After its month-long teaser ad campaign in Security Installer and its ‘countdown to launch’ on our website info4security, Honeywell has finally revealed what its “new dimension” in security is.
Ah, you say … so that explains the free 3D glasses given out in the April edition of this magazine and those strange red and green images in their advertisements.
So what is this new concept?
No less than the merging together of intruder alarms and access control.
What? An innovation in intruder alarms – a sector many industry observers think is treading water?
Once the dominant technology, it now comes in third to CCTV and access control where most of the “innovation” (or what passes as that in a limited sector) seems to be happening.
But, despite its low profile, the intruder alarm sector is still the backbone of this industry and is the bread and butter for thousands of installation companies. And the fact that it’ll still be worth GB pound 612 million (at today’s prices) into the next decade, means it is not to be sniffed at.
With companies making claims for their latest products all the time, what makes Honeywell’s launch any different?
First, it brings friendly-faced graphical touch-screen control to what users often find scariest about an alarm system – the dreaded keypad that can send shivers down the spine of new retail/office staff who have to set/unset. (Our blank-screen photo here doesn’t quite do it justice but you get the idea.)
Second, this single interface also includes control over access to the building. Using simple swipe or touch-n-go readers, staff can get into their assigned areas. Using the same readers, those who control security can also arm and disarm the intruder function.
Thirdly, and maybe most significant, is that this is all based around Galaxy control panels, long regarded as the “Rolls Royce” of the sector. (That’s not me being biased. Listen to a group of consultants or installers – and the fact that these panels are installed everywhere throughout blue chip financial, industrial and local authority premises).
The fact that it’s backwards compatible with those long-installed legacy systems should ring bells for installers (and the owners who have to pay them). Honeywell say it’s a straightforward swap of the legacy pcb board with a new Dimension board and all existing cabling can still be used. Self monitoring and direct communication with the engineer will also reduce site visits.
Audio verification via a “listening-in” and analysis function at the ARC is also built in. This should further help to reduce false activations often caused by inexperienced – or confused – staff setting/unsetting the system in the mornings and evenings.
New thinking has long been needed in the alarms sector so could we see this marriage of intruder and access set off wider integration trends – say with CCTV and building automation?
Does it matter if the “intruder” function is swallowed up into a wider integrated system? Will the concept of a single installation for intruder and access be the shot in the arm that the intruder sector needs?
