Newsletter May 2008

Now that the dust has settled and the new Standards for alarm transmission are out, you will notice a mad flurry of emails and products claiming to meet the new standards ... in fact very few products actually meet the Class or Level they claim...

Some manufacturers claim to be Securitel replacements.  They obviously don't know much about Securitel.

Let me explain why ...

A Securitel device (serial STU) is polled roughly every 26 seconds (with Off Hook polling enabled).

The serial STUs polls the panel every few seconds to check panel integrity and the transmission path between the STU and the panel.  This meets Class 4 of the new Standard.  

To meet Class 4 an "Alarm Transmission Interface" must POLL the panel and report an alarm if there is a failure of the interconnection between the alarm system and the alarm transmission device for more than 60 seconds.... 

No PSTN/Telecom connection between the panel and the Communications Interface will achieve class 4....

Is there any body out there claiming to meet Class 4 with the panel connected via dialler and reporting Contact ID.

.... yes there is.....  Can they meet Class 4   ...  NO ! 

In the normal mode of operation Securitel offers Class 3 (120 second timeout on line fail or panel interconnect). 

The serial STUs polls the panel every few seconds to check panel integrity and the transmission path between the STU and the panel is OK.  This meets Class 3 of the new Standard.

To meet Class 3 the Alarm Transmission Interface must Supervise the link to the panel and report an alarm if the interconnection between the alarm system and the alarm transmission system has failed for more than 120 seconds.

Here is a simple test....

On your so called Class 3 device... unplug the panel connection that connects to the transmission interface device e.g. the RJ11. ... Leave it unplugged for 3 minutes....  trigger a few alarms...do these report to the Monitoring Centre?

If you don't get a supervision alarm at the Monitoring Centre within 120 seconds.....this device does not meet Class 3.  ...this device could be the same Class as a dialler reporting once a day i.e. Class 2.

Does your GPRS system meet class 4 or even class 3... most do not.

There are some good products in the marketplace that do meet the standards and these manufacturers have done their homework.

As MCM was a member of this Australian Standards committee,  we are very aware of the requirements of the new standards.

For full details download a copy of AS/NZS2201.5: 2008 from http://www.saiglobal.com/shop/Script/search.asp

In earlier newsletters we made comment....

This updated standard will affect the classifications of many existing transmission systems currently being offered to the Security Industry and portrayed as high security solutions.  We estimate that more than 95% of these products will be severely downgraded in this new standard to Class 2 ... virtually the same as a dialler. 

MCM has recently released the Emizon 21 dual path IP solution that is a high security, super competitive and easy to install solution..   (the MCM TCD has the same connections as MCM's serial Securitel STUs).

One button commissioning....  Do you have a finger ??   ..then you can commission an MCM TCD.