Thermo Fisher is a biotechnology company that is the result of a 2006 merger between Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific. Since the merger, the company has gone on to become a multinational corporation with offices all over the world. Recently, the Middletown, Virginia office had a new fire protection system installed. Brewer Fire, a contractor based out of Charleston, West Virginia was chosen to head the project.
Brewer decided to utilize Potter’s PFC-6800 Fire Alarm Control Panel, and wanted to integrate the panel into their current monitoring interface. Potter introduced Brewer Fire to Layered Solutions Inc, one of Potter’s technology partners that provide emergency management solutions and specialize in integrating technologies in order to ensure occupancy and building protection.
Implementation
Layered Solutions provides the ability to support IP enabled third party integration. This means that Brewer was able to utilize the existing hardwire configuration in the building, and extrapolate it using Potter’s PFC-6800 Addressable Fire Alarm Control Panel. The entire system can then be viewed through the Layered Solutions interface, which has been installed via a 55” monitor located in the security guard area. The display shows the system being monitored in real time using detailed graphics.
The PFC-6800 was the right choice because it has an open platform that makes it very versatile"
Four Potter PFC-6800 fire panels were installed throughout the building and retrofitted using the hardwire infrastructure left behind from a previous, outdated system. The PFC6800 was chosen due to its adaptability and open platform, making it very flexible and capable of servicing a variety of applications. The panels, as well as every supervisory and flowswitch, are monitored through the Layered Solutions platform. Because this is such a wide ranging project with many unique features, it was important that the panels chosen were non-proprietary.
Mark Moriarty, Head Technician on the project said, “The PFC-6800 was the right choice because it has an open platform that makes it very versatile. Pete Rogers, Ron Rhodes, Greg Grim, myself, and all of the Brewer Project Delivery Team are happy to be able to make additions and updates to the system easily, and we’re looking forward to doing a lot more with it."
Daily Operation
The system is currently protecting the over one hundred Thermo Fisher employees in the building. The security staff is thrilled by how easy it is to monitor the system, as well as inspect the system wirelessly using an iPad. There are many plans for the future, as they look to install voice evacuation as well as intruder alerts. With the versatility of a Layered Solutions monitoring system that utilizes the Potter series of fire alarm control panels, the list of capabilities is virtually endless.