by Shane Henson — November 28, 2011—Silent Knight by Honeywell, a designer and manufacturer of commercial fire alarm and life safety systems, has introduced a fire alarm monitoring system designed to simplify the management and maintenance of multiple fire alarms and speed response to emergency events. The system could be of great benefit to facilities managers responsible for commercial sites that use multiple fire alarm systems, such as hospitals and school campuses.
According to Silent Knight designers, the company’s Farenhyt IFP-Net-3 displays detailed, floor-by-floor layouts of protected facilities and their fire alarm systems. As many as 200 Farenhyt and Silent Knight fire alarms can be tied together using an existing Ethernet—no extra fiber or wire required—which allows multiple sites in a large geographic area to be monitored from one location.
Real-time fire alarm status and event information can be viewed on one or more PCs programmed with the intuitive, Microsoft Windows-based IFP-Net-3 software. When an event occurs, such as a smoke detector in alarm, the IFP-NET-3 display immediately zooms to the facility’s affected area and the device in alarm. To speed emergency response, detailed information about the fire alarm event is provided, along with any pre-programmed instructions such as what to do or who to alert, all of which can be simultaneously e-mailed to key personnel.
The IFP-Net-3 monitoring system’s graphics can be easily customized with icons and information tags to indicate hazardous material storage, occupants requiring additional assistance, and other noteworthy areas. Specific information can also be stored to direct IFP-Net-3 operators on how to respond and who to notify during different events such as a fire versus a gas leak versus a general maintenance alarm. A lengthy log of historical information, including all emergency events and maintenance alerts, will provide facilities managers with valuable insight on potential issues, helping to avoid false alarms and make an extensive network of fire alarms much easier to maintain.
