[QUEST] dedicated line for alarm system - through Asterisk?

Asterisk Asterisk Support
1

Hi, my company is proposing an Asterisk solution to a client and they plan on having five PSTN lines (three regular phone calls, one fax, one alarm). They need to have one of these lines available as a dedicated connection to the alarm company.

1. I can save the company some money if I buy just one TDM400P card with 4 FXS modules and let the alarm system plug directly into the PSTN system, bypassing Asterisk completely.

2. Purchase 2 TDM400P cards with 5 FXS modules, and plug the alarm line into Asterisk?

What do people recommend? My greatest concern is reliability, if there is a power outage would the alarm system (provided it’s on battery backup) be able to dial out through a downed Asterisk server? Anything else I should be aware of that I haven’t mentioned when dealing with alarm systems?

2

I would bypass asterisk completely. There is no reason why the alarm circuit needs to be managed by asterisk.

Keep the systems separate. That way if the power does fail, the chance of a complete failure is halved because you will not be having to deal with asterisk and its backup power supply as well.

Brad

3

Fair enough. Thanks for the advice, Bradrose.