

"Our focus in terms of application development changed shortly thereafter," Otto says. "We were introduced to Microsoft Teams and were impressed with its rapidly growing user base. With the knowledge gained from developing the Private Cloud-based Mobile Voice Recording application, we started developing ATTEST, an Azure-based SaaS application for Teams Collaboration Recording, and ATTEST Replay, a native Teams app for Surveillance," Otto explained. "During this development, we also saw opportunities for collaborative applications, complementing Teams meeting recording, which gave us a much wider market reach. In late 2020, we launched CyberGate, a SaaS application that integrates IP video for access control and security with Microsoft Teams."

Key to more applications
Otto: "With the introduction of CyberGate, we have realized a unique concept that allows numerous IP devices to be integrated into the Microsoft Teams environment. It migrates from separate solutions to one universal Teams approach, with ATTEST's additional capture and analysis. A security camera, a door release, a video intercom, and other IP devices can be hired and addressed in Teams, thanks to CyberGate. We are brand-independent and now integrate more than 50 different cameras, intercoms, and call systems. More and more hardware providers are joining our platform."

Azure Marketplace
CyberTwice applications are mainly sold and delivered digitally through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace to reach every Microsoft 365 user and serve them easily and quickly. This also directly explains why CyberGate is experiencing such rapid development: there are customers from all over the world, even as far away as Australia and Japan. The license for CyberGate is purchased in proportion to the number of connected devices and is, therefore, not user-based.

ATTEST is the Communications & Surveillance Recording solution for Microsoft Teams, which ensures that all Teams calls and meetings are stored and comply with laws and regulations. We call that Attestation. Not only Teams calls and meetings but also video and voice streams from cameras, bodycams, and intercoms, for example, can be recorded. "The developments around Teams are stormy," Otto says. "Especially now that telephony is seen as a talking point by Microsoft. I think the traditional providers are watching this rapid change in the market with bated breath."