Wayne Alarm Systems, which has been honored with numerous burglar and fire safety awards, is renowned for exceeding customer expectations.
Challenge
Wayne Alarm Systems, which has been honored with numerous burglar and fire safety awards, is renowned for exceeding customer expectations. To help deliver on its promise, Wayne Alarm leverages cutting-edge technologies wherever possible, both in the equipment it uses and the way it services customers. However, sunsetting technologies created challenges around reliability and costs.
When customers abandon traditional plain old telephone service (POTS) in favor of voice over IP (VoIP), the 800 numbers that Wayne Alarm uses to transmit signals no longer work. POTS and VoIP also have problems translating data from alarm panels that use more sophisticated protocols such as Contact ID.
Moreover, many of the radios that Wayne Alarm uses are based on 2G cellular technology, which is being phased out for 4G and 5G. “Several of our vendors have upgrade kits we’ll use to bring their subscriber units up to 4G—but we still have to invest time and money on truck rolls to make that happen. We’d rather focus on securing new RMR (recurring monthly revenue),” said Jeff Kahn, General Manager, Wayne Alarm Systems.
Ralph Sevinor, President of Wayne Alarm Systems, noted the impact on customers. “It’s a hassle for customers when we have to do change-outs, and the last thing we want to do is inconvenience them.”
In the meantime, Wayne Alarm has to deal with signal strength issues caused by service providers taking bandwidth away from 2G to use for 4G. “It can impact reliability, which is the main reason customers depend on us. Plus, it costs us when we have to go out and service affected accounts,” Kahn noted.
Money is also an issue when it comes to the recurring monthly fees Wayne Alarm pays service provider partners for using their cellular networks. “Ideally, we wouldn’t share recurring revenue,” Kahn added.
Solution
Wayne Alarm learned about
AES Corporation, which provides the industry’s only longrange, operator-owned and controlled wireless communications networks. “Unlike competitor products, which rely on cell towers, AES is its own private system. No one can interfere with it,” said Paul Silva, Customer Service Manager, Wayne Alarm Systems.
Kahn concurred, “The decision to go with AES was a no-brainer. AES is the only vendor that provides us with our own mesh network, so we can consistently deliver reliable, world-class alarm services while maintaining full control over operations and costs.”
Wayne Alarm uses the award-winning
AES-IntelliNet for fire alarm monitoring. AES-IntelliNet is proven for superior reliability and has earned a UL listing and NFPA compliance. Multiple paths provide redundancy to make sure all data gets through to the central station. Its self-healing capability allows installed units to intuitively know when and where paths can be realigned to transmit data, while self-routing communications helps the smart transceivers find the fastest routes.
To ease AES-IntelliNet installations, the company uses the AES Network Connectivity Tool (NCT), a one-button-operation tool that enables users to evaluate the viability of subscriber unit locations in less than 30 seconds.
Results
Thanks to AES’ patented mesh network technology, Wayne Alarm customers benefit from continuous fire coverage. “Reliability is paramount and no one delivers this better than AES. Not only is the network inherently stable, the signal issues associated with moving from 2G to 4G don’t affect AES,” said Silva.
When it comes to AES-based business, Wayne Alarm has taken third-party service providers out of the equation. “We don’t depend on anyone else or pay anyone fees for use of the AES network. It’s ours and we, alone, are accountable for it—which is exactly how we like it. AES-IntelliNet enables better RMR than anything on the market,” Kahn said.
Wayne Alarm doesn’t have to worry about migration issues and sunsetting POTS and cellular technologies. “AES provides the longevity we need. It future-proofs our business and enables us to ensure convenience and peace of mind for customers,” Sevinor said.
AES also helps keep costs low over time. Wayne Alarm’s commercial customers typically realize ROI in less than a year and save about $80 per month on phone lines.
“The more we can expand our AES footprint, the better it is for our business,” said Kahn. “With the NCT, we can quickly map suitable locations for AES-IntelliNet units. Not only is NCT extremely easy for sales staff and technicians to use, it cuts the time required to evaluate each subscriber unit location by at least 30 minutes. Now it’s easier than ever to go-to-market with a solution that’s differentiated on reliability, longevity and TCO.”