SmartCell the Latest System waiting Approval

EMS is soon to release an exciting new product to their wireless fire alarm range called the “SmartCell”. The product is featuring the latest in wireless technology, and according to EMS, this will be the next generation of wireless fire alarm systems.

The Smartcell will be priced and targeted towards the small systems market, where at the moment EMS does not have a product to compete in this market. The Smartcells styling and compact features will allow it to compete directly against the Zerio Plus from Electro Detectors.

At present, EMS have one compliant wireless product called the Firecell, actually designed to compete with the big wired addressable systems. The Firecell can network eight control panels without any wires and can handle up to 4,032 devices. However, there is a big market for small systems of around thirty devices, and having such a powerful system is a waste of the available technology that is not being used, but is being purchased by the buyer. For this reason, it puts the Firecell out of the price range for many when considering a small installation.

EMS, have realized that this wasted technology at a cost was making them uncompetitive for this reason, Smartcell is being designed to give EMS a foothold in the small systems market.

Smartcell has a fire alarm control panel that is manufactured in house by EMS and will not be using a third party panel manufacturer, as is the case with Firecell whose panel is from Kentec Electronics. In fact, there is currently only one complete wireless fire alarm system, and that is the Zerio Plus from Electro Detectors.

The Smartcell is limited to thirty addressable devices. The devices are a lot slimmer and therefore, aesthetically more pleasing to the eye.

You would also think that due to the Smartcell being a smaller system that it would have less technology; however, I have been informed that this system has the latest and most advanced technology and is considered the next generation.

Following a visit to Firex 2016 we visited the EMS stand and Gareth Brand, Commercial Support Manager provided us with an overview

The system also has a cloud base monitoring service, so alarms, the condition of the devices etc, can be displayed on your mobile phone or remote computer. EMS, have invested a lot of resources and finance into this product and are expecting to increase market share in the small systems market, competing against wired addressable systems and their main wireless competitors.