Welcome Matt Virga to the LifeSafety Power® team!

There's a new sales 'sheriff,' in town, handling the eastern region of the U.S. for LifeSafety Power:  Director of Sales Matt Virga.

Virga has some 25 years of experience in the industry, most recently with Sony Electronics and Pelco by Schneider  Electric. He will be responsible for developing new sales opportunities and working with systems integration channel partners. Virga recognizes the leadership role LifeSafety Power has established in networked power solutions by bringing ‘disruptive’ technology to the security and life safety marketplace.

"Power supplies may not have the glamour of cameras or a video management system, but the networked power LifeSafety Power has pioneered is inspiring a legion of followers who recognize a truly unique solution that outperforms anything they were accustomed to installing/operating,” Virga commented. 

“And now, it’s something they can leverage to gain additional recurring monthly revenue through managed remote services. Many respected, well-known systems integrators in the industry already rely on the capabilities of LifeSafety Power.”

LifeSafety Power® leads in proactive measures

It’s a growing epidemic: threats to the network and the devices and data residing on it. As the Internet of Things (loT) continues to take hold, this trend will become even more pronounced. LifeSafety Power is taking a proactive approach to today’s issues and challenges, providing testing and certifications that validate the inherent safeguards in its premiere NetLink™ Network Communications Module.

NetLink received its Cyber Security Assessment Certificate recently after the module was tested to evaluate for cybersecurity-related features and design parameters by Rodney Thayer of Smithee, Spelvin, Agnew & Plinge, Inc. The company conducts independent cybersecurity assessments for infrastructure deployments, Internet-based solutions and network-attached devices. NetLink is the network connected control unit for LifeSafety Power’s FlexPower® product line.

Smithee, Spelvin, Agnew & Plinge certified NetLink as having been tested and evaluated for certain cybersecurity features in the product and said the module “provides a cybersecurity posture appropriate for enterprise use.” NetLink demonstrated proven system interfaces, instrumentation and infrastructure safeguards to prevent surreptitious attacks to networked power solutions. (Specific cybersecurity features, testing parameters and other information can be found here.)

Working together for a greater good

There’s a bigger picture in all this, and that’s that the industry needs to provide users with safeguards for communicating devices, especially when it comes to the network.

“Not only is it critical for products residing on the network to have been tested and certified for cybersecurity features, it’s important for the vendor community to lead this posture and adopt measures in manufactured devices as appropriate,” says Larry Ye, President, LifeSafety Power.

PSA Security Network, Westminster, Colo., has led the way in providing awareness, education, and resources to the physical security market through its Cybersecurity Program. The program is intended to provide a wealth of tools and resources that integrators and vendors can use to help prevent, detect and mitigate cybersecurity breaches related to physical security products deployed on customer networks. PSA has also partnered with a number of premier cybersecurity service providers that offer an array of services including risk management, information security assessments, and independent validation testing services such as those conducted on NetLink.

“Cybersecurity is quite possibly the most critical topic facing the physical security industry today,” says Craig Patterson, Director of Vendor Management. “What we have learned through our program over the last couple of years is that cybersecurity really is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone in the supply chain from sourcing, product development and installation plays a critical role in ensuring a cyber savvy solution at the end of the day,” he adds.

LifeSafety Power is leading the way, ensuring network communications modules such as NetLink provide cybersecurity and hardening capabilities.

It’s your time to shine!

What really separates your systems integration company from the competition and puts you ahead of the game?

It’s most likely that it’s a turnkey, integrated security, access control or other life safety system specification that gets your customers talking—one that fuels referrals and highlights your competencies in the field. And of course, we’re sure it may incorporate the latest technologies from LifeSafety Power, starting with our FlexPower® Unified Power Solutions as you strive for differentiation in the marketplace and new ways to assist the customer with remote monitoring as a managed service. 

Systems integrators now understand the value of networked power and the capabilities and value it provides to them in the field and for every vertical market customer. They are performing installations that range from SMB specifications to enterprise-level, multi-location projects. 

Have you recently completed a successful installation with a LifeSafety Power product? How are you using networked power to better manage the solution and provide detailed logs, health and other reports, as well as real-time status? We’d love to hear from you so we can get you some exposure for your hard work. If you and your customer agree, we’ll work up a great article—with the ultimate goal of publication online or in print in the industry’s leading publications. 

Find out more by contacting your local representative, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

It’s all about delivering the right solutions 

It’s been an exciting year for LifeSafety Power®. The industry leading innovation we provide in remote networking capabilities continues to yield tangible value to systems integrators and end-user customers.

We’re proud of the fact that LifeSafety Power products are professionally designed and manufactured in the U.S.  Our award-winning solutions have garnered numerous industry accolades, proving that innovation and quality products come first at LifeSafety Power.

We believe in the voice of the customer and reach out to integrators in the field regularly to gather the information we need to produce applicable products and make their life safety and security solutions more than simple power systems. That’s because in today’s increasingly IT centric world, the real value proposition is being able to manage – remotely -- power solutions across the enterprise seamlessly and securely. The intrinsic value in this proposition yields a lower total cost of ownership to the user, and the ability to proactively manage and assess power viability 24/7. For the integrator, it’s another way to differentiate their projects in the competitive marketplace. Read about what systems integrator are accomplishing with LifeSafety Power solutions here in our new, free white paper on remote monitoring as a managed service.

Here are three important features installers can offer end-user customers with LifeSafety Power solutions:

1. Remote battery testing,

2. Proactive detection and assessment of problems, and

3. System solution reports generated on demand or at will, and more!

We now have a fully Underwriters Laboratories listed system, with industry-leading Mercury Security controllers, as well as the iSCAN™ Rack Mount Series that solves small footprint concerns or works perfectly with data center configurations.

There’s still time left in 2015 for additional innovation to be delivered, and that’s just what we intend to do.

LifeSafety Power makes it all possible

Systems integrators are keen on managed services and providing remote connectivity and serviceability to their customers. It’s a great value-add to the traditional security contracting business and offers a strong return on investment to the end user customer and new recurring monthly revenue streams to the integrator.

With the increased interest and activity in the Internet of Things (loT), gateways to control sensors and device management – it’s only natural for power solutions to be part of this remote connectivity and proactive service functionality. LifeSafety Power is the industry leader and innovator in providing these capabilities.

In the field, systems integrators are latching onto the concept of remote monitoring as a managed service. Several of the managed services integrators can provide with remote monitoring include: remote battery testing; power recycle; information on trouble alerts; remote diagnostics; report generation at will or on schedule; and system health logs.

Leading systems integrators are talking about everything they are doing with remote monitoring of power solutions. We have the latest word from the field in our exclusive white paper, now available online. Not only do we have some strong use-case scenarios from these top security systems contractors, but we also explain in detail how remote monitoring works and how it benefits the customer.

You too can make remote monitoring part of your service and maintenance and customer care plans. Get started today and add value to all your specifications. You’ll increase your business proposition and set yourself apart from the competition.

Visit 3515 to find out more!!

Now in its impressive 61st year, ASIS Seminar & Exhibits runs September 28 through 30 in Anaheim Calif. The ‘new age’ of power will be there, showcased at LifeSafety Power® booth 3515.

The new and expanded line of FlexPower® Unified Power Solutions will be highlighted during the show. This innovative enclosure family integrates the industry’s most widely used access controller board power solutions, including Mercury, AMAG Technology and Software House. Unified Power Solutions take up a much smaller footprint while providing new installation opportunities for integrators. And that means costs savings and many other efficiencies for the end-user customer.

There’s even bigger news to share: we’re ready to unveil to the industry the first Mercury Security and LifeSafety Power UL-Listed system. We partnered with Mercury Security to bring to the systems integration and end-user communities one of the first UL-Listed enclosures that includes system power, lock power and remote power options in both rack mount and wall mount configurations. The breakthrough is in the UL listing garnered for the complete range of integrated components within the solution. The two specific products include the FlexPower Gemini RGM series, a rack mount product, and MCLASS Unified Power system, both with Authentic Mercury access control hardware in one compact, secure design.

The Gemini RGM rack mount enclosure is configured to save space and provide installation efficiencies. MCLASS also simplifies wiring and labor, saving the expense of mounting and wiring separate enclosures and AC drops for lock power, while reducing wall space with a smaller enclosure footprint.

More new products

Also at the show, check out the new IP Saver™ a custom appliance product family that utilizes a single LAN IP address to service up to 20 NetLink® communication module drops. NetLink is the industry’s only patented network power management system.

Finally, we’ll have a sneak peek and literature on more new developments – the 16-door Mercury E8V1 and the 16-door HID VertX E8V – ready to meet access control specifications of every size.

The product development wheels never stop turning at LifeSafety Power and we’re proud to show you some of the results of our innovative design and engineering at ASIS. Stop by to see why LifeSafety Power is the leader in Smarter Power Solutions and remote monitoring capabilities with modular power systems that continue to meet the growing needs of the life safety and security industries.

School lockdowns easy to deploy with FlexPower®

It’s a stark fact of life: K-12 schools and educational campuses are increasingly the focus of violent acts of crime. According to an active shooter study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 160 incidents occurred between 2000 and 2013, with some 1043 casualties, including those killed and wounded.

Physical security trends and specifications now have a heightened focus on the fortification of the perimeter and interiors of educational facilities in an effort to provide proactive measures to lessen these incidents and avoid casualties. One of the successful means of preventing an active shooter from moving from classroom to classroom or other areas of a school has been emergency lockdowns that automatically secure areas electronically with a push of a button or other initiation. With the school year already begun in some areas or set to start soon, now is the perfect time for systems integrators to offer lockdown capabilities to users.

Versatile lockdown specification

The FlexPower® product line offers the flexibility to easily activate automatic lockdown. The Fire Alarm Input (FAI) is used to activate the lockdown condition with the reset switch latching the lockdown until manually reset. And although this activation can occur through a normally closed (NC) contact, any valid FAI activation may be used to initiate a lockdown.

There are lots of easy-to-use nuances which indicate the versatility of FlexPower in our online Application Note AN-33. Suffice to say, systems integrators have many different and easy to apply options to provide this critical feature to their educational, healthcare and other enterprise customers.

LifeSafety Power® continues to lead in the manufacture of Smarter Power Solutions and remote monitoring capabilities – designed with systems integrators and their customers in mind.

Calculators and other support materials assist in battery specification and more

When your system solution is ready to deploy, or you have questions about battery size or voltage drop calculations, we have the resources ready for you 24/7 on the LifeSafety Power website. With these resources, you can calculate the system requirements and parameters for all your access control and life safety solutions, including wire size, voltage drop, battery standby time and battery size.

Ready for easy download, the calculators cover a wide range of topics – from an excel sheet to configure power, to configuring outputs in five easy steps, to a spreadsheet for performing various Ohm’s Law calculations and more.

There’s also great information on selecting battery size and voltage drop.  We even have calculators for configuring the jumpers on a C4 or C8 and B100 power calculations. If you need all of the above, there’s a download called the FlexCalculator Suite that includes everything listed in one handy document plus a group of miscellaneous calculations such as BTU,  temperature conversion, etc. so you have everything you need for your job at your fingertips.

That’s only a small part of the support we provide to the integrator community. Other online and easily accessible support materials include installation manuals for setup, configuration and operation, application notes as well as software downloads and firmware updates. We also have two white papers online: “Being Smart About Backup Batteries,” and “Inductive Loads in Life Safety Applications,” which may be of assistance.

Remember to turn to LifeSafety Power Inc. for all your intelligent power solutions, and the kind of support that makes installation and specification a breeze.

Technology today is a whirlwind of activity. Connected devices are ever in the news, providing new services and capabilities no one dreamed of five years ago.

Power solutions are no exception to the ongoing move to smart, networked, intelligent devices. They can deliver better service efficiencies for systems integrators, who can now take advantage of remote service and monitoring and deliver consistent uptime and 24/7 reliability to customers. Even better, systems integrators can save labor and the cost of on-site visits with these super-smart components.

What you select in a power device is critical, however. Look for solutions with enhanced features, such as those LifeSafety Power provides, to avoid having to purchase necessary features separately. LifeSafety Power products also help to reduce SKUs and inventory by providing all the needed features in the base product. When you do select the right devices, you can take advantage of the new age of power – with a total supply system that can provide single and dual voltage, power distribution, lock and output control, remote test capability, remote diagnostics and remote reporting capabilities.

Even better, through these total solutions, integrators have the ability to generate new billable services, increase profitability and boost recurring monthly revenue.

The end is nowhere in sight. Power solutions will continue to improve and our research and development teams are hard at work with new features and enhancements in this product category. In fact, the efficiency, feature sets and available diagnostics will continue to improve over the next generation of products. Devices will continue to integrate—with the ability of hardware and software to communicate more wholly through protocols such as Physical Logical Access Interoperability (PLAI) profile and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

Increased services, interoperability, network intelligence: power solutions are a critical part of the operability of any security and life safety system and the sky’s the limit as far as further innovation.

Become a total services solution provider

Systems integrators don’t have to obsess with dwindling hardware margins anymore. Instead, they can focus on all the new ways to earn recurring revenue – especially with remote management of intelligent, networked devices.

Here are three ways to turn your revenue streams around:

1. Think services in everything you do—Customers demand 24/7 connectivity, and that trend will only accelerate as the Internet of Things (loT) continues to take hold. In fact, according to research from IDC, Framingham, Mass., the number of connected devices will increase from 10 million in 2014 to more than 29 million in 2020. That means increased opportunity for systems integrators to provide remote management of devices, such as battery testing. Solutions from LifeSafety Power provide the ability to monitor and test batteries and provide real-time status and system alerts on individual output conditions and that’s a game changer.

2. Make your company indispensable—System uptime is critical to all your customers, and today you can detect problems as they occur before they become monumental. You can remotely test and assess battery system health and even fix potential issues in many instances without a site visit and truck roll and often before your customer is even aware of any problems. And if it’s a problem such as a short circuit or an integrated lock running “hot” you could prevent a potential fire hazard. Even better: when you can proactively assess systems and keep solutions up and running, you’re more likely to keep that end user as a customer.

3. Open new avenues of profitability through remote power management—Today’s networked power solutions allow integrators to provide comprehensive remote diagnostics, including regular reports on each connected device and individual outputs. Using a simple graphical user interface, you can see the status of all power solutions and know if a battery is failing or there’s other trouble. Proactive system monitoring also allows you to generate regular reports, at will or on schedule for the user, and that means more recurring monthly revenue.

Focusing on profitability from hardware won’t get your company the return on investment it requires to become successful. Instead, join the new breed of progressive systems integrators who offer services—and watch new revenue streams flow.