Beth Welch of Honeywell's Fire Systems business unit says that while new technology is pushing the vendors, conventional fire panel offerings still drive the market.

Recently, there appears to have been a resurgence of conventional fire alarm technology, with a variety of manufacturers releasing updated versions of their conventional product lines last year. Frost & Sullivan's 2005 North American Fire Alarm Equipment Market report even predicts annual revenues for conventional fire alarm panels to hit more than $131 million in 2010 - a $1.6 million increase over revenue forecasts for 2000.

So if the market for basic, conventional fire equipment remains healthy, has demand for new fire system technology really changed? Taking into account the industry's stringent code requirements and lengthy equipment approvals processes, has the market become passive in its expectations for fresh innovations?

Today's Conventional Offerings

Current-day conventional fire systems still only identify with zones of devices. Yet cost, ease of installation and some interesting technological advances continue to make these systems a viable solution for small spaces.

According to Dirk von Richthofen, director of engineering for Fire-Lite Alarms, many updates made to their conventional line came as requests from installers via a "product improvement form" posted on their website, "For us, it was the customers that really drove us to modify our conventional panels. LCD text displays with menus identical to those of our other panels now make the programming of panels much easier for these installers."

Freeze warnings issued by the panel to a central station, indicating abnormally low temperatures, and more intelligent detection devices are two additional innovations claims von Richthofen, "Some conventional detectors now monitor levels of dirt within the device. Up to recently, this was something only addressable detectors could do. So to avoid false alarms, these devices can send out a warning that a detector within a certain zone needs to be cleaned."

With conventional fire systems having been around for decades, many long-time installers have become comfortable primarily utilizing this technology. Given the cost of conventional devices are around half those of addressable, end users also tend to lean toward these cost-conscious systems.

If codes allow and conventional component costs remain substantially lower than addressable, one can assume the market for these more simplistic systems will stay strong. Yet the demand for more intelligent, integrated systems, protecting larger structures and campus-like environments, has only "fueled the fire" for new technology.