Monitoring News
Every month our Managing Director, Steve Kimber, fills us in on the latest monitoring news.
Below is an archive of the previous months columns.
| May 08 | April 08 | |
| March 08 | February 08 | January 08 |
| December 07 | November 07 | October 07 |
| September 07 | August 07 | July |
| June 07 | May 07 | April 07 |
| March 07 | February 07 | January 07 |
Connections
September 2007
Hello Again,
You may be aware of the BT 21CN upgrade that is taking place in the UK over the forthcoming years, renewing the old copper telecommunications backbone with fibre and the potential knock on effect for signalling devices such as digital communicators.
To draw and analogy we are at a point in time when the UK moved from the old analogue mobile phone network to GSM, but we are also in mobile phone terms, about to leapfrog straight into 3G technology.
In essence, the day of the digital communicator using speech lines for data transmission is drawing to a close, as control panels and integrated signalling devices migrate to data networks such as GPRS and Broadband IP. These signalling network platforms provide for the remote access and servicing of systems through secure gateways, enabling the industry to cut its carbon footprint for site attendance and providing duty call out engineers with secure remote access to systems.
Communicators when installed to the European Standards require (amongst other signals) a 25 hour test signal to be transmitted to the ARC. ARC's in the UK tend to use non geographic numbers for their receiver ranges to provide for alternative routing to comply with the continuity of service requirements associated with BS5979.
Some ARC's (not us!) use premium rate numbers and others enjoy revenue share on 0870 (not us!) for incoming calls, the customer will recognise a cost on their phone bill for the 25hr test facility, additionally the ARC charges for informing of failure to test.
By opting for alternative signalling methods, great savings can be made on customer line rentals, phone calls and monitoring fees, whilst a the same time providing a dual path signalling system supporting the convergence of system technology, at the same time providing a secure gateway for remote service and diagnostics as well as automated remote maintenance.
Never before has there been a better opportunity to justify both technically and also commercially why customers should look to upgrading their signalling.
At Southern & Northern Monitoring Services we have many tailored upgrade campaigns which we project manage for you and pay you a commission for each successful upgrade, give us a call for more information.
Bye for now,
Steve