Press Releases: Xtralis

Xtralis iPhone App Puts ADPRO Remote Surveillance in The Palm of Your Hand

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Xtralis™, the leading innovator of very early warning safety and security solutions, today announced the immediate availability of ADPRO iTrace, an iPhone app that brings remote surveillance to the palm of your hand. ADPRO iTrace allows users to connect to their on-site ADPRO FastTrace 2 surveillance system and display live camera images on their iPhone. The app works with Apple iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S devices, and connects to all versions of FastTrace 2 (Lite, Hybrid, and Hybrid TX). With support for six languages, the free ADPRO iTrace app is immediately available to download from the Business category of the iTunes Store.

“Multiple sites and multiple transmitters can be selected for monitoring, enabling the user to seamlessly manage all on-site surveillance cameras from their iPhone,” commented Kim Loy, VP Remote Surveillance for Xtralis. “ADPRO iTrace offers the highest quality video transmission, with frame rates to 30 fps, even in low bandwidth environments. This allows great mobility while retaining the capacity to quickly and easily assess the security situation, and determine an appropriate response. The software design guarantees easy and intuitive set-up of monitored sites and connections, and both portrait and landscape modes are supported,” Loy added.

ADPRO FastTrace 2 is an award-winning, state-of-the-art recording and transmission technology that offers two-way audio, indoor loitering, and outdoor perimeter detection analytics for both IP and analog video monitoring applications. Available as a single or multi-site system, it monitors and transmits very high quality images and allows either site owners or operators in a central monitoring station to quickly assess a situation and take appropriate action. ADPRO’s reliability and proactive approach through the use of advanced multi-knock sensing technology delivers the lowest false alarm rates in the industry.

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Xtralis Enhanced ECO Brings Efficiency and Affordability to Gas Detection & Environmental Monitoring

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Xtralis® announced today the availability of an enhanced version of its award-winning VESDA® ECO™ gas detection product. ECO is a gas detection extension for the world-renowned Xtralis VESDA aspirating smoke detection (ASD) system, which is used in over 400,000 mission-critical early warning and detection applications worldwide. The enhanced version VESDA ECO includes six new gas detection options as well as additional programming, testing, and monitoring capabilities.

The VESDA ECO approach to gas detection utilizes efficient multi-hole aspirating technology, an industry first, which provides superior gas detection and removes the guess work in gas detector placement. By utilizing a VESDA pipe network, ECO customers can realize significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO) with savings of up to 46% on initial capital expense, and up to 76% savings in operational expenses versus conventional gas detectors.

The enhanced version of VESDA ECO adds new gas detection capabilities for alcohol, gasoline vapor, pentane, chlorine and carbon dioxide, and provides additional oxygen and ammonia sensing. The initial release of ECO included detection for ammonia (NH3), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methane (CH4), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), oxygen (O2), propane (C3H8) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The new version also adds a highly intuitive calibration process, field programmable “calibration due” notifications, and a simulation capability of gas tests to analyse the system’s functionality and performance.

“VESDA ECO’s is now providing protection to an ever growing list of diverse applications for world leading companies. Facilities such as steel mills, gas fired turbine halls, and cold storage logistics centers are realizing dramatic cost savings while enjoying significantly enhanced protection with ECO.” remarked Claudio Groppetti, Vice President Business Development, Environmental Protection & Gas Monitoring at Xtralis. “VESDA ECO is redefining how gas detection is implemented in these facilities,” he added.

Earlier this year, VESDA ECO was awarded the Best in Detection Controls, Devices and Sensors Award from New Product Showcase competition at ISC West. In addition, Frost & Sullivan’s Building and Environmental Technologies research team recognized VESDA ECO with the 2011 North American New Product Innovation Award for the fire and life safety markets.

Claudio Gropetti from Xtralis will present a technical paper on ECO titled “New Approach to Gas Detection” at ISA Automation Week on October 18 in Mobile, Alabama. VESDA ECO will be on display in Xtralis Booth #300 at the ISA Automation Week 2011 Supplier Showcase, from Tuesday, October 18 through Thursday, October 20.

Xtralis Continues its Rapid Expansion by Opening New UK Headquarters

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Xtralis, the company behind the award winning range of technologies for the early, accurate and remote detection of threats to critical assets and infrastructure, is moving to new premises in October as the business continues to expand. The new facility, at The People Building in Hemel Hempstead, UK will be the new headquarters for Xtralis’ UK operations from which its sales, marketing, administrative, training and technical support teams will be based.

The new offices also include bespoke customer life safety and security demonstration suites. The security suite will display market leading ADPRO’s video, audio and PIR surveillance solutions with an emphasis on the award winning ADPRO FastTrace 2 video and audio transmission technology. The life safety suite will feature the legendary VESDA and ICAM ranges, augmented with ECO for reliable flammable and toxic gas detection, as well as its award-winning OSID (Open-area Smoke Imaging Detection) technology reinventing open area smoke detection.

Xtralis has seen a significant increase in demand for product training due to the growth in number of customers and the applications that take advantage of new technologies recently introduced by the company. In response, the training facilities will be expanded to provide more in-depth, hands-on training. The courses will be structured to meet the needs of the various audiences including integrators, central stations, consultants and installers with a flexible scheduling approach. In the near future, the training facilities will be expanded to include the newly acquired Heitel range of products as well to provide the most comprehensive catalogue of courses for all customers.

“This move is a very positive change for both Xtralis employees and our customers,” said Mick Goodfellow, Xtralis VP Sales Europe, “this move is a result of hard work and dedication to growing the business and providing a positive environment for customer training and demonstrations.”

Mick added: “As Xtralis continues to grow, we will continue to listen to our customers and adapt our company, people, products and facilities to best meet the requirements necessary to provide a positive customer experience at all times.”

OSID by Xtralis Scores Its Third Accolade in 2011 � ASIS Industry�s Most Innovative Product Award

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Xtralis, a leading provider of early warning fire detection and security solutions worldwide, announced today it was named the recipient of the top product award in the 2011 ASIS Accolade competition for its revolutionary new Open-Area Smoke Imaging Detection (OSID) product. Xtralis has shipped and installed over 400,000 of our Early Detection products in most mission-critical locations, protecting lives and valuable assets in over 100 countries world-wide for the past 25 years. OSID revolutionary solution has been installed, tested and proven in such challenging environments as metro tunnels and stations, bus depots, manufacturing facilities and warehouses throughout the world. The award is the latest in a string of accolades afforded Xtralis worldwide and the fifth one for the OSID since its launch in 2010 and third for this year alone. OSID is the only life safety smoke detection product to receive three esteemed accolades in 2011.

ASIS Accolades are associated with the ASIS Exhibition, which is a comprehensive global event focused on successful security. It draws an audience of nearly 20,000 top professionals from the private sector, military, federal and state governments, and corporate decision-makers with enterprise-wide security on their minds. ASIS Accolades are prominent awards recognizing innovative security solutions; over seventy products competed this year for the 2011 ASIS accolades, and a panel of judges selected ten of them as winners. Judges representing end-users and experts in security and safety technologies selected ten winners of the 2011 ASIS Accolades. The winners represent what the judges have determined to be the most innovative security and safety solutions.

Judges were impressed by the product’s unique characteristics making it superbly tolerant to building movement, steam, insects, dust and solid object intrusions. Product innovations overcome limitations of traditional optical beam detection solutions often used in open spaces where standard smoke sensitivity, code-compliant detection is required. The patented combination of dual wavelength Emitters, a CMOS Imager, advanced detection algorithms and 3D coverage, delivers unrivaled reliability, high immunity to false alarms, and intuitive, low cost installation and alignment. OSID installation and alignment can be 50%-75% less than existing products. On top, OSID provides more than 50% increase in sensitivity over that of traditional beam detectors.

“OSID surpasses the expectations end-users and system integrators seek out when selecting an Xtralis product. The OSID innovation provides an advanced detection solution offering significant revenue to our customers and proven value to end-users and installers coupled with lower total ownership cost and unparalleled performance”, says Ian Ehrenberg, Senior Vice President of Sales and General Manager - Americas for Xtralis.

Xtralis reinforces its strong position as the global innovator in security and life safety technologies. The company is continuing to surpass the expectations of values and this prestigious award reaffirms the company’s commitment to delivering excellence and innovation in smoke detection and security solutions. Xtralis’ winning innovations have been recognized globally for their ability to solve real problems and dramatically enhance life safety and valuable asset protection, while delivering major economical advantages and opportunities.

ADPRO Successfully Prevents Theft of Expensive Stock from Targeted Warehouse

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Next generation video and audio transmission technology from ADPRO by Xtralis is helping to prevent further break-ins at a major warehousing facility in the West Midlands, after it suffered a number of attacks resulting in thousands of pounds worth of stock being stolen.

Stock was previously stored at several regional distribution centres throughout the UK, but have now been brought under one roof and the distribution centralised. Warehouse management recognised the risk, and approached installer Custom Technology Solutions to specify and install a CCTV-based security system that would deter and prevent future attacks.

Brett Evans, Director of Custom Technology Solutions, recommended the award-winning Xtralis ADPRO FastTrace 2 technology at the heart of the new system: “We have used ADPRO technology before and understand its capabilities in managing alarms and video in challenging remote monitoring scenarios,” he says.

The installation comprises a number of long-range detectors at the perimeter to create a ‘virtual fence’. The detectors work in conjunction with a series of fully functional dome cameras such that when an intrusion is detected, images from the cameras are automatically transmitted in real time to a remote video response centre so that a response can be determined.

Images are transmitted, managed and stored via the ADPRO FastTrace 2, which also features an audio facility to warn intruders off site.

Brett is impressed with how well the technology is performing: “We have had very few false alarms since the system was put in place,” he says, “and the speed and ease of installation was another bonus for our engineers.”

The ADPRO FastTrace 2 is a new generation of highly reliable technology with analytics for both IP and analogue CCTV remote monitoring applications. It is a single- or multi-site system that monitors and transmits high-quality images using H.264 compression so operators within a video response centre can quickly assess an unfolding security situation and take appropriate action.

It also uses server-grade hard disks to locally store up to 8 terabytes of data ‘in the box,’ and when used in conjunction with the ADPRO VideoCentral Platinum management software, provides the most flexible multi-site video security system available.

ADPRO by Xtralis is the leading provider of software and hardware that delivers early, accurate and remote detection of threats to critical assets and infrastructure. ADPRO’s reliability and proactive approach through the use of advanced multi-knock sensing technology delivers the lowest false alarm rates in the industry.

ADPRO FastTrace 2 Now Fully Integrated at RVR

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EDT

(Hemel Hempstead, UK, 4 July 2011) Remote Video Response (RVR) has become one of the first remote video surveillance operations to fully integrate the new award-winning ADPRO FastTrace 2 video and audio transmission technology from Xtralis into its central station operations, bringing significant advantages to installers and end-users alike.

ADPRO FastTrace 2 has been integrated within RVR’s own award-winning ‘Chameleon’ command and control technology, effectively enabling operators to monitor, manage and respond to images transmitted by the ADPRO FastTrace 2 using a common Graphical User Interface (GUI).

The benefit to end users, says Colin Walters, General Manager of RVR, is that they can now take advantage of the new ADPRO FastTrace 2 without compromising any legacy ADPRO technology they may have installed. But the combination delivers more than just greater convenience: "It also brings enhanced operational efficiencies," he explains, "which in turn deliver greater return on investment".

"Such is the intelligence of the Chameleon platform that each ADPRO transmission received is recognised as belonging to a specific installation, and automatically accorded the appropriate response relevant to that installation without any intervention required by the operator."

The advantage to installers is that the ease of connectivity and commissioning is greatly enhanced: "Installers know that if they are specifying the new ADPRO FastTrace 2 monitored by RVR, the installation and commissioning time will be reduced without compromising on the ultimate performance."

The new FastTrace 2 is a single or multi-site system that monitors and transmits very high quality images using H.264 compression (allows the highest quality video with the lowest bandwidth usage). This allows operators in a central monitoring station to quickly assess a situation and take appropriate action.

Remote monitoring utilising the award winning ADPRO products provides video verified alarms at one-third of the cost of conventional security guards, allowing customers to realise a Return on Investment (ROI) in as little as 7-12 months.

ADPRO by Xtralis is the leading provider of software and hardware that delivers early, accurate and remote detection of threats to critical assets and infrastructure. ADPRO’s reliability and proactive approach through the use of advanced multi-knock sensing technology delivers the lowest false alarm rates in the industry.

Xtralis Solidifies Its Position as the Premier Provider for the Fast-growing Global Intelligent Remote Monitoring Market

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Xtralis™, a leading global provider of powerful solutions for the early detection of fire, gas and security threats, today announced the acquisition of Germany-based HeiTel Digital Video GmbH. This acquisition enhances significantly Xtralis’ position as the premium manufacturer of video surveillance and central monitoring solutions globally.

“The Intelligent Remote Monitoring market is one of the fastest growing segments of the maturing video surveillance market due to quickly advancing technology and industry standards. Intelligent Remote Monitoring provides proactive protection through video verified alarms and controlled response at much lower annual costs than alternative solutions,” explains Samir Samhouri, President and CEO of Xtralis, the global leader of the remote video monitoring market through its ADPRO® brands.

Like ADPRO by Xtralis, HeiTel has a very strong presence with Central Monitoring Stations. By joining forces Xtralis and HeiTel will provide a complete Intelligent Remote Monitoring platform including video verification, analytics and perimeter protection to the global market.

“The addition of HeiTel will help the Xtralis group of companies excel and expand in the delivery and monitoring of its leading early detection technology; it will also enhance the companies geographic and market segment reach. HeiTel’s product offering, channels and geographic presence complements the Xtralis ADPRO offering. Together ADPRO with HeiTel will have a dominant position in the markets they serve. We see no significant overlap between ADPRO and HeiTel and we intend to maintain all the products, channels, locations and talents that HeiTel has worked on building over the last 20 years.”

Xtralis and HeiTel will both work to expand the awareness of the Intelligent Remote Monitoring but will operate as two separate business entities working with their respective channel partners.

HeiTel is located near Hamburg Germany with a substantial employee presence engaged in the design, development and sale of video surveillance technology including:

• Digital video remote transmission via computer networks
• Digital recording integrated into their video transmission concept for local long-term storage
• Integration of video receiver technology into security monitoring centres, emergency call and serviced centres

For more information about HeiTel, visit at www.heitel.com.

"IEG - Investment Banking (www.ieg-banking.com) and Renzenbrink, Raschke, von Knobelsdorff, Heiser (www.rrkh.de) advised Xtralis on this transaction."

ADPRO FastTrace 2 Brings Home a Win from ESX

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Xtralis, a leading provider of proven solutions for 25+ years for the early detection of threats, today announced its ADPRO FastTrace 2 video and audio transmission product was named the recipient of the esteemed 2011 Maximum Impact Award - Best Central Station Equipment: Remote Video Monitoring Equipment/Software category. Xtralis was among 39 companies that entered a variety of products at the Electronic Security Expo (ESX) in Charlotte.

ADPRO FastTrace 2 impressed the judges as it uses ground-breaking recording and transmission technology, 2-way audio and loitering and outdoor perimeter detection analytics for both IP and analog video remote monitoring applications. This offering is ideally suited for central monitoring stations in helping proactively protect their customer’s people and assets.

The awards, which showcase products and services that help security integration and monitoring companies meet their customer needs and grow their profits, place a critical perspective on the impact that new and recently introduced products and services have on security integration and monitoring businesses.

The new FastTrace 2 is a single or multi-site system that monitors and transmits very high quality images using H.264 compression (allows the highest quality video with the lowest bandwidth usage). This allows operators in a central monitoring station to quickly assess a situation and take appropriate action.

This new award adds to the increasing recognition of the products’ unique characteristics which makes it the most flexible remote video surveillance security system available.

“We are honored to receive this prestigious award for this exceptional new product”, says Kim Loy, Vice President of Remote Surveillance for Xtralis. “We are committed to providing the most innovative central station solutions in the market and ADPRO by Xtralis continues to prove its leadership in remote surveillance. It provides the earliest possible warning of a security threat to minimize the impact to a business and enables efficient deployment of security personnel.”

Remote monitoring utilizing the award winning ADPRO products provides video verified alarms at one-third of the cost of conventional security officers allowing customers to realize a Return on Investment (ROI) in as little as 7-12 months. It takes remote monitoring to the next level; it effectively provides intelligent digital detection to prevent incidents.

ADPRO by Xtralis is the leading provider of software and hardware that provides early, accurate and remote detection of threats to critical assets and infrastructure. ADPRO’s reliability and proactive approach through the use of advanced multi-knock sensing technology delivers the lowest false alarm rates in the industry.

To view all of the entries in this year's Maximum Impact Awards, visit http://www.esxweb.com/viewmax.

Industrial Applications Get the Ultimate Protection in One Box - Xtralis Launches Industrial VESDA VLI Smoke Detection System

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience and over 1660 projects with ASD in industrial applications, Xtralis™, the leader in air-sampling smoke detection (ASD), launches Industrial VESDA VLI, the ultimate solution for fire protection of harsh environments in one box. VLI is the only solution specifically designed for harsh environments without any need for application engineering. This is a true out-of-the-box solution enabling 4 times longer lifecycle and lowering maintenance requirements by up to 60%.

Most recently, Industrial VESDA VLI was one of the products specifically evaluated by Frost & Sullivan research, awarding Xtralis its 2011 North American New Product Innovation Award in the Fire and Life Safety market. Frost & Sullivan, a global growth partnership company, presents its Awards to companies demonstrating best practices in a variety of regional and global markets. The criteria for the award included leading technology, value-added features and benefits and increased customer ROI.

For 25 years, VESDA has been the solution of choice for harsh environments based on its core features - absolute detection thresholds, clean-air barriers for optics protection, and advanced air filtration - critical factors to effective detection in industrial applications. Other ASD devices that lack these essential features are more prone to contamination and a reduction in useful service life. Furthermore the use, in these other products, of adaptive smoke detection algorithms that compensate for contamination induced detector drift or existing environmental smoke can delay, or in extreme cases miss detection of slow growth fires, the very fires that Very Early Warning detection is deployed to detect.

Additionally, Industrial VESDA VLI boasts a ruggedized enclosure, rated IP54, providing protection against dust and water spray. Enhanced aspiration enables longer pipe lengths of up to 360m (1,200 ft) - important for many industrial applications with extended ceiling heights and area coverage. VLI also incorporates exclusively designed and patented an industry-first, patented, fail-safe, intelligent filtration technology designed to reduce contamination in the sampled air, improving detector longevity and reducing service and maintenance by up to 40-60% depending on the environment. The detection chamber background is monitored by another patented Xtralis innovation, in-service background confirmation using a novel user-initiated Clean Air Zero system. A modular design means the intelligent filter, aspirator, secondary filter and detection chamber are all field-replaceable significantly reducing service downtime and associated costs.

Mike Rowland, Acting Venue Manager for the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre (AELEC) says, “We were impressed by the Industrial VESDA VLI detection effectiveness. The VLI system has now been installed and operational since mid March 2011 and is meeting our regulatory requirements whilst providing effective detection despite the challenging conditions of our venue, including high levels of dust from active events and varying airflows”.

“The purpose-built VLI sets a new benchmark for fire detection in industrial applications”, explains Dr. Peter Meikle, Xtralis Vice President for Fire Products and Strategy. “As the pioneers of ASD technology, we’ve combined our technological expertise and 25 plus years of industrial field experience to add a new detector to our VESDA line that will provide very early warning smoke detection for the most challenging environments, at the same time simplifying the deployment of the technology”.

There are over 380,000 VESDA units shipped to date, many of which are in harsh environments. The ability to detect gas, with VESDA ECO further enhances VLI’s capabilities in industrial applications, delivering tremendous improvement in gas detection performance through better area coverage and elimination of the guess work in gas detector placement, ultimately providing up to 46% in capital cost savings, and up to 76% in operational cost savings versus current gas detection technologies.

Industrial VESDA VLI’s capabilities have been proven in the following applications coal mine, sugar mill, paper manufacturing facility and an equestrian center. Industrial VESDA VLI doesn’t stop there – it’s suited for fire detection in many more hash environments, such as:

Mining
Manufacturing and processing plants
Petrochemical facilities
Tunnels
Grain silos
Power generation facilities
Timber, pulp and paper plants
Textile plants
Recycling facilities
Transportation hubs
Water treatment facilities
Warehouses
Fertilizer plants
Abattoirs
Laundries

Xtralis Receives Global Recognition from Frost & Sullivan

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Xtralis™, the leader in air-sampling smoke detection (ASD), was chosen by Frost & Sullivan’s Building and Environmental Technologies research team as the recipient of the 2011 North American New Product Innovation Award in the fire and life safety market. The research specifically evaluated VESDA ECO, OSID by Xtralis and Industrial VESDA VLI.

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth partnership company, presents its’ awards to companies demonstrating best practices in a variety of regional and global markets. These awards recognize superior planning and execution of product launches, strategic alliances, distribution strategies, technological innovations, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings. A host of other crucial marketing factors such as leadership, strategy, service, innovation, integration and development are also recognized. Founded 50 years ago, Frost & Sullivan is recognized as a global market analysis and solution leader with offices located worldwide.

Earlier in the year, Xtralis launched OSID, an advanced solution for smoke detection in large, open spaces. OSID overcomes the weaknesses of traditional detection solutions used in large, open spaces where standard sensitivity detection is required. OSID, which uses a combination of dual wavelengths, Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon (CMOS) imaging technology with advanced detection algorithms, and 3-D coverage, delivers installation simplicity, superior smoke detection performance, and unsurpassed immunity to false alarms. The OSID innovation can provide an advanced detection solution in open spaces and lower total ownership cost to end-users and installers by 50 percent to 75 percent. OSID installation time is a quarter of that required for traditional beam detectors.

VESDA ECO is the extension of the very early warning aspirating smoke detection system and was launched by Xtralis in 2010. It offers advanced gas detection capabilities, in addition to very early smoke detection. By introducing VESDA ECO, Xtralis pioneered the concept of offering both fire and gas detection on a single platform. VESDA ECO uses existing VESDA pipe networks to reliably detect toxic and combustible gases in addition to smoke. VESDA ECO has proved to deliver the following advantages over gas point detectors: tremendous improvement in detection performance through better area coverage and elimination of the guess work used in current point detector placement, up to 46 percent in capital cost savings, and up to 76 percent in operational cost savings.

Launching in June 2011, Industrial VESDA VLI is the first aspirating smoke detector specially designed for use in industrial and harsh environments. Fire detection becomes very challenging due to extreme environmental conditions in industries such as mining, power generation, warehousing, waste treatment, recycling plants and process industries. VESDA VLI incorporates a unique intelligent filter that prevents lint and fibrous particles from entering the system, thereby reducing maintenance costs and extending the life of the system. This patented filter, along with the ruggedized enclosure, gives the system protection against high levels of environmental contaminants, thereby ensuring the most reliable and fail-safe ASD performance in extreme and harsh environments.

“Unlike the early years in the fire detection industry when the choice of equipment was limited and somewhat basic in performance,” said Xtralis Vice President of Fire Products and Strategy Dr. Peter Meikle. “Today a myriad of smoke detection choices exist, but with the introduction of the latest award-winning products, including OSID by Xtralis, VESDA ECO, and Industrial VESDA VLI, Xtralis reinforces its strong position as the global innovator in fire and smoke detection technologies. We are continuing to surpass the expectations of values and this prestigious award reaffirms our commitment to delivering excellence in life safety solutions.”

The selection of the 2011 North American New Product Innovation Award resulted from in-depth interviews and market analysis conducted by Frost & Sullivan's Environmental and Building Technologies analyst team. The criteria for the award included leading technology, value-added features and benefits, and increased customer return on investment (ROI).