Each and every business is unique.  Some businesses operate in small offices, others work out of large warehouses.  Regardless of where a business operates, they usually have a commercial Intrusion Alarm system installed with a ULC monitoring company providing monitoring service.  These system are armed and disarmed through the alarm keypad, and depending on the size of the site, there could be multiple keypads throughout the site allowing for the commercial intrusion system to be armed and disarmed from multiple locations.

Similarly, even within the same building, different departments can operate at different times.  Depending on the size of the site, arming or disarming an alarm system from a keypad that is in “another” part of the building (for example, the warehouse in a building that has an office area and a warehouse area) can create a security issue if no one else is working in the other areas.  If you’re in the rear warehouse of the building, for example, how do you know if there isn’t an issue happening in the front office?  Or vice versa?  That’s where commercial intrusion alarm system partitioning comes in.

What is Commercial Intrusion Alarm System Partitioning?

Commercial intrusion alarm monitoring system partitioning is the ability to independently arm and disarm separate areas of the intrusion alarm system.  When a system is set up with different “partitions”, it essentially acts like separate intrusion alarm systems in the different areas of the building. There would not be multiple systems installed, only one system.  Typically, the different partitions (sections) of the alarm system can be armed or disarmed from any keypad.  This means that in our office/warehouse scenario, a user would be able to disarm the warehouse area where they are working, but leave the office area armed, or vice versa.  The “entire” system can also be armed from any keypad.

Finally, specific users can be assigned access levels so that they only have the ability to arm and disarm specific partitions.  So in our warehouse scenario, if a worked only had access to the warehouse their code to arm and disarm would only disarm that area, leaving the office area armed and monitored against intrusion.

The number of partitions available to a system depends on the type of alarm system is installed in the location.  For example, the new 16-zone DSC Neo HS2016 intrusion alarm system can have up to 2 partitions.  The 32-Zone DSC Neo HS2032 security alarm system can have 4, where the 128-Zone DSC Neo HS2128 can have up to different 8 partitions.

How do I get partitioning set up on my Commercial Intrusion Alarm System?

Getting partitioning set up on your system involves two steps.  The first is identifying the areas of your location that you’d like to be able to arm and disarm independently.  This usually involves getting a site layout/map, mapping where each zone is on the map and then identifying the areas that you would like to be able to arm and disarm independently. Once this has been decided, your commercial alarm system installer would need to attend to properly program the partitions, test the system and provide training on how to properly use the partitioned system.

What are the benefit of Commercial Intrusion Alarm System partitioning?

The first major benefit of alarm system partitioning is increased security for your space.  In our warehouse/office scenario, being able to leave the office armed while a person works in the warehouse means that if anyone were to try and break in during this time, the system would activate, sound and alarm and report that intrusion to the monitoring company.  In a system which is not partitioned this way, a break-in could occur and the people on site may never know as the entire commercial intrusion alarm system would have been disarmed.

This could also be beneficial for buildings which have special user groups, such as schools or churches.  A user group for a school, for instance, could be given a code which only disarms a section of the school, and not areas that the group is not allowed access to.

Apps such as alarm.com also allow for these sections to be armed and disarmed remotely via your phone or PC.

Partitioning of your commercial intrusion alarm monitoring system allows for greater flexibility in how a building can be used while providing enhanced levels of monitoring for the site.  Setting your intrusion system up with partitions can improve the security of your property, and can be done relatively easily on most systems.

If you have any questions about alarm system partitioning, please do not hesitate to contact us!

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