Remote Monitors: Putting Yourself on Notice

Place your trust in a reliable and stable system On a wintry Saturday evening in midtown Manhattan, the assistant manager of the research facility of a major pharmaceutical house was enjoying a sumptuous dinner when she received an email on her Blackberry: Temp Lab 4 Air Handlr 78 degrees, 1830. She noted the time and continued with her dinner conversation. She would remain watchful for further messages about Lab 4, which was unmanned on weekends and located at least an hour away. If she got a notice that the air handler temperature had reached 80 degrees, or that the humidity in the lab had exceeded 30 percent, she would then verify that a service tech had also been notified and dispatched to the site.

There was no emergency in Lab 4 that weekend. The temperature in the air handler, which exhausted the heat from a bank of PCs and workstations, did not exceed 78 degrees, the point where service action would be called for. As it turned out, the fan belt in the air handler was frayed. It was replaced on Monday morning when the staff reported for duty. If the air handler temperature had reached 80 degrees, that would be a different story – a threat to some 20 computers and other sensitive research equipment. Under those circumstances, prompt service would have been critical.

Fortunately, the lab in question, as well as other facilities at the pharmaceutical plant, is automatically protected against a wide range of threats. That protection is provided by a system of sensors that will detect intrusion or environmental conditions that could result in system malfunctions, the loss of data, intellectual property and equipment. Moreover, the system is capable of notifying appropriate support staff, depending on the threat, by pager, e-mail, wireless or even combinations of those modes. They can also trigger the video or data-recording of an entire sequence of events.

This kind of system represents a coherent solution to what has become a major issue today: Technological advancements and competitive markets are forcing enterprises to cut spending while also reducing the risk of equipment failures that could cause business interruptions, data loss, or risk to human safety. Reduced spending often translates to reduced maintenance staff or even unmanned operations.

Addressing all of these challenges can be accomplished through use of automated communications devices that relay conditions-based messages to the right person at the right time. Such capabilities are becoming critical for a growing number of enterprises today, yet are missing from many current site monitoring schemes. This may be especially true where new systems must be integrated with legacy systems. “The need to remotely manage and protect facilities from intrusion and unfavorable conditions is increasing across science and industry,” says Tim Stoner, CEO of Asentria, a manufacturer of equipment used in remote communications monitoring and notification systems. “And the tolerance for leaving difficult pieces out of that monitoring system is a lot less than it used to be. As enterprises become more automated, networked and remotely managed, they often become more vulnerable to intrusion and environmental threats.”

Stoner believes that corporate managers need to take a careful look at the variety of secondary factors which could cripple operations, possibly resulting in system malfunctions, loss of data or intellectual property, damage to mission critical hardware or even theft of valuable physical assets. Such conditions often include environmental events, failure of air conditioning systems, power outages, and untoward human actions.

At the same time, it is important to notify the right personnel with the appropriate message about the disposition of alarm situations. You don’t need to call the fire department to change the fan belt on an air handler. On the other hand, problems at a remote, unmanned power substation may indeed require a message warning not to enter the facility until an emergency team has disabled faulty equipment.

What are the economic advantages of automating such alarm and notification systems? “The savings could be enormous,” Stoner says, “it depends on what’s at risk... precious intellectual property, customer credit information, or exotic gear, for example. Of course, when human safety is at stake, the advantage goes beyond price.”