An alarm monitoring center, central monitoring station (also known as "CMS" or wholesale central station), or alarm receiving center (also known as ARC)[1] is a company that provides services to monitor burglar, fire, and residential alarm systems. The Central Monitoring Station may also provide watchman and supervisory services.
"It functions as a support system for critical event management devices, such as: security alarm panels, gas and temperature gauges, PERS devices, crash detection devices, integrated video systems, and even mobile applications."[2] When a genuine alert is confirmed, the monitoring team may immediately contact the relevant emergency service.[1]
Central monitoring stations use special telephone and mobile lines, radio channels, computers, software and trained staff to monitor their customers' security systems and call the appropriate authorities in the event an alarm signal is received. Typically, there is a monthly fee for services rendered. Because quality and experience can vary greatly among alarm companies, prospective customers are well advised to do their own research before making a final choice. Not all alarm companies monitor the systems they install and may outsource these services to another company.
Some facilities are certified by independent agencies. In the US, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is a leader in inspection and certification of central-stations. UL Standard 827[3] must be adhered to in order to maintain a UL issued central-station listing. UL conducts annual audits of these listed facilities to ensure compliance.
"UL listed" companies typically offer higher levels of service and reliability because they are mandated to follow certain regulations. Higher levels of service also include range of services, and a separation from companies with conflicts of interest who may be owned or operated by entities that in fact compete with the central station's customers.
If the UL listed central station is "automated", the computers and software must meet special requirements, processing and storing very large amounts of data and integration with many different alarm protocols.
In addition, many central monitoring stations seek to become FM approved in order to demonstrate additional levels of regulation compliance and interest for customer safety.
Incoming signals are processed by digital alarm receivers; these convert the incoming event packets to serial or TCP packets which are then analysed by the Central Station software. Event packets can be communicated over any transmission medium: PSTN, GSM, radio, direct line, Ethernet, GPRS, etc.
Central Station Services
An Alarm Monitoring Center can offer a handful of services, but the most common markets that use central station services are:
In the United States, central stations are regulated by third-party inspection companies such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL), FM Approvals, and The Monitoring Association (TMA). Central stations are evaluated on specific criteria such as system redundancy, building security, and regulation compliance. Once a central station has demonstrated adherence to the UL requirements, it can receive its certification.
The Monitoring Association (TMA)
"The Monitoring Association (TMA), formerly the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA), is a non-profit trade association that represents professional monitoring companies, including those listed by a TMA-approved Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory, such as UL, FM Global, or Intertek/ETL, as well as unlisted companies, integrators, and providers of products and services to the industry. Incorporated in 1950, TMA is legally entitled to represent its members before Congress and regulatory agencies on the local, state and federal levels, and other authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) over the industry."[4]
The Monitoring Association also inspects and certifies central stations .
Australia
In Australia, central stations are graded against Australian Standard 2201.2 which addresses two areas: physical construction and operational performance.
Physical performance is graded A, B or C (where A is the highest grading) and includes measures such as the construction of monitoring rooms – higher security monitoring centres have solid concrete and steel construction with mantraps for access that can only be operated internally.
Operational performance is graded 1, 2 or 3 (with one being the highest grading). It includes the ability of the monitoring centre to respond to events – generated by customers' security systems, operational reliability, data retrieval, etc.
Accordingly, the highest grading is A1 and the lowest is C3 however even to be graded at C3 central stations still meet very high standards. There is presently no legislative imperative for an Australian central station to be 'graded' however police may refuse to respond to alarms despatched by non-graded companies and insurers may also deny a claim where an insured customer's system was monitored by an ungraded provider.
The Australian Security Industry Association Limited (ASIAL) runs a grading scheme and publishes a list of graded monitoring centres.[5]
United Kingdom
In the UK a similar structure of auditing takes place, with the National Approval Council for Security Systems provision of inspection and certification. Numerous standards such as BS5979 must be adhered to in order for a central station to be allowed to pass alerts to the police force. Emerging European standards are superseding these at this time.
Security management is the identification of an organization's assets, followed by the development, documentation, and implementation of policies and procedures for protecting assets.
An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention.
An intrusion detection system is a device or software application that monitors a network or systems for malicious activity or policy violations. Any intrusion activity or violation is typically reported either to an administrator or collected centrally using a security information and event management (SIEM) system. A SIEM system combines outputs from multiple sources and uses alarm filtering techniques to distinguish malicious activity from false alarms.
The UL enterprise is a global safety science company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, composed of three organizations, UL Research Institutes, UL Standards & Engagement and UL Solutions.
A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about 150 millimetres (6 in) in diameter and 25 millimetres (1 in) thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be detected either optically (photoelectric) or by physical process (ionization). Detectors may use one or both sensing methods. Sensitive alarms can be used to detect and deter smoking in banned areas. Smoke detectors in large commercial and industrial buildings are usually connected to a central fire alarm system.
Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a type of data processing that inspects in detail the data being sent over a computer network, and may take actions such as alerting, blocking, re-routing, or logging it accordingly. Deep packet inspection is often used for baselining application behavior, analyzing network usage, troubleshooting network performance, ensuring that data is in the correct format, checking for malicious code, eavesdropping, and internet censorship, among other purposes. There are multiple headers for IP packets; network equipment only needs to use the first of these for normal operation, but use of the second header is normally considered to be shallow packet inspection despite this definition.
FCAPS is the ISO Telecommunications Management Network model and framework for network management. FCAPS is an acronym for fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security, the management categories into which the ISO model defines network management tasks. In non-billing organizations accounting is sometimes replaced with administration.
A safe is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal or formed out of plastic through blow molding. Bank teller safes typically are secured to the counter, have a slit opening for dropping valuables into the safe without opening it, and a time-delay combination lock to foil thieves. One significant distinction between types of safes is whether the safe is secured to a wall or structure or if it can be moved around. A less secure version is usually called a cash-box.
A security alarm is a system designed to detect intrusions, such as unauthorized entry, into a building or other areas, such as a home or school. Security alarms protect against burglary (theft) or property damage, as well as against intruders. Examples include personal systems, neighborhood security alerts, car alarms, and prisons.
Manual fire alarm activation is the process of triggering a fire alarm through a call point, pull station, or other device. This usually causes the alarm to sound the evacuation signal for the relevant building or zone. Manual fire alarm activation requires human intervention, as distinct from automatic fire alarm activation such as that provided through the use of heat detectors and smoke detectors. It is, however, possible for call points/pull stations to be used in conjunction with automatic detection as part of the overall fire detection and alarm system. Systems in completed buildings tend to be wired in and include a control panel. Wireless activators are common during construction.
A panic alarm is an electronic device that can easily be activated to request help during an emergency where danger to persons or property exists. It is designed to contact assistance quicker, easier, and simpler(in some, less conspicuously)than a conventional phone call.
A carbon monoxide detector or CO detector is a device that detects the presence of the carbon monoxide (CO) gas to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. In the late 1990s Underwriters Laboratories changed the definition of a single station CO detector with a sound device to carbon monoxide (CO) alarm. This applies to all CO safety alarms that meet UL 2034 standard; however for passive indicators and system devices that meet UL 2075, UL refers to these as carbon monoxide detectors. Most CO detectors use a sensor with a defined, limited lifespan, and will not work indefinitely.
Home security includes both the security hardware placed on a property and individuals' personal security practices. Security hardware includes doors, locks, alarm systems, lighting, motion detectors, and security camera systems. Personal security involves practices like ensuring doors are locked, alarms are activated, owning a Dog, windows are closed, and extra keys are not hidden outside.
A fire alarm system is a building system designed to detect and alert occupants and emergency forces of the presence of smoke, fire, carbon monoxide, or other fire-related emergencies. Fire alarms systems are required in most commercial buildings. They may include smoke detectors, heat detectors, and manual fire alarm activation devices, all of which are connected to a Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP) normally found in an electrical room or panel room. Fire alarm systems generally use visual and audio signalization to warn the occupants of the building. Some fire alarm systems may also disable elevators, which under most circumstances are unsafe to use during a fire.
A medical alarm is an alarm system designed to signal the presence of a hazard requiring urgent attention and to summon emergency medical personnel. Other terms for a medical alarm are Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) or medical alert. It is especially important to recognize the need to respond to situations where the person is unable to summon help.
Guardian Alarm is an American security company based in Southfield, Michigan. Founded in 1930, Guardian Alarm is the largest independently owned security company in the Midwest and continues to be ranked in the top 20 in the United States. The company has over 500 employees in various cities across the United States.
IP Fabrics is a privately owned, US company that designs and manufactures network surveillance products for national security, lawful interception, data retention, and cyber crime applications. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, U.S., IP Fabrics employs between 10 and 20 employees and has over 50 customers.
Deep content inspection (DCI) is a form of network filtering that examines an entire file or MIME object as it passes an inspection point, searching for viruses, spam, data loss, key words or other content level criteria. Deep Content Inspection is considered the evolution of Deep Packet Inspection with the ability to look at what the actual content contains instead of focusing on individual or multiple packets. Deep Content Inspection allows services to keep track of content across multiple packets so that the signatures they may be searching for can cross packet boundaries and yet they will still be found. An exhaustive form of network traffic inspection in which Internet traffic is examined across all the seven OSI ISO layers, and most importantly, the application layer.
Remote guarding is a proactive security system combining CCTV video cameras, video analytics, alarms, monitoring centers and security agents. Potential threats are first spotted by cameras and analyzed in real-time by software algorithms based on predefined criteria. Once an event has been identified by the software, a security officer located in a remote center is then alerted to analyze the threat and take appropriate action immediately to prevent or minimize damage from occurring. These actions can include a verbal warning to the perpetrator via two-way radio from the center or reporting the event to local law enforcement.
The National Security Inspectorate, or NSI, is an independent not for profit UKAS accredited certification body operating in the United Kingdom. It is not a Trade association. It serves to approve around 1800 professional security and fire safety providers in accordance with International, British and Industry Standards and Codes of Practise, who are listed in the NSI Company Finder.
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