Aurora is compatible with existing Snell router hardware, control panels and software. Snell is continually striving to protect the investment in routing and infrastructure systems made by its customers, Aurora is no exception. As router and panel protocols remain unchanged, existing customers can upgrade their controller, migrating control panels and routers to the new platform with minimal downtime. Third party routing equipment can also be interfaced to the controller either directly, if the manufacturer supports our standard protocol, or via a protocol translator. The open architecture of Aurora, and the freely available remote control protocol leaves no doubt that Aurora is automation ready, and can be easily incorporated into existing or new systems. Comprehensive single or multi-stage tie line software allows up to 1200 tie lines, and provides the ability to seamlessly interconnect routers either directly, for identical signal types, or via converters where different signal formats exist. System status displays permit the user to view crosspoint settings, tie line use and some system fault information. User friendly intuitive Windows GUI provides the interface to the system database, presenting an overview of the system configuration in a Windows tree style format. Editing within the database is via pop up forms, providing direct entry fields with cut and paste capability. The extensive use of drag and drop within the database structure makes creating and editing databases easier than ever, while the auto-populate feature adopted with keypad types, speeds up panel definition.