Reviewed by: Hamish Finlay of security specialists Assure Alarms LTD.
The product
TOA NX-100 Network Audio Adapter
What we use it for:
Paging distribution across widely separate sites. For example rail stations or chains of shops.
What we like about it:
The NX-100 Network Adaptor allows us to transmit high quality audio and control data over IP networks in real time to several locations simultaneous. What that means in practice is that our customers can centrally control distribution of paging and announcements to numerous sites, whilst having full control over which site receives which message.
As a line level rail paging system, it’s extremely easy to retrofit. Each site is given an NX-100 unit, which is connected to a WAN. The NX-100S outputs at line level to the existing PA system.
Many workplaces require constant paging traffic and announcements, much of which will be irrelevant to all but a small section of the workforce. Over pollution of a global paging systems can quickly become wearisome for employees. Using the LLRPS we can help our customers to eliminate this chatter almost completely by allowing them to target specific sites.
Provided the internet connection from the units is decent, there is almost no delay in the delivery of the message to the appropriate site.
Software setup is very easy as it’s a familiar window interface and requires no programming skills. For total simplicity you can label buttons with the names of the various stations. The operator can choose to make live announcements via a local microphone or choose one from an integral digital store of messages.
What I would change:
A feature we’d like to see added to future revisions would be a digital output allowing the unit to interface with digital paging and PA systems. This would improve it’s capability for retrofitting. The ability to introduce stored messages locally would also be an advantage in the case of a system failure.
Where we have used it:
We are a security company responsible for guarding, amongst other things, over three hundred car showrooms across the country. We monitor each of our sites via CCTV. Whilst this is effective in alerting operators in breaches in security, all they could do was to alert local operatives or police to the infraction.
We installed an NX-100S unit in the control room with an additional unit at each remote site connected via WAN. At the remote site, the audio is taken from the unit at line level and fed into a PA system. When an operative observes a breach of security via CCTV he simply selects the site he wishes to contact via the software interface.