GoGIN planned to present the TESS and YARIS tools to representatives of ECOWAS, ECCAS, and the three transnational centers of Yaoundé architecture (ICC, CRESMAC and CRESMAO) at a meeting in Lisbon. Given the COVID19 pandemic, this meeting was held by videoconference on March 19, 2020.
The objective of this meeting was twofold: (1) to present the state of progress of the development of the two platforms by the companies, (2) to collect the feedback and recommendations of the YA representatives to adjust their content and organize the deployment and training phases.
Each consortium presented the development of the tools: Zertive for the YARIS platform and Edisoft for the TESS platform. Sérgio Bryton, Information sharing manager at GoGIN, gave an update on the infrastructure required to deploy the two platforms.
After these presentations, the participants addressed the following points:
Terms of transfer: at the end of the project in April 2021, the two platforms YARIS and TESS and its infrastructure will be completely transferred to the Yaoundé architecture ((includes all hardware, software and source code, data and documentation). The YA representatives can decide whether or not to continue working with the companies presently contracted by EF (Edisoft, Zertive and the company that will develop the infrastructure), to ensure the maintenance and support of the users.
Terms of maintenance and user support: the companies have estimated the maintenance and user support for a duration of 3 years, after the GoGIN project is over, which was communicated to the YA transnational centres. The YA is free to sign maintenance contracts with these companies or choose to work with other companies of its choice. The YA will have full intellectual and industrial propriety, and therefore full control of all the work done, after the handover is complete.
Identification of financial partners: GOGIN may offer its support to the YA/ICC in identifying other potential financial partners, such as the EU-funded projects PASSMAR and SWAIMS, to help them support the maintenance and support costs of YARIS, TESS and the Infrastructure, after GoGIN is over.
Training of trainers and users: The training calendar is impacted by the COVID 19 and we are working on a plan B based on training through video conference.
Infrastructure: The infrastructure (hardware, software and networking) where YARIS and TESS will be deployed will be “housed” (includes room, physical security, energy, air conditioning and internet) in a separate company (selection is ongoing). This company will also ensure users support, maintenance, IT administration and security of the platforms, under the control of dedicated managers selected by and within the YA. These future Infrastructure managers will be trained by the company under the direction of GoGIN.
Interoperability: The interoperability of YARIS with other systems or data is foreseen: with SEAVISION (under development), with other systems providing AIS and radar tracks. YARIS offers a standard interface for consuming AIS and Radar, but system integration activities with other concrete systems besides SEAVISION are not foreseen.
Language: All user interfaces of YARIS and TESS will be available in 4 languages (French, English, Portuguese and Spanish). However, the language of the contents, only depends on those using these systems. The English language is recommended since its wide international acceptance as a de facto maritime language.