Entry Check-In Protection:
Advanced Security for Homeowners and Small Businesses #
By Jon Adams
Director of Business Development, SecureCom Wireless
July 11, 2019
For financial institutions, retail jewelers, and other high-end businesses, the highest security technology is an absolute necessity. For more than three decades, DMP has worked with monitoring centers to deliver that. We know, for instance, that communications between those customers’ panels and their monitoring centers must be reliable and constant — our network Supervision Check-In messages guarantee that.
Today, we’re using that knowledge and expertise to provide better security to homeowners and small businesses.
As we continue to expand into those markets with the XT Series™ panels, particularly the popular XTLplus™ and now the XTLtouch™, we’re giving those end users the kinds of enhanced security features they need but aren’t getting with other residential and small commercial systems. For instance, every DMP XT Series panel gives dealers the opportunity to provide Entry Check-In Protection, delivering direct communication without any third-party retransmission.
This is a proactive safeguard against a burglar’s fast tactic to break in and quickly disable the security system before it can send an emergency signal, explains Jon Adams, director of Business Development, SecureCom Wireless™. “With DMP’s Entry Check-In Protection, the monitoring center is still notified by the DMP alarm receiver, even if the panel is destroyed.”
Entry Check-In Protection uses the same supervising technology that DMP has provided for decades in high-security environments such as banks and government facilities. Typically, you wouldn’t expect a residence or small business to need the same kind of constant communication as our higher security end users. But, that level of enhanced communication can make all the difference to your customers during the Entry Delay, “and that’s why we’ve added Entry Check- In Protection to every XTL series at no cost.”
On traditional high-security systems, an S16 message is meant to indicate, “Panel Not Responding,” which is used to supervise the path of communication between the system and the monitoring center. However, for non-high security environments such as Residential and Commercial Subscriber Accounts who use Entry Check-In Protection, the S16 message needs to be configured to mean “Entry Check-In Fail.”
How Entry Check-In Protection Works
Specifically, when the system is in an armed state and an entry zone is triggered, the panel will send a Supervision Check-In message to the DMP receiver that provides a “Check-In Fail Time,” which is based off of the system's programmed Entry Delay. Upon receipt of the Check-In message from the system, the DMP receiver located at the monitoring center will begin a countdown; based on that “Check-In Fail Time,” the receiver will expect a follow-up Check-In message from the system.
The receiver will send the initial Check-In message into the monitoring center automation as an S17 “Entry Check-In Begin.” If the system is disarmed by an authorized user within the entry delay time, the system will send a Check-Off message to stop the supervision. However, if no follow-up Check-In message is received at the end of the delay period, the receiver generates an S16, “Entry Check-In Fail.” This ensures that in the event a burglar has disabled the security system after entering the premise, a signal will be immediately generated at the monitoring center. Additionally, in actual break-in scenarios in which the panel communication is disabled, the “Entry Check-in Begin” message will serve as a time-stamped record in the monitoring center automation of when the intruders entered the home or business.
There are no intermediary servers or network operation centers and no retransmission or reinterpretation of the information over the Internet. This ensures faster response and eliminates concerns about signals not being properly relayed or intermediate communication links failing.
Also, Adams adds, "Because we’re using the same trusted supervision technology that dealers and subscribers have trusted for years, there’s no need to update receiver hardware."
Setting Up Entry Check-In Protection Within Monitoring Center Automation
S17 and S16 messages are easy to configure to “Entry Check-In Fail.” Take the existing DMP Format Table and copy it into a new format table. Then, in the new format table, change the definition of the S17 messages to “Entry Check-in Begin” and priority to “log only.” Change the priority of the S16 to “Entry Check-In Fail” — this will cause any S16 message to populate to a monitoring center operator as an actionable event. Apply that format to all accounts with XTL panels.
“This kind of enhanced security feature will be essential for the residential and small business customer, especially those who have our new all-in-one system,” Adams concludes. “With features like this, we believe we’ll be able to compete in the residential and small commercial markets even more aggressively.”
For additional information, please visit DMP.com/XTLtouch. You can also contact your DMP Dealer Development Manager or Inside Sales at InsideSales@DMP.com or call 877-757-4367.