This is a money-saving enhancement to the Simplex ES Net Life Safety Network that simplifies how emergency audio and firefighter telephone communication is distributed throughout buildings and campuses. The IP-based network will now allow in-building emergency alert audio such as alarms and voice evacuation messaging for building occupants, as well as in-building firefighter-to-firefighter telephone communication to be sent digitally over the life-safety data network.
As codes like Life Safety 101 and NFPA 72 begin to mandate voice evacuation messaging in more types of facilities, this update to the Simplex ES Net Life Safety Network makes it easier and more cost effective for users to implement audio messaging throughout their facilities. Included firefighter telephone support simplifies wiring infrastructure and provides crucial communication capability for first responders.
Prior to this release, three separate pathways were required between control units (nodes) – one for data, one for audio/voice, and another for firefighter telephone. Some installations also required costly fibre modems. Now, a single pathway between nodes can be used for ES Net data, up to eight channels of digital audio, and firefighter telephone communications. No fibre modems required.
This means less wiring, reduced installation and testing costs, easier programming and more cost-effective system expansions. With ES Net also supporting a wide variety of media – including ethernet wiring (CAT5e or better), multi-mode fibre, and Single-mode fibre – and topologies resulting in unprecedented performance and flexibility.
A new digital audio controller is the key component for this new feature, and it provides the following benefits:
- Support for 99 node panel-to-panel digital audio – a huge expansion over our current 31-node capacity.
- Elimination of fibre modems for fibre installations, saving cost and technician labour.
- On-board message memory meaning no message expansion boards are required.
- Support for firefighter telephone across ES Net.
- Elimination of the NTIC/DARIC cards for panel-to-panel digital audio.
This new offering supports firefighter telephone over fibre in regions where this is a common requirement. No changes to the existing firefighter telephone hardware are required and the new digital audio controller provides the internal components needed to support this application.
ES Net fundamentals
Data communication networks based on Internet Protocol (IP) technology have revolutionized the way we communicate, setting the standard for openness, power, speed and flexibility in an increasingly connected world. ES Net is a high bandwidth (100Mbps) IP-based fire-alarm network and uses industry-standard network technology and infrastructure for greater design and installation flexibility.
Multiple topology support
ES Net supports a variety of topologies, providing greater flexibility for design and layout. ‘Class X’ and ‘Class B’ approaches can be easily implemented to meet the needs of the installation. Wired and fibre media can be intermixed as needed to optimize cost, distance and performance.
Key benefits of ES Net
- Single point software upgrades – Software downloads can be completed from any single location on the network loop to any number of network panel nodes on the loop in minutes, saving substantial technical labour and improving system up-time.
- Advanced diagnostics – New network diagnostic tools and reports provide installers and technicians methods for diagnosing network issues more quickly, decreasing commissioning and troubleshooting time.
- Fault tolerance and resiliency – ES Net detects degraded and non-replicated paths between any two connected panel nodes and automatically reconfigures the network to ensure uninterrupted network communications and operation.
- Network synchronization of appliances – ES Net supports synchronization for notification appliances between panel nodes on a network loop with no additional equipment or wiring beyond the ES panels. This feature allows large-scale life-safety networks to effortlessly comply with the ADA and other codes where synchronization is required.
- Multiple loop capacity – A Simplex TrueSite Workstation can support as many as seven network loops. These can be any combination of ES Net or 4120 network loops, totalling 687 nodes. An Incident Commander can support as many as seven network loops. These can be up to seven ES Net or up to five ES Net loops and two 4120 network loops, totalling 687 nodes.
For more information, go to simplex-fire.com
