CBP Magazine: Articles

As one of America's most selective liberal arts colleges, Davidson College, located 19 mi. north of Charlotte in Davidson, NC, was primed to improve its life-safety and security system by adding Internet protocol (IP) communications.

The college's 1,700 students come from almost every state in the nation and many foreign countries. Since its establishment in 1837, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars. It is home to state-of-the-art facilities for academics, arts, athletics, student life, and campus offices and services. To protect the safety of its students, faculty, and staff living and working on the 450-acre campus, the IT department has an extensive system of life-safety and security equipment installed throughout the various buildings.

When the college's IT staff was looking to reduce recurring operating costs for the system, it turned to long-time security and life-safety systems integration partner CRS Building Automation Systems Inc., Charlotte, NC. CRS has specialized in the installation of access-control, fire-alarm, video-surveillance, security, and energy-management systems for 20 years.

Davidson College's managers asked CRS to engineer a way to shift the primary monitoring infrastructure for its fire- and intrusion-detection systems to its campus fiber network. CRS recommended the installation of IP communications modules from Bosch Security Systems, Fairport, NY. The equipment is designed to communicate over the Internet or corporate communication networks.

"Using IP for fire- and intrusion-control panel communications delivers a number of benefits, including higher security, faster data transmissions, and reduced costs," said Phillip Cashion, Jr., president of CRS.

The Bosch modules convert reports from the control panels' traditional telephone dial-up communicators into IP packets and send the secure IP packets over the Internet to the receiver at the central station that is monitoring the buildings for fire and intrusion alarms.

"The modules would protect the college's previous investments by allowing it to continue to use its existing fire- and intrusion-control panels, while enabling it to move to an IP communication infrastructure," Cashion explained.

Prior to the installation of the Bosch modules, two phone lines connected each panel to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) for primary and back-up communications. This system required 140 dedicated phone lines, at a monthly cost of $25 to $30, to communicate with the central monitoring station. By moving communications to the Internet and through a PBX switch, Davidson was able to eliminate the direct connections to the PSTN for each panel, significantly reducing the system's recurring operations costs.

During the summer of 2007, CRS began installing Bosch Conettix C900V2 dialer capture Ethernet modules to upgrade the more than 70 fire-detection systems that protect the residence halls, classrooms, and administrative buildings throughout campus.

"The implementation was truly a joint effort between Davidson and CRS," Cashion said. "At the project's onset, CRS technicians briefed the college's IT personnel on the scope of work, and the IT staff assisted with the project. This added manpower and Davidson's extensive knowledge of administering Internet connections were of great assistance. Davidson helped to speed up the installation process by working independently. They provided the IP addresses, created drops to all of the network stations, and identified and eliminated potential problems with the college's firewall. The IT team was vigilant in defining and avoiding any possible issues that the installation of the new Internet monitoring system may have created."

Approximately five modules were installed and programmed each day. The C900V2 modules accept multiple industry standard digital dialer formats, so they work equally well with the college's Bosch control panels and with the installed fire-control panels from other manufacturers.

"Bosch's technology made the installation and integration process fast and efficient for the Davidson IT team and CRS technicians. We chose Bosch because of the products' simplicity and reliability," Cashion said.

For securing the college's administrative buildings that contain valuable equipment and protected information, the control panels communicate alarms if an intruder is detected in a building where they are installed. Prior to the system upgrade, the information communicated in an alarm signal contained minimal details. Now, the control panels communicate to the central station using the network interface modules, which offer enhanced reporting capabilities.

Alarm reports indicate zones or points, such as a specific conference room, where an intruder is detected. With this information, the central station can tell local authorities the exact building location where motion was detected, or where windows or doors were forced open. Armed with this level of detail, authorities have a better understanding of how and where to respond to an alarm.

IP communications between the fire- and security-panels and the receiver at the central-monitoring station also offer the college greater overall security, as the control panels regularly send supervisory messages to the central-station receiver to ensure the system is functioning properly. If the control panel does not receive an acknowledgement message, the central-station operator is alerted.

With the new modules, all of the control panels now use IP as the primary method of communication with the national central station. If the network fails, resulting in the inability of the fire and security control panels to communicate using IP, phone lines connecting the panels to the college's private branch exchange (PBX) switch serve as the back up. This system design adheres to codes set by the National Fire Protection Assn., Quincy, MA, which require two independent means of communication to the central-monitoring station.

"The phone line connected to the PBX switch also allows for remote system administration and programming," Cashion explained.

In case of an electrical outage, the PBX switch is reinforced with an uninterruptible power supply that will keep the phone system running until the generator starts. This redundancy ensures the control panels' back-up communication method is always available.

Davidson College's IT department has calculated that the upgraded system will result in an impressive return on investment, as a result of the elimination of the PSTN phone lines. "We have already experienced a 50% cost savings, and expect that number to increase to 75% in the near future," said Brent Babb, project manager, Davidson College.

In addition, the upgrade has increased the speed of communications to the central station. Fire codes require that the central-monitoring station receive signals within 1 min. of an alarm, and IP enables faster communication than alarms transmitted over a traditional phone line. IP also ensures the control panel will not encounter a busy signal from the receiver at the central station, resulting in more data getting through faster to the people monitoring the security and safety of a building.

The speed of communication to the central-monitoring station is an important factor for Davidson, as the college does not have a manned office for monitoring alarms from the fire and intrusion-detection systems. Alarm reports are sent directly to the central station, so faster transmission to the central station, in turn, improves response time to an alarm by the campus' 24-hr. police service and the town's fire department.

The upgrade has also helped the college reduce the amount of time required to fix any issues impacting the system.

"We have more knowledge and control over the system now. When we relied on the phone company, we often would not know if one of the phone lines was down unless a service technician alerted us or there was a problem with communication between one of the fire- or security-control panels and the central station," Babb explained.

"Now, as a result of the 24/7 monitoring on our phone and network system, the IT staff are automatically alerted if there is a network or phone-line problem, and we can dispatch a staff member to fix the issue at any hour of the day," Babb said.

Tom Mechler is the intrusion product-marketing manager for Bosch Security Systems Inc., Fairport, NY. He has worked in the security industry for 22 years. Mike Worden is a regional sales manager for Bosch with 17 years of experience in the security industry.

College Cuts Costs with IP Communications