SimplexGrinnell Makes Improvements to its Central Station

SimplexGrinnell, a business unit of Tyco Fire & Security, has bolstered the infrastructure of its Central Station Monitoring Center with a move to a new facility, the implementation of an advanced telecommunications system, and the relocation of its backup facility.

"The infrastructure improvements advance our ability to meet the needs of SimplexGrinnell monitoring customers," says Michael Lohr, Director of Service Marketing for SimplexGrinnell. "We have an exclusive focus on commercial, industrial and institutional customers, and these changes are in keeping with our goal of providing the best possible monitoring service."

The SimplexGrinnell Central Station Monitoring Center, located in Westminster, Massachusetts, is UL-listed and FM-approved and has over 43,000 customers. Earlier this month, the center moved from its current location in Westminster to an improved mission-specific monitoring facility on the same Tyco property.

The new monitoring center, built to UL (Underwriters Laboratories) standards, replicates the setup, technology and capabilities of the previous site while also providing space for future expansion. At the new site, the Central Station Monitoring Center is backed by a state-of-the-art telecommunications system that strengthens the call center's operation by providing total system redundancy.

Backup Facility Relocation
SimplexGrinnell has relocated the backup facility for its Central Station Monitoring Center from Florida to a state-of-the-art facility in Missouri. "The presence of a totally independent backup facility in another state is a key feature that differentiates the SimplexGrinnell Central Station Monitoring Center and supports the efforts to provide uninterrupted service for monitoring customers," Lohr says. "With a redundant backup facility in place, SimplexGrinnell in effect provides two 'mirrored' monitoring facilities that operate as one."

Customers can rest assured that in the event of an emergency or disaster at the Central Station Monitoring Center in Westminster, alarm activity would automatically be routed to the backup center via SimplexGrinnell's patented FlashRoute Redundant Alarm Routing System.

"This operation is seamless and without delay, and represents a unique characteristic of our service," says Mark Baker, Director of IT Customer Services. "The backup center and mirrored databases are part of our commitment to providing the highest possible levels of redundancy to meet the monitoring needs of our customers."