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1. Capacity

This is a basic question you should ask about all alarm collection equipment: can the device provide adequate coverage for your remote site?

Before you select equipment, develop a capacity profile for each of your remote sites. Think in terms of alarm inputs, not devices. How many contact closure inputs are at each site? How many analog inputs?

Your capacity profile will tell you whether you need a large, medium, or light-capacity proxy device. Proxy devices are available in different capacities, so don't feel like you're locked in with a one-size-fits-all solution.

Get the capacity you need, but don't overspend. Adequate coverage of your remote sites is a must-unmonitored equipment is a breeding ground for disasters-but there's no point in breaking your budget for capacity you won't use.

If you have sites that have a small number of alarms now, but are likely to grow in the future, be sure to ask equipment vendors if their proxy devices have expansion capabilities.

2. Dial-Up Backup

LAN transport is highly reliable, but that doesn't mean it's 100% reliable. For mission-critical telemetry data, you always need a backup data path.

Look for a proxy device that includes dial-up modem capability, to give you continued visibility of your remote site even during a LAN failure.

A proxy device with dial-up capability is also the ideal way to integrate remote sites without LAN access into your SNMP monitoring. This eliminates the extra costs and inefficiencies of maintaining two separate monitoring systems, and you can add LAN to your sites later without replacing any monitoring equipment.

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