Inovonics BR005 Wireless Commercial Security Owner’s Manual
- May 15, 2024
- Inovonics
Table of Contents
White paper
Wireless monitoring and intrusion detection in commercial facilities
Wireless vs. Traditional Hardwired Approaches to Security
Whether we refer to a financial institution, a retail store, or other
commercial building, the story is the same. Security executives’ budgets are
tight and getting tighter, and they have a short time frame to install and
update their security systems. Wireless technology has become an invaluable
tool. Due to the labor savings of not pulling wire from the security panel out
to the sensors, installation of a wireless security system not only saves
time, but money. Depending on the difficulty of the installation, these
savings can be impressive, and there are some environments which simply can’t
be hard-wired at all. This paper discusses the time and cost savings provided
by wireless technology. More importantly, it addresses the reliability and
additional functional opportunities a wireless solution affords.
For the purpose of this white paper we’ll define a commercial facility as a
private or public office building, warehouse, distribution center, school,
refinery, multi-tenant strip mall, or agricultural facility, as well as
anything else that doesn’t neatly fall into other classifications, such as
retail or financial. We have addressed the retail and financial enterprises in
their respective white papers.
The structures and features that make up these commercial businesses all have
at least one thing in common: each is unique, and tailored to specific
business needs. In all of these establishments, the protection of assets and
life are essential parts of the business plan. Physical security systems are
essential in creating a safe and secure environment. Without proper security
systems, the safety of employees, business assets, and business investment is
put at risk.
The security panel used in traditional hardwired systems is typically the same panel used in a wireless approach. Wireless solutions have evolved to work with virtually any commercially available security panel.
Commercial businesses have traditionally relied on an array of security
sensors for their burglar alarm and intrusion detection systems. These sensors
have been hardwired into security panels to monitor the physical space inside,
and often around a portion of the area outside, the facilities. Sensors can
include motion detectors, door and safe contacts, glass break detectors, and
fixed-location panic buttons.
A wireless security approach provides the same sensor options of a hardwired
system, without the expensive and cumbersome wiring costs, and can offer
additional flexibility and functionality. Wireless security systems have been
used in commercial, retail, financial, and government institutions for
decades.
As commercial enterprises have become convinced of the reliability, value and
dependability of a wireless approach, they continue to expand the use of
wireless to additional locations, facilities, and especially applications.
Some of the most recognizable facilities in the world have adopted wireless
security systems for their buildings, providing a testament to the maturity
and proven performance of the underlying wireless technology.
Functional Advantages of Wireless Security
Security systems that rely solely on wired connections perform adequately in static locations, but fixing conduit and stringing wiring can be difficult in many commercial areas. Likewise, once the pipe is fixed in place, it is nearly impossible to easily and quickly adapt to changing site plans or seasonal adjustments. Similarly, when a facility is upgraded — during a warehouse expansion, for example — the installation cost of a wireless approach provides significant savings. The following sections will continue to highlight some of the benefits of a wireless approach.
Avoid Costly Installs
Hardwiring a security system can be cumbersome, time consuming and costly, and
some areas can be difficult, if not impossible, to wire.
Take a distribution center with dozens of overhead doors, for example.
Implementing a hard-wired solution would require pipe and conduit, the
associated hangers, the wire carried inside the pipe, the labor to install the
run of pipe and wire, and the equipment to lift the installers into position.
Another example, could be if the enterprise needs to monitor the status of a
set of entry gates.
Installing wireless sensors in an existing wireless network is quick and easy,
with no wires to run.
A wireless approach allows any commercial enterprise to easily adapt to
facility adjustments, site plan changes, or new monitoring requirements.
Hardwiring security devices in those hard-to-reach points of access drives up
the cost of installation, and makes job completions unpredictable. Moreover,
older facilities can present additional wiring challenges, due to thick walls,
high ceilings, and asbestos abatement issues. All of these wiring challenges
add time and costs that can impact the financial success of the enterprise.
The wireless approach presents a superior alternative. Using a large warehouse
with a small outbuilding as an example, let’s suppose there’s a new
requirement to monitor the outbuilding for intrusion. Instead of having to pay
thousands of dollars to trench from the main warehouse to the outbuilding,
wireless devices are simply mounted where they are needed. Installation costs
are reduced, a timely completion is ensured, and the necessary secure
evironment is maintained.
Reduce Maintenance
It is highly recommended that periodic manual testing, in addition to automatic supervision, be performed to ensure system reliability.
Supervision is the ability of a security system to monitor the health of the connection between the security sensor and the security panel. Wireless supervision automatically monitors the wireless link between the sensor and the security panel to ensure the devices are operational without manual intervention. Intelligent wireless systems monitor the integrity of the wireless link between the transmitter and the receiver, as well as the status of the transmitter, providing battery and tamper information.
Provide Additional Functionality
Wireless also offers additional functional advantages. The most obvious
example is a wireless security pendant that gives key employees the ability to
trigger an alarm from anywhere in the building or parking lot without the
encumbrance of wiring. 1 Pendants are an ideal wireless application, as
employees are mobile by nature. Pendants can also be used as safety buttons
for workers alone in case of accident.
In addition to the wireless pendants being used for security applications,
wireless sensors can be used in an almost infinite variety of ways to solve
wired problems. We haven’t found an application that a wireless solution would
not be an appropriate alternative.
1.This requires careful management of supervision events and processes.
Economic Advantages of Wireless Security
The following examples are based on real world scenarios, and may or may
not reflect your specific experience. However, the general conclusions about
the difference in labor cost should be applicable to any situation.
The economic advantages of wireless security can be demonstrated by
comparing a hardwired solution and a wireless solution in a series of
examples. The examples were chosen to demonstrate wireless systems as cost
effective for all sizes and shapes of commercial enterprises. The examples
used are a distribution center, a multi-story office building and a municipal
campus complex. In order to make the examples as real-life as possible we’ve
presented both typical and complex wiring installation scenarios.
In each of the wireless examples a number of duress pendants proportional to
the installation size are included. Obviously, they aren’t included in the
wired system because they aren’t possible. For specific installations the
number of pendants can easily be increased. The cost savings alone justify the
use of a wireless system, but the addition functionality afforded should
convince a management team to explore the benefits of a wireless solution.
Although the following analysis focuses on specific examples, the conclusions
are generally applicable to facilities of practically any size. As you would
expect, the greater the number of monitored points, the greater the savings.
While most locations have an existing security and/ or monitoring system in
place, successful enterprises are usually performing a number of upgrades
somewhere in their facilities. This continuous renewal of the underlying
security system presents an excellent opportunity to examine the merits of
implementing a wireless security solution.
While the number and types of burglary and intrusion detection devices vary
from location to location, the goal of each installation remains the same: to
keep assets and employees safe and secure and to reduce losses from robberies
and break-ins.
Economic Advantages for a Distribution Center
A typical distribution center building is characterized by a large number of
overhead doors where stock is off-loaded from either trucks or railcars, and
re-loaded onto freight vehicles for delivery. These facilities have very high
ceilings, large open areas, and millions of dollars of inventory that must be
monitored. Given the amount of inventory that must be managed and tracked,
these facilities are large by their nature, translating into multiple entry
points that must be monitored. We will primarily focus on monitoring against
intrusion, including the access gates, the roadways to and from the building,
and the building itself.
Figure 1 Distribution center
Table 1: Breakdown of distribution center wireless savings
| Hardwired security system (125 points)| Wireless security system
(130 points)
---|---|---
Equipment| Labor
hours| Labor
cost| Total| Equipment| Labor
hours| Labor
cost| Total
Complex| $19,450| 390| $58,500| $77,950| $20,700| 86| $12,900| $33,600
Typical| $16,350| 234| $35,100| $51,450| $20,700| 78| $11,700| $32,400
Table 2: Total distribution center wireless savings
| Labor hours| Dollars| Percentage
---|---|---|---
Complex| 304| $44,350| 57%
Typical| $156| $19,050| 37%
Economic Advantages for a Multi-Story Office Building
Multi-story office buildings come in all shapes and sizes. For the purpose
of discussion, we’ll use a private example that has five floors with 20
offices per floor. Our example includes an e-commerce company with a staff of
25 and an IT room with multiple servers running email applications, along with
a number of legal and medical professionals.
The security system needs to monitor the lobby, the elevator, and each office
and floor. The medical offices require a high degree of monitoring due to the
expensive equipment contained in the offices. The IT room of the e-commerce
company needs special monitoring; in addition to the security devices
necessary to protect the room from intrusion, the temperature and humidity
must be monitored to prevent any equipment from overheating and failing. The
receptionist in the lobby will also need a wireless pendant for any problems
that could arise.
Figure 2 Multi-story office building
Table 3: Breakdown of multi-story office building wireless savings
| Hardwired security system (135 points)| Wireless security system
(137 points)
---|---|---
Equipment| Labor
hours| Labor
cost| Total| Equipment| Labor
hours| Labor
cost| Total
Complex| $14,150| 420| $63,000| $78,150| $20,850| 90| $13,500| $34,350
Typical| $14,150| 251| $37,650| $51,800| $20,850| 82| $12,300| $33,150
Table 4: Total multi-story office building wireless savings
| Labor hours| Dollars| Percentage
---|---|---|---
Complex| 330| $43,800| 56%
Typical| $169| $18,650| 36%
Economic Advantages for a Municipal Campus Complex
A municipal campus complex typically contains government offices, police and
fire department buildings, and a public works facility. In this example we’re
assuming that each door and window is monitored for intrusion, that emergency
pendants are required for each building, and that the HVAC systems need to be
monitored for temperature and humidity.
Table 5: Breakdown of municipal campus complex wireless savings
| Hardwired security system (10 points)| Wireless security system (11
points)
---|---|---
Equipment| Labor
hours| Labor
cost| Total| Equipment| Labor
hours| Labor
cost| Total
Complex| $19,250| 309| $46,350| $65,600| $19,700| 72| $10,800| $30,500
Typical| $14,600| 187| $28,050| $42,650| $19,700| 65| $9,750| $29,450
Table 6: Total municipal campus complex wireless savings
| Labor hours| Dollars| Percentage
---|---|---|---
Complex| $237| $35,100| 54%
Typical| $122| $13,200| 31%
Reasons to Choose Inovonics as Your Wireless Security Provider
Wireless security solutions provide significant functional and economic advantages. Now consider some reasons why Inovonics is the wireless security provider of choice.
Market Leadership
For decades, Inovonics has been a pioneer and the market leader in the field
of wireless sensor networks. Millions of Inovonics transmitters, repeaters,
and receivers are installed in commercial installations throughout the world,
including retail outlets, banks, hospitals, government buildings and other
protected sites. Some of the most respected and well known
facilities in the world trust their safety and security to Inovonics.
Proven, Reliable Record
Inovonics offers the best range, reliability, sophisticated self diagnostics,
and scalability in the market today — all of which help to ensure reliable
operation. The Inovonics system conducts periodic battery tests and provides a
two-week advance notice if battery replacement is required.
If a transmitter malfunctions, our system has the capability to provide an
intelligent alert message so that security personnel can quickly and easily
resolve the problem.
Solutions Known for Superior Performance
Inovonics security solutions use a 900 MHz, frequency- hopping, spread
spectrum radio technology for superior reliability and performance. This is
the same wireless technology approach adopted by the U.S. military due to its
incomparable resistance to noise, interference and interception.
Flexibility
Inovonics security solutions are designed to provide maximum flexibility. They
can be installed in conjunction with any major control panel from leading
manufacturers such as Honeywell, Bosch, Pacom, ICT and Sonitrol. Because
Inovonics solutions can be deployed on virtually any security control panel,
users are free to choose the security integrators with which they are most
comfortable, including industry leaders like Johnson Controls, Everon,
Securitas and Convergint.
Summary
Hardwired solutions present problems in the form of difficult or impossible
deployments. The resulting cost of installation is the primary disadvantage of
hardwired security systems.
The examples demonstrate that commercial facilities of any size can benefit
from significant savings using a wireless security solution and receive
additional functionality. The examples show savings of more than $13,000 to
more than $44,000 per location, depending on the size of the facility and the
number of monitored detection points. With labor and cable costs on the rise,
these savings are likely to increase over time. The examples show that the
Inovonics security systems are cost effective, and they can be used by any
size retail enterprise.
Wireless security has existed in the commercial facilities for decades. Early
adopters started with pendants and evolved their solutions over time.
Commercial facility managers are finding that after they adopt the
infrastructure to accommodate wireless sensors, they can easily scale or
adjust the security system by adding additional monitored points to the
existing platform and reap greater economic benefits.
As commercial enterprises install wireless systems and experience their value,
reliability, and dependability, more and more are upgrading to Inovonics
security solutions for all of their security system needs.
For more information, contact us at 800.782.2709, option 1 or at
www.inovonics.com.
1.15.24 WP1007C © Inovonics, 2024 – www.inovonics.com
References
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