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Condominium and Common Area Alarm System
CondoSecure is a graphical alarm system that is usually installed at a main security location in a building
and monitors and displays alarms located in the individual condominium units as well as from a multitude
of common area alarm door and zones. Quick and precise alarm information is provided with on-screen displays
of the suite which activated the alarm and the alarm type (Entry / Smoke / Panic etc.)
CondoSecure uses two main pieces of equipment, the MCS-3200 main processor panel and the MCS-2010
keypad. The MCS-2010 is a full alarm system, just as you would find in many private homes and small businesses.
Those systems are connected to remote monitoring services and relay to local police in response.
However, many high-rise condominiums have their own on-site guard staff that could provide much faster
local response to an alarm in a suite.
The CondoSecure does just this, it provides a complete local alarm system.
All apartment suites have an MCS-2010 keypad for alarm control and are connected to the main security console
in the building where the CondoSecure display PC is located. All alarms are attended to on site without the expense
and time delay involved with using a commercial alarm monitoring agency, although Mircom's CondoSecure
certainly allows all suites, or just individual ones, to opt for paying an extra fee for external monitoring to
supplement on-site monitoring, using Mircom's optional software upgrade (contact Mircom for details and availability).
Recently, CondoSecure has been redesigned using the latest technology. The new MCS-3200 main computer
has the capability to change its on-screen menus to adapt to other languages, with upcoming software,
placing the graphical user interface on an existing PC at a central security location.
The current MCS-2010 keypad system is an important step for our future, as there is much renewed condominium
construction activity and a greater than ever need for security. Other manufacturers are very wary of entering
this market as there are many technical problems with implementing such a "distributed" security system in a
residential environment. CondoSecure has been the leader in this for many years with a very reliable and proven system.
Compared to the very few alternative systems the CondoSecure is smaller, meaning reduced installation costs to a dealer,
making the CondoSecure even more financially attractive. On a technical level, the CondoSecure uses pipeline
communication where one keypad unit talks to the next in a chain back to the central computer. If one keypad
were to become defective the CondoSecure computer knows immediately the exact location because the chain is broken.
The few competitive systems available use multiplex communication, a party line type of connection,
and a defective keypad unit can, and often does, grab the line preventing all of the keypads from
communicating with the central computer. There is no way to know where the malfunction is without
a technician actually disconnection wires in a trail-and-error approach to locating the malfunction.
This leads to increased service costs and longer system down time. Mircom's CondoSecure eliminates
such problems completely.
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CondoSecure the Condominium and Common Area Alarm System |
