Traditionally, fire alarm communicators serve as the communication path between the fire panel and the central station or fire department, but recent developments have enabled these solutions to offer the end user more. These new developments also present security dealers and integrators the opportunity to provide more services — which translates to increased RMR.

As Bob Teta, director of software services, Potter, St. Louis, Mo., says, “Technology has advanced to a point where communicators should provide more than just central station communication. With the higher bandwidth offered by cellular and internet technologies, there is an opportunity to do much more.”

Software-Enabled Communicators

Industry-wide, technology is expanding its ability to gather data and present that data in a way that improves operational efficiency and safety for end users. Solutions are becoming more intelligent, and fire alarm communicators are no different.

Teta says current solutions take full advantage of the potential offered by cellular and internet technologies. “These services include mobile alerting, panel backups, remote programming, and streamlined test and inspection processes, among other powerful capabilities,” he says.

These enhanced capabilities can potentially help save lives.

Michael Troiano, global president, fire, Honeywell Building Automation, Charlotte, N.C., says, “Honeywell offers software-enabled communicators that allow facility managers and installers to get a bird’s eye view of all of their buildings, obtain real time information on events, perform remote diagnostics, conduct compliance inspections, and generate reports for regulatory submissions, among a few features. In addition, this technology can allow first responders to get contextual information to enhance their situational awareness in case of a fire event.”

Multi-Carrier Communicators

Recently, manufacturers of fire alarm communicators have announced the development of multi-carrier — or dual-SIM — technology. Cellular — which has usurped Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS) as the go-to pathway for these communicators — relies on one of the major U.S. carriers to deliver its communication to responders. These multi-carrier solutions are designed to work with any/all of the major U.S. carriers, alleviating concerns about outages and coverage.

“The latest trend is cellular fire communicators that utilize multiple cellular carriers, such as Verizon and AT&T to ensure that the signal will be delivered if one carrier is not available,” says Tom Karl, vice president, corporate sales, NAPCO Security Technologies Inc., Amityville, N.Y. “This feature allows the installer to keep just one model on the truck and be sure that they will be able to connect to a carrier regardless of the location.”

IntelliNet 7707P-88-ULP-M 2.0 Fire Subscriber
The IntelliNet 7707P-88-ULP-M 2.0 Fire Subscriber belongs to the latest generation of fire alarm communicators from AES Corp. With a built-in full data module, this communicator can transmit full alarm zone and event codes over any private AES mesh network. It is UL/ ULC listed as well as NFPA and Cal Fire Code Compliant. Image courtesy of AES
DMP’s PowerCom Fire
DMP’s PowerCom Fire is designed with its own power supply and ships with a transformer and 24-hour backup battery. Whether your customers use network, AT&T or Verizon LTE, this communicator has all the power it needs without drawing from the panel. Image courtesy of DMP
Honeywell’s Connected Life Safety Services (CLSS) Pathway communicator
Honeywell’s Connected Life Safety Services (CLSS) Pathway communicator is a dual-path, dual-SIM, and dual-listed solution (UL and ETL) with software-enabled features. CLSS Pathway utilizes the 5G ready LTE-M network to serve as a bridge between the fire system and Honeywell’s CLSS visual intelligence cloud platform while offering dual-SIM to support both AT&T and Verizon Wireless networks for faster, safer, alarm communications to central stations. Image courtesy of Honeywell

In addition to the increased safety of a building by way of increased redundancy, this development also improves the selection and installation of solutions for dealers and integrators.

“It removes the hardware limitations, or any reliance on virtual network operators,” says Daniel Rosales, senior director, marketing, product management, and tech services, Telguard, Atlanta. “It will change the expectations of cellular communicators moving forward. Integrators will no longer have to wonder if a specific network will work in an area, because by having all three carriers under a single SIM card, it will work.”

Karl cautions, however, “When selecting a multi-carrier fire communicator, it is recommended that a communicator with an on-board Active Network Indication be chosen to ensure that the connected carrier can be easily verified. This allows the dealer to demonstrate to the AHJ the quality of the connected carrier, and the communicator’s ability to switch carriers when the primary carrier is not available. It is critical that the communicator be able to switch from the primary to the secondary carrier and demonstrate that the delivery of the alarm event will occur within the NFPA required time frame. If a fire alarm occurs and the primary carrier is not available, the fire communicator must negotiate a connection to the secondary carrier and deliver the fire alarm event to the CS receiver within 90 seconds as per NFPA 72.”

Panning Away From POTS

The fire industry has been transitioning from POTS towards cellular service for some time, but there are still plenty of legacy systems out there. This presents an opportunity for dealers and integrators to present the additional benefits available to them with an upgraded system.

For one, the legacy technology is no longer reliable. “With POTS lines going away and with so many devices out there relying on this older technology, there is a greater need to replace these units with updated, reliable technologies,” says Laura Wall, vice president of product management, AES Corp., Peabody, Ma.

Troiano agrees. “If we look at the landscape of how fire panels in buildings are connected to central stations, there is a huge legacy and footprint of traditional phone lines. There are millions of accounts still on POTS lines nationwide. This antiquated and obsolete infrastructure causes delays in life safety signaling. When every second matters, we cannot afford delays.”

Some benefits of cellular over phone lines may not be immediately obvious, Rosales says. “The most noticeable benefit is the additional RMR. By replacing phone lines with cellular, the integrator can add a new stream of income. But it goes beyond that, when you think about something we call ‘control of the path.’ When utilizing POTS or even internet technology, there is always someone else with access to cancel/change service without the integrator’s permission.

“In other words, a phone call from a service provider to the property manager could change the way the phone system works, or a hardware change in the internet routing could create a firewall rule change that could harm the fire system’s ability to connect to CMS,” Rosales continues. “When it comes to cellular communicators, only the integrator can make such changes, giving the peace of mind that building managers cannot harm the system’s integrity.”

Additionally, Troiano outlines, “Key benefits of cellular technology are signal encryption for enhanced cybersecurity; highly reliable signal delivery from building to central station; and reliable and well-serviced infrastructure by wireless service providers. Besides, cellular is preferred over IP communications due to NFPA code requirements.”

“How” & “To Whom?”

There’s a plethora of information to sift through in the fire alarm communicator space. Security dealers and integrators need to have knowledge of certifications and requirements as well as ‘how’ and ‘to whom’ the communicator is communicating.

For these reasons, navigating the fire alarm communicator landscape can be tricky. There are multiple solutions that may be ideal or better suited for certain scenarios, but not a good fit for others.

Technology has advanced to a point where communicators should provide more than just central station communication. With the higher bandwidth offered by cellular and internet technologies, there is an opportunity to do much more.

Nuisance Alarms

Nuisance alarms have been a problem for the security industry for some time. “Nuisance alarms have always been an industry concern,” says Michael Troiano, Honeywell Building Automation. “We talked earlier about the industry stewardship that Honeywell is providing to obsolete and unreliable POTS infrastructure. Cellular and IP communicators offer higher reliability and help solve this problem.”

Aside from the upgrade to cellular and IP communicators, how does the fire community address false alarms in regards to fire alarm communicators? For one, software-enabled solutions can help provide verification for responders. “Software enabled communication technology allows remote monitoring for both the facility manager and service contractor, which can lead to faster assessment of the fire event versus the need for a person to be on site to evaluate if the alarm is triggered by a fire or is a nuisance alarm,” Troiano says. “While this does not eliminate nuisance alarms, it leads to better and faster information sharing between the site, central stations and dispatch.”

Jon Adams, DMP, agrees that the issue is important. “False alarms have been a problem for our industry for decades (as evidenced by all the different jurisdictions needing to implement false alarm fines). That’s something we, as manufacturers, need to lean into and try to provide solutions for.”


“I think (dealers and integrators) need to do their research and understand the different types of technologies in the market that are available with communicators,” Wall says. “It is not a one-size fits-all when it comes to communicators due to different needs based on a specific project type or installation. And in many instances multiple communication methods are used for redundancy purposes.

“AES technology offers the ability to configure a network to meet different installation types,” she continues. “We have been a part of many self-monitoring projects where cellular or IP is not an option due to either lack of cellular or IP in the area or — for security reasons — a closed network without any public infrastructure is needed. Having the flexibility to configure a network based on the needs of specific installations is a unique benefit of our technology.”

Karl recommends making sure you understand what is involved in the installation and the corresponding cost. “A fire communicator that by design reduces the required installation labor and the need to purchase additional accessories provides tangible benefits to the installation company. [But] there are fire communicators on the market that must be installed in an “optional” enclosure to meet code, which can add $40-$50 to the parts list, plus the labor to assemble it into the enclosure. All StarLink MAX2 communicators are provided fully assembled in UL 864 compliant enclosures.”

Jon Adams, vice president, sales, DMP, Springfield, Mo., emphasizes the importance of who the system is communicating to. “We’ve touted for quite some time that we’ve made the decision not to utilize a NOC (network operation center) for any sort of signal redirection. We’re able to provide all the same features as the other platforms — as far as management of your systems, as far as mobile applications — we’re just doing it without having all those signals come to our servers.”

Adams continues, “So, I think, one, you need to know how it communicates. Does it communicate directly to the monitoring center? If it does go through a NOC, where is that NOC located? Many of the NOCs we see tied to products in our industry aren’t even in the United States. They aren’t listed with UL, so you don’t know what sort of redundancy methods they have in place, or what they are doing with your data. Data privacy is extremely important. You need to make sure you know how it communicates, where it communicates, and what they’re doing to protect not only your signal transmission, but your data.”

Karl agrees, adding that dealers and integrators should confirm that the entire life safety communication path is end-to-end UL 864 compliant, with all signals staying within U.S. borders. “The communication path originates at the fire communicator, which must be UL 864 listed and continues on to NOC, which manages the life-safety communications. It is important that the NOC and its associated servers and software be UL 864 listed. Finally, the central station receiver that is receiving and managing the fire/life safety signals must also be UL 864 listed. The fire dealer should be diligent in providing compliance certificates in the AHJ submittal packages to demonstrate adherence to UL 864 and NFPA.”

He also says understanding the communication path to the central station is critical. “[Some] fire communicator models must report into a dedicated receiver in the central station, while StarLink can report into the same account on the same receiver, saving the installer from doing admin work with the central station. The StarLink design team painstakingly examined every installation step and eliminated or simplified wherever possible, all in the name of efficiency, labor savings and getting the installer onto the next POTS conversion ASAP.”

IntelliCom Advanced Gateway
The IntelliCom Advanced Gateway introduces a combination of central station communication and smart features. The solution is powered by Potter’s cloud monitoring dashboard, IntelliView. The communicator features LTE-M (4G and 5G compatible) commercial fire alarm communicator and Potter IntelliView without requiring a separate server. It connects to Potter panels with Ethernet (Contact ID) and is available in Verizon or AT&T models. The IntelliCom Advanced Gateway meets UL 864 requirements for sole, primary, or backup path communications. Image courtesy of Potter
Telguard TG-7FM
The Telguard TG-7FM is a fire alarm communicator with multi-carrier capability. Designed to work seamlessly with all three major U.S. carriers — AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile — the TG-7FM ensures reliability and connectivity right out of the box. The TG-7FM automatically connects to the carrier with the best coverage and switches over as needed. Image courtesy of Telguard
Super Dual from NAPC
The Super Dual from NAPCO features a dual supervised cell-only option. This advanced capability is compatible with all dual SIM StarLink Fire Max2 5G cellular FACP communicators. The UL 864 Listed Super Dual plan uses two supervised dual cellular-network communication paths, Verizon + AT&T, instead of IP connections. Super Dual significantly streamlines processes for dealers, saving them both time and labor. Image courtesy of NAPCO

Finally, Rosales points to the importance of understanding UL listing for these solutions. “The No. 1 thing to understand is what UL does and what a UL Listing means. We have seen a lot of new entrants in the space that use internet service only and don’t have the appropriate UL 864 Listings. All Telguard products go through UL certification, and as such, integrators can trust that it meets the highest standards required by code. On the other hand, integrators should also seek to understand the advantages that different technologies bring to the table.”

Rosales recommends doing research on products using available tools such as the UL database search: Search Product iQ | UL Solutions. “Here, anyone can search for a specific brand and look up if a product they are thinking about is listed for the application they are looking for.”

Closing on Communicators

Efficient and effective fire alarm communicators mean security and safety. As technology continues to advance, these solutions offer more insights and intelligence, but the core of the technology is to protect the life and safety of occupants.

Adams summarizes the fire alarm communicator landscape best: “Fire systems are a vital part of our society — they provide us safety and protection. We’re all in the business of protecting lives and the things that are most important to us. We need to make sure we are staying up on technology; that we are trained on the technology we sell. It’s not about trying to avoid liability. It’s about doing the right thing and really protecting lives. We’re very fortunate to be in an industry that provides products that are needed.”

And Adams offers this parting advice to those reading who may be just outside of the fire landscape, “Fire protection provides an excellent opportunity to grow your business and create stronger relationships. If you’re an intrusion company that currently isn’t offering fire, I think you should investigate that. Fire is another way you can expand that relationship with your customer and provide them services that also grow your business.”

Ensuring Cybersecurity

Another concern when it comes to fire communicators is cybersecurity, says Tom Karl of NAPCO.

Karl notes that SOC2 compliance is particularly important to large corporate accounts and financial institutions. “These accounts are keenly aware of cybersecurity risks associated with remotely configured products installed within their building and demand SOC 2 compliance. SOC 2 is a security framework that specifies how organizations should protect customer data from unauthorized access, security incidents, and other vulnerabilities. It is a framework applicable to all technology service or SaaS companies that store customer data in the cloud to ensure that organizational controls and practices effectively safeguard the privacy and security of customer and client data. SOC 2 is now top of mind in light of recent cyber and ransomware attacks that have affected our industry and is now recognized by organizations, large and small, as imperative to ensuring optimum protection of their proprietary information against cybersecurity attacks.”

Another cybersecurity concern comes by way of the IP side of dual path reporting. “In many municipalities across the United States, dual path fire reporting is required, which typically requires a fire communicator capable of both cellular and IP reporting,” Karl says. “Cellular reporting is not a problem, but IP reporting presents a challenge to the dealer/integrator, who must get permission from the subscriber’s IT director to connect the IP fire communicator to their network. Due to the current climate of cybersecurity and ransomware concerns, all IT directors are overly cautious about any third-party device connected to their network.

“As a result, the dealer/integrator is required to fill out complex cybersecurity surveys and provide additional documentation regarding the IP fire communicator before the project can be approved,” he says. “Additionally, the dealer/integrator must ensure that all of the IT-room equipment handling the life-safety IP reporting is UL 1481 / UL 864 or UL Certified ITE, that it can provide a minimum of 24 hours standby power, and that it’s able to document all of this for the AHJ. These additional burdens can add aggravation and days to a schedule.”