About DS

Development History

1993

On December 6, 1993, DS was established in Shanghai as the industrialization base of the First Research Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
DS successfully developed the queuing and dispatch 110 system, which was put into use in the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau.

1996

DS was rated as a Shanghai High-Tech Enterprise, entering the ranks of high-tech enterprises.

1997

DS began to enter the fire protection sector and expand its fire communication and command system business.
"DS-300 Digital Conference Dispatcher" obtained the network access permit for telecommunications terminal equipment from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
"DS01 Social Emergency Telephone Service System" won the National Key New Product Certificate.

1998

"DS01 Social Emergency Telephone Service System" obtained the National Torch Program Project Certificate and the Shanghai Municipal New Product Certificate.

1999

DS participated in the construction of a fire communication and command system that meets national standards In Wuxi, Jiangsu, took part in formulating the national standard Code for Design of Fire Communication and Command Systems.
"DS119 Fire Alarm Reception System" was listed as a key sci-tech industrialization project in Shanghai.
DS introduced a quality management system and passed the ISO9001 Quality Management System.

2001

"DS11 Call Service Center System" won the National Key New Product Certificate.

2003

DS took the lead in building the "110, 122, 199 Three-in-One" system in Feixi County, Anhui Province.
"DS11 Call Service Center System" was listed in the National Science and Technology Achievement Promotion Plan and won the National Excellent Torch Plan Award and the Third Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in Shanghai.
DS obtained Computer Information System Integration Qualification (Level 3).

2004

DS took the lead in building the "Three-in-One" command system for provincial capitals in Zhengzhou, sparking a construction boom of such systems across the national public security sector.
The Shanghai Emergency Joint Command Center was formally established and put into use. The 110 hotline evolved from a single public security alarm line into a comprehensive emergency response platform for public emergencies, pioneering the construction of extra-large emergency joint systems.

2005

"110/119/122 Three-Alarm Integrated Alarm Receiving and Handling System" was listed as a Shanghai Torch Plan project.

2006

The R&D project "Comprehensive Information Communication System of Shanghai Emergency Joint Command Center" won the First Prize of Shanghai Science and Technology.
The R&D project "Urban Emergency Service System of Yuxi Public Security Bureau" won the Third Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in Yunnan Province.

2007

The Shandong Application R&D Branch and Customer Service Center were established, and the 400 customer hotline was launched.

2009

DS introduced video analysis technology and established the Coordinated Communication R&D Department.

2010

The Wuhan R&D Center and Fujian Application R&D Branch were established, marking the shift of DS’s R&D strategy focus toward inland regions.
The Minhang District Urban Comprehensive Management Grand Joint Project was launched，which is Shanghai’s first entity-operated grand joint center, enabling multi-party collaboration.

2011

"Fujian Alarm Receiving and Handling Information System" won the Third Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress of the Ministry of Public Security.

2012

DS undertook its first overseas emergency command system project — the Laos ECC project, marking that the company's products went abroad, stepped into the world, and strived for global development.

2013

Awarded the honors of Shanghai Excellent High-Tech Enterprise and Shanghai Key Software Enterprise.

2014

Awarded the title of "National Contract-Abiding and Credit-Reliable Enterprise" and the title of Shanghai Small Science and Technology Giant Enterprise.

2015

Awarded the “ITSS Information Technology Operation and Maintenance Standard Conformity” certificate, 2015 Excellent Enterprise in China's Satellite Application Industry, IT Service Management System Certification (ISO/IEC 20000-1:2001).

2016

DS won the bid for the Pakistan project, accelerating its overseas expansion with broad market prospects.
Won the Joint Solution (Third Prize) of the Ingenuity Cup 2016 Huawei China Partner Elite Invitational Tournament.

2017

Shanghai DS Communication Technology Co., Ltd. was established in Lingang Free Trade Zone.
Awarded the "Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative" medal.
DS was restructured and renamed "DS Information Technology Co., Ltd.".

2018

The National Engineering Laboratory for Big Data Circulation and Trading Technology was inaugurated.
DS obtained the Information Security Management System Certification.
DS became a security guarantee unit for the first China International Import Expo and has ensured the successful holding of the expo for many consecutive years to date.

2019

Won the Huawei Industry Solution Leadership Award, Huawei Leading Solution Partner Award, and the first prize in the "Enterprise Communication Track" of the Huawei Developer Competition.
Won the gold award of the 2019 Excellent Application Scenario Award in Big Data Industry.

2020

DS became a governing unit of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Development Alliance (SAIA).
DS obtained the Information System Construction and Service Capability CS4 (Excellent Level) certificate.
Won the Third Prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Award.

2021

DS pioneered the "dual-center and hot-backup" active-active alarm receiving and handling mode in Shanghai.
Won the Excellent Case Award for Enterprise Digital Transformation, the Best Solution Practice Award in the government and enterprise industry from Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, the Third Prize of Shanghai Excellent Industry-University-Research Cooperation Project Award, the Excellent Innovative Software Product Award.

2022

DS won the First Prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Award, the Second Prize of Science and Technology of the China Institute of Communications, and were shortlisted for the 2022 "Shanghai Excellent Industry-University-Research Cooperation Project Award".
Obtained the Level 1 Qualification Certification of ITSS Information Technology Service Operation and Maintenance Standards.
DS products were selected into the 2022 Pilot and Demonstration Project for Big Data Industry Development.
Awarded the title of "2022 Shanghai Software Core Competitiveness Enterprise (Scale-based)".

2023

DS completed the major asset restructuring with Yangtze Communications.
China's first series of generative AI standards was released, and DS became one of the 10 core compiling units for the standards.
DS products were selected into the excellent cases of urban digital transformation and the innovation achievements & practical cases of digital cities.
The "Intelligent Fire Alarm Receiving and Handling Platform" undertaken by the company provided support for the successful holding of the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games.
The DS 300S Information Platform obtained UL certification (from the US).

2024

DS product made an appearance at the National Symposium of Public Security Bureau Directors.
The 5G 110 Video Alarm System developed by DS has been promoted and put into use across Jiangsu Province.
DS was selected into the Top 10 Brands in Emergency Rescue and Top 10 Brands in Smart Fire.
DS projects won the Second Prize of Science and Technology from the China Institute of Communications and the Third Prize of Science and Technology from the China Electronics Society.

2025

The “AI-based Social Risk Perception and Early Warning Platform” won the Second Prize of the 4th Central Enterprise Yixing Innovation and Creativity Competition.
DS obtained the NG eCall Plug test 2025 certification, an authoritative certification jointly awarded by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and Deutsche Telekom (DT).
DS products won the "Top 10 Excellent Cases in Smart Emergency Response" and "a&s Top Digital Products & Solutions.

Brand Evolution

The Evolution of the DS Brand – From "Digital Switch" to "Digital & Smart"

Brand Origin

Brand Evolution

As for DS, a renowned brand in the emergency response industry, its story begins in an extraordinary era of "breaking monopolies" – back in the 1980s, China’s telecommunications industry was stuck in a "technological backwater.“

In 1960, the U.S. Bell System successfully developed the stored-program control (SPC) switch; in 1970, France put the world’s first program-controlled digital telephone switch into operation. However, by the early 1980s, China’s telecommunications and computer technologies were far behind international standards. The country had almost no knowledge of program-controlled switching technology, let alone how to design and develop such switches.

To break the foreign monopoly on program-controlled digital switches, the State Planning Commission issued the task of developing the "DS-2000 program-controlled digital telephone switch" in October 1983 – a major research project during the 6th Five-Year Plan period (1981-1985). The First Research Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (formerly abbreviated as "Post and Telecommunications First Institute," now Telecommunications Science and Technology First Research Institute Co., Ltd.) took on the development. It assembled 100 technical backbones to form a research team, setting up seven groups covering overall design, user-level systems, group selection-level systems, operating systems, application software, microcomputers, and mechanisms. They tackled challenges step by step, from overall design to hardware and software development.

After three years of diligent research day and night, results finally emerged. In September 1986, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications held a ministerial-level appraisal meeting for the DS-2000 prototype. Song Zhiyuan, then Vice Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, presided over the meeting. The expert team organized by the ministry’s Science and Technology Bureau conducted comprehensive, rigorous tests and inspections on the prototype, and reached an inspiring conclusion: The overall design is feasible, the development is successful, and it is an initiative in China. This marked that China had mastered the core technologies of international program-controlled digital telephone switches from the early 1980s, laying a solid foundation for the localization of program-controlled switches, ending the total reliance on imports, and developing 10,000-line program-controlled switches tailored to China’s national conditions. It was a major breakthrough in China’s telephone switch technology.

After the DS-2000 prototype passed appraisal, the Post and Telecommunications First Institute produced two switches: one 500-line unit installed in Zhongnanhai, and the other 2000-line unit deployed at the State Planning Commission. These switches truly participated in the historical transformation of China’s telecommunications. Later, the DS-2000 won the First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the First Prize for National Scientific and Technological Progress, becoming a source of national pride in China’s telecommunications industry.

The two letters "DS" originally stood for "Digital Switching."

Before 1990, China’s program-controlled switch market was monopolized by products of eight standards from seven countries – a situation known as the "Seven Countries, Eight Standards." This monopoly covered everything from rural telephone networks to the national backbone telephone network, and made program-controlled switches extremely expensive, directly driving up the cost of installing a telephone. At that time, the initial installation fee for a telephone was about 5,000 yuan (not including the several hundred yuan for the telephone set itself), while the monthly salary of a college graduate was only 200 yuan. Even with money, getting a telephone installed was not guaranteed – one had to give gifts, rely on connections, and secure approvals, then wait patiently.

To bring this technology to the market, the Post and Telecommunications First Institute registered and established Shanghai DS Communication Equipment Co., Ltd. in December 1993. The name "Di’ai Si" (DS) derives from the DS-2000.

Shortly after its founding, the company took on a tough task: Before the 1993 Shanghai East Asian Games, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau needed to build a 110 emergency call service platform and entrusted the Post and Telecommunications First Institute and Shanghai Telephone Bureau to develop and establish the system. This was one of the municipal government’s "Ten Practical Matters for the People" that year, with tight deadlines and heavy responsibilities. The Post and Telecommunications First Institute selected researchers from its Municipal Telephone Research Office, who overcame numerous difficulties to successfully develop and build a large-scale public security 110 queuing and dispatch system – the 110 emergency call service platform of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau.

It was a resounding success! Later, the Post and Telecommunications First Institute integrated the R&D team behind Shanghai’s 110 system into DS, starting to promote the technology nationwide: Nanjing’s 110 system was launched in June 1994, followed by Tianjin’s 110 emergency call service platform in October. Subsequently, the team added conference and dispatch functions to the 110 queuing machine, developing the DS-300 dedicated dispatcher – a key piece of equipment for the national emergency service system.

With the promotion of Zhangzhou’s 110 emergency service model nationwide in 1996, "Call 110 when in trouble" became a national consensus. DS also became a main player in China’s 110 market, affectionately nicknamed "the 110 of 110" by public security users.

From the monopoly-breaking DS-2000, to the 110 system guarding millions of people, and now to a well-known brand in the emergency response industry – over three decades later, DS has long transcended its status as a technical code and become a symbol of "safety and protection."

As the tide of the times surges forward, the connotation of the "DS" brand has continued to deepen and develop while inheriting its legacy. Today, it has been endowed with a new interpretation of "Digital & Smart". This is not only a leap in the technical dimension, but also an extension of the brand’s mission: from focusing on "Digital Switching" for telecommunications infrastructure to building a "Digital & Smart" emergency command center, DS takes its decades of technical accumulation as the digital foundation, and cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, and low-orbit satellite internet as the wings for intelligence, upgrading its initial "connection" capability to "smart decision-making" capability.

This evolution has made DS’s guardianship more predictive – avoiding potential risks in advance through intelligent risk early warning; more collaborative – connecting full emergency links via a space-air-ground integrated network; and more precise – achieving scientific disposal through digital twin and artificial intelligence deduction. From single equipment to ecosystem building, from passive response to active prevention and control, DS is continuing to write a new chapter of "making smart emergency response within reach" with digital and smart technology, allowing its original mission of "safety and protection" to unleash more profound value in the digital era.