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Check Your Smoke Detectors during National Fire Prevention Month

Angela — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:45:59 +0000

October is National Fire Prevention Month. This is a great opportunity to check all your current fire safety devices to keep your families, employees, and properties as safe as possible.

For traditional residential smoke detectors, the National Fire Protection Association recommends that you “change your battery when you change your clock” (twice yearly). They also recommend that you also test the smoke detectors monthly.

According to the United States Fire Administration, household detectors should be placed in or near each sleeping area, on each floor, and not within four inches of where walls meet ceilings.

In the workplace, employers should have written and oral fire prevention plans in place which are readily available for all employees. According to the United States Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), a building’s alarm system should provide instant notification of potential threats and should provide alarming in a variety of ways to alert employees. For example, the alarm “shall be capable of being perceived above ambient noise or light levels.”

Ravica’s sirens and lights do just that and more. To protect people and property, Ravica offers devices that can notify you instantly of possible threats, even if you aren’t on-site. Ravica’s SensorProbes environmental monitors can notify you of hazards in remote locations, such as a second home or an unmanned facility. You can be virtually anywhere in the world and still receive alerts through texts, Skype, and email. During your vacation in Maine, you can feel confident that your Ravica SensorProbe will notify you of any potential water leaks, humidity, power outages, temperature fluctuations, unauthorized access, and smoke.

During this National Fire Prevention Month, please take a few moments to review your smoke and fire warning devices and your escape routes. Early detections can save lives, data, and dollars.

~Angela
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Ravica Environmental Monitors Begin Where Mayberry Ends

Angela — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:08:38 +0000

Growing up in a small town had some advantages, including a feeling of security. For example, when our family would leave town on vacation, the police department kept an eye on our home. Patrol cars drove by our house periodically, day and night, ensuring that our home and possessions were safe. In this way, it was if our small town was in the very capable hands of our own Andy Griffith. These days, law enforcement departments don’t necessarily have the resources to protect property this way.

Fortunately, we can have that sense of trust with a Ravica environmental sensor. Ravica security monitors placed in your property can alert you to the presence of property hazards like smoke and water. While you are away, you can still feel secure knowing you will be alerted to hazards as soon as they happen.

A Ravica team member just received an alert at work this past week from his home’s system. He was notified of unauthorized access to the house. Fortunately, the culprit was his extremely mischievous Dachshund. But what if it hadn’t been? Wouldn’t you want to know immediately if someone is in your home?

First alerts are extremely important to prevent serious damage. An early alert from a smoke detector can make the difference between very minor damage and total destruction. If caught early enough, proper authorities can be notified and damages can be minimized.

But what good is a smoke detector if you can’t hear its alarm? What happens when your home is in Boca Raton, but you are on vacation in Venice? Ravica’s devises are extremely versatile and can use various mediums to send alert notifications. Just imagine having the freedom to travel knowing you will receive an instant alert about any power outages, smoke, or water leaks. These alerts can be sent through email, mobile phone text, or Skype.

During the work day and during extended absences and vacations, you can feel confident that your property is protected, even without the Mayberry police force.

~Angela
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Environmental Monitoring Sensors: More Than Just Fancy Smoke Detectors

Angela — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:59:23 +0000

During a conversation this week, an associate of mine explained that his business is growing exponentially. His operation expanded from 5 locations to 18 locations in just 2 years. Considering the national economy during this last 2 years, I found this to be an astonishing and noble feat. But then he casually mentioned something else: one of his centers recently lost data due to a water leak. He mentioned it almost in passing, as if losses of this nature were to be occasionally expected.

Sadly, this type of water damage is fairly common. Not as common as the Old Spice Guy videos on YouTube, but common nonetheless.

This type of accident can severely cripple a business and shouldn’t be expected or taken lightly. My associate’s story serves as a glowing example of the importance of environmental sensors. A Ravica SensorProbe would have notified him immediately of the situation. He could have received notifications through email, Skype, Twitter, or texts on his cell phone, and the damage could have been dramatically reduced or potentially totally eliminated.

The SensorProbe is a versatile device to alert on the presence of water, temperature fluctuations, and smoke before the damage is crippling to a business. The sensors can be placed virtually anywhere and aren’t limited to just data centers or offices.

Environmental monitoring sensors are more than just fancy smoke detectors. Devices from Ravica can prevent the need to repair damaged facilties and recreate lost data, saving you tremendous amounts of money. They are versatile devices designed to keep you in control.

~Angela
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The benefits of a Ravica smoke detector

Jessica Raflo — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:26:54 +0000

Everyone knows how important it is to keep facility smoke detectors in good working order. Smoke detectors are a vital part of the life/safety plan in all residential and commercial buildings. In many situations a standard, battery-operated smoke detector is all you need. It’s reliable, it’s loud, and it gets the job done. However, in some situations the stand alone alarm might not be enough. If the smoke detector is located in an area that is not regularly occupied, like a storage warehouse, there might not be anyone around to hear that loud alarm. Or, what if the emergency occurs after business hours? It is the proverbial tree falling in the forest, but in the case of a fire, the damage will ring loud and clear, even if no one was around to hear the initial alarm. For these kinds of situations, a smoke alarm that ties into a web-based environmental monitoring system is a smart idea.

The Ravica smoke detector does just that, it connects to one of the sensor ports on your SecurityProbe or BitSight sensor probe. Tying the smoke detector to web-interface offers the following advantages:

1) No more annoying low-battery beeping. When the smoke detector is connected to the SecurityProbe or BitSight via one of the (8) RJ-45 port, the main power source is the probe and not the 9v battery. Like a typical smoke detector, the Ravica smoke detector still takes a 9v, but it is a back-up and is only used in the case of a major power outage that takes the probe offline.

2) Ravica smoke detectors can be programmed to automatically make the emergency call for you. The smoke detector can be connected to dry contact inputs and be programmed to call 911 automatically when an alarm goes off. This cuts down on response time and can potentially save thousands of dollars in property damage.

3) View the situation from an easy-to-use web interface. With a Ravica SecurityProbe, you can view and control up to 4 cameras from the web. If a smoke detector alarm goes off, you can instantly see exactly what is causing the alarm and be better equipped to resolve the situation quickly.

If a web-based smoke detector sounds like a good addition to the fire/safety plan for your facility, check out the Ravica website or give us a call at 207.324.8173.

~Jessica
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What you can do about Christmas tree fire hazards

Jon Mills — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:31:44 +0000

The holiday season is finally upon us. As usual, with the cold weather comes turkey dinner and Black Friday sales - but that’s not all! If your family is anything like mine, the first thing you do after properly digesting your stuffing and waking from your Tryptophan coma is put up that glorious Christmas tree. There is really no better indication of the impending holiday season than a well lit and beautifully decorated tree.

I am a fan of the good ol’ fashion fake tree. Nothing says Happy Holiday’s like the smell of, well… plastic. But as I understand it, there are some 33 million American homes that go the natural route with their tree selection. However, improperly hydrated Christmas trees can pose a very real safety concern. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, “Christmas trees account for 200 fires annually, resulting in 6 deaths, 25 injuries and more than $6 million in property damage.”

Simple fire prevention tips
Prevention is, obviously, the best approach. If you have a natural tree, make sure to keep it watered. A wet tree is a safe tree. In fact, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) created this very telling side-by-side comparison of the flamability of a dry tree vs. a tree that had been watered regularly.

Protecting what’s important
The next step is protection. In the event that there is a fire, easily accessable fire extinguishers and planned exit routes for the family could be a matter of life and death.

Any working smoke detector is a plus (remember to test the batteries regularly), but having a more advanced system that can send alerts to you anywhere is a healthy step in reduntant protection. A SecurityProbe could be set up to take pictures of your tree and send them along with a text or email to your iPhone or Blackberry. That way you know exactly what the situation is back at home, even while you are at the mall doing your last minute shopping. It can even be set up to make an outgoing call with Skype to ensure that you and your local fire department are on the scene as soon as physically possible.

So don’t forget, while enjoying a beautiful Christmas tree can set the mood for a joyous holiday like nothing else, safety measures do need to be taken. Make sure to protect your home or office by follow a few simple steps.

~ Jon Mills
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Mount Wilson Observatory In Danger From L.A. Fire

JimmyD — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:43:48 +0000

I just read this post on Slashdot:

“Mount Wilson is in danger from the Station fire burning near L.A. Their servers have gone offline, but there’s a temporary mirror cam. It doesn’t look good. Picture twenty-four on the L.A. Times photo gallery shows the observatory from the air. If anyone has any inside news on the condition of the facility, I’m sure there are lots of people on Slashdot that would love to hear it.”

It got me wondering about what type of SensorProbes they have. Most companies will never see this size of fire, but even a tiny fire can put a server room out of commission. That is why it is so important to use sensor probe technology to monitor our environment and alert us when something is wrong.

Anyway, I don’t want to use this as a sales pitch. So, let’s use the fire in California to remind us to check our home and office fire detection systems.

My prayers go out to all of the fire fighters, the people who have lost their homes and the people who’s homes are in danger.

- JimmyD

Monitoring for Smoke at a National Level

Mike Allen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:41:30 +0000

Monitoring the data room, your home, or for smoking in the boys room is just the beginning. The United States Government takes monitoring smoke and air seriously. Check out the smoke map maintained by the Interagency Real Time Smoke Monitoring web site. I drilled in on California and clicked on the center of the state. The air and smoke quality doesn’t look as good as other parts of the state.

Yosemite National Park
California likes their state parks. They have a web site showing off how they measure smoke ozone levels, particulate matter levels and more. The site provides air quality and smoke monitoring trends as well as web cameras. The cameras actually allow you to see the differences in air quality. I thought it was cool.

Ravica provides smoke detectors for $125.00 and security cameras on the SecurityProbe for $1,795.00. These probes also monitor temperature, humidity, water, etc., and it supports SNMP, so that you can trend the data over time.

Our services department can set you up with a monitoring web page like Yosemite. Just tell us what you need and we’ll help you get started.

- Mike

SNMP support for the SecurityProbe allows secure data center monitoring

Jon Mills — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:17:33 +0000

In 2004, the IETF officially recognized SNMP v3, as defined by RFC 3411–RFC 3418, as the current standard version of the Simple Network Management Protocol. SNMP v2, although being a highly competent and widely used protocol, was severly lacking in the areas of security and remote configuration. Thus, SNMP v3 was born.

SNMP v3 added some much needed security features, like ensuring message integrity, verifying that the message came from a valid source with authentication, and packet encryption to ensure that messages aren’t being disseminated by unauthorized sources.

Because of its enhanced security features, SNMP v3 quickly found itself a requirement for many government and secure corporate projects. Since 2004, SNMP v3 has found itself a home in most networks with any sort of security requirements.

That is why the Ravica SecurityProbe line of SensorProbes supports SNMP v3. From within the Settings tab, simply select SNMP under the Connectivity header to the left. You will see the screen below.

From here you can select the type of security features required:

No Authentication
Authentication Only
Authentication & Encryption

Enter your desired password, choose your authentication protocol and access privilege, then it’s off to the races. Now all of your SNMP information will be sent/polled from the SecurityProbe in version 3.

This is a highly popular feature amoung SecurityProbe users. Hopefully, if you didn’t already know it was there, you will find it valuable to impliment in your network. It is now as easy as ever to keep your physical data room details secure.

~ Jon Mills
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Five major data center outages reported last week

JimmyD — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:25:29 +0000

The website Data Center Knowledge recently published an alarming report about five major data center outages that occurred in the past week. Here is a brief breakdown from the article.

“On Monday June 29, Rackspace Hosting (RAX) experienced a power outage at its Dallas data center that left several areas of the facility without power for about 45 minutes, knocking many popular customer web sites offline.
“Early Thursday Equinix Inc. (EQIX) data centers in Sydney, Australia and Paris each experienced power failures. While the power outages were brief – Equinix said the Sydney event lasted 12 minutes while power was restored in Paris in just one minute – many key customer sites took considerably longer to recover their systems. The Sydney event led to disruptions for VoIP service in parts of Australia, while the Paris outage caused downtime for the popular video site DailyMotion and the French portal for hosting firm ClaraNet.
“Google App Engine, the company’s cloud computing platform, had lengthy performance problems on Thursday, experiencing high latency and data loss.
“A fire at Fisher Plaza in Seattle late Thursday night left many of the building’s data centers without power. The fire in an basement-level electrical room triggered sprinklers and caused extensive damage to generators and electrical equipment. The damage left tenants with backup plans offline for hours, and those without backup sites down until temporary generators restored power early Saturday morning. The biggest impact was at payment gateway Authorize.net, which was offline for more than 12 hours, leaving its merchant customers unable to process credit card sales. Other sites experiencing lengthy downtime included AdHost, GeoCaching and Microsoft’s Bing Travel.
“Early Sunday, July 5, a fire at 151 Front Street, the major carrier hotel in Toronto, knocked out power on several floors of the facility used by Peer 1 networks. Power was restored in about 3 hours, after a damaged UPS unit was bypassed.”

The author, Rich Miller then goes on to point out some tough questions and the lessons learned from these outages.

Although it is surprising that data centers of this size can experience an outage like this, what is even more surprising is that it all happened in a week’s span. I wonder, is the National Security Agency going to look into this?

The equipment used to monitor this size data center is monumental, but even the smallest IT department can obtain economically priced sensor equipment, like the Bitsight8, combined with Intelligent Sensors, like the AC Voltage Detector and the Digital Voltometer.

Smoke detector configuration settings for your SensorProbe

Jon Mills — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:52:31 +0000

Because of the similarities in how the smoke detector and dry contact sensors work, when a smoke detector sensor is connected to any of the Ravica SensorProbe models it will be recognized as dry contact sensor. The real differences lie in how the user configures and labels the sensor.

Therefore, when connecting a new smoke detector sensor, change the description to “Smoke Detector” or something similar, then update the web interface settings for the smoke detector to reflect the options below.

Direction: Input
Normal State: Open/+5 Volts
Output Level: Low/GND

Congratulations! You now have a properly configured smoke detector sensor watching over you.

Other valuable tips for configuring your Ravica environmental monitoring systems can be found on our support FAQ.

~ Jon Mills
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