If you’re shopping for business security cameras, you might wonder why anyone would bother paying for a professionally installed commercial security camera system at all when you could just do-it-yourself (DIY).
Searching for a business video surveillance system can sometimes feel like wading through a swamp of confusing terms often misused and mistaken for one another. Learning about the most common video surveillance mistakes and misconceptions will make you better informed on what your business needs are, even before speaking to a security professional.
If you're reading this article, you might be wondering if your security provider has a SOC report, why security providers should undergo SOC audits, or even what a SOC audit is. While we don’t offer SOC audits at DGA, they are something we highly recommend to businesses dealing with sensitive information.
When it comes to door/window contact sensors used in business security systems, the most common mistake we see is either overuse or underuse of these devices. Sometimes we see a contact sensor installed on every door and window regardless of location – which likely increased the installation cost without adding additional security benefit. Other times, we see doors and windows that are easily accessible from the outside missing a contact sensor, making the business vulnerable to potential intrusion attempts.
When we are designing business security systems, we sometimes get pushback from clients about whether they really need motion sensors in addition to door/window contacts. At other times, we get pushback from our clients’ architect who asks us: “Do we really need a motion sensor in that spot? Can you move it to a more hidden location?”
Modern electronic glass break sensors are smart devices that are highly effective at detecting a breaking glass window. But the truth is glass break sensors can be tricky in a business security alarm system. High-pitched noises from outside can cause false alarms. Furthermore, some glass window types don’t shatter in a way that can be picked up reliably by these sensors.
Emergency Control Function Interfaces allow fire alarm systems to communicate with other critical building systems during a fire emergency to ensure the safe evacuation of occupants.
Remote annunciators are smaller panels that provide a fire system status and a limited set of functional switches (e.g., acknowledge a signal or silence an alarm).
This article provides an overview of different types of fire alarm notification devices, which alert the building occupants to evacuate the premises or relocate using both audible and visual alarms when the fire system detects a possible fire. The most common notification devices installed today are strobes, horn strobes, speakers and speaker strobes.
All commercial fire alarm systems are required to be monitored 24/7 by an outside monitoring center that is equipped to respond to and handle fire alarm events. But what should you look for when selecting a monitoring center (also referred to as a "Central Station") for your fire system? This article explains the important role that monitoring centers play and provides a primer on how to select a qualified monitoring center.
As businesses everywhere are working their way through the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve been getting calls from our clients to help them open their doors safely – and we mean that literally. We have been installing automatic door openers to create hands-free door entry systems for office suites, office bathrooms and more.
Supervisory switches are a group of initiating devices that are installed at different parts of the automatic fire sprinkler system and are monitored by the Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP). Their job is to monitor the sprinkler system to ensure that it’s in proper working condition and to transmit a supervisory signal to the FACP when an issue is detected.
