When you consider a security system for your self-storage facility, consider WHAM. WHAM Security Systems offers wide experience, superior products and dependable service. At WHAM "The Self-Storage Industry Standard" is more than a slogan. It's a promise. Please read the specifics and then contact us with your specifications.

Truly Dependable

We have been manufacturing and improving the WHAM System since 1979.

WHAM Systems collectively monitor hundreds of thousands of alarm points worldwide.

Most installations have resulted from word-of-mouth referrals or the research efforts of seasoned facility owners seeking the system which runs with the utmost reliability.

Our award-winning Systems run in the facilities of most of the major chain operators in the United States and have been selected for private and government use overseas.

The WHAM Difference

From the ground up, WHAM is unlike any security system in the world. The difference is fundamental, not superficial. Two patented design features make it so:

1. the absence of all electronics except those fully contained within the PC-based controller,
2. the full supervision of those non-electronic components which of necessity must be external to the controller (i.e., the alarm cables, sensors, surge suppressors, keypads, terminal blocks, connectors, etc.).

The first feature means that WHAM's electronic reliability is limited only by the components which are inside the controller, a controlled, non-hostile environment.

The second feature means that when the inevitable short or open circuit trouble condition strikes (damage to the cables, sensors, keypads, etc.) the problem will be captured and recorded so it can be fixed, instead of going undetected, hence ignored.

These features are basic essentials. So logically they should be a part of every modern security system. But they are not. Amazingly, they are missing from all of the systems marketed to the self-storage industry. The likely reason is cost. They are costly features to develop and require high sales volume to justify. But more costly than the features is their absence. In the end the features cost nothing. They save make money. They are why WHAM Systems replace, but are never replaced by, other systems. If, "WHAM is the best," then these two features are the reasons.

Why Invest in a WHAM System

After site selection, project design, and financing, your most important decision is security protection. Why? Because your tenants demand security and will pay well for it. Pages 28-29 of the July 1995 Mini-Storage Messenger, reporting on data from the 1994-95 Self-Storage Almanac indicate the effect of computerized security is to raise rental rates, adjusted for occupancy, by an average of 22 percent. This suggests the rate of return on the marginal additional security investment exceeds 100% per year.

Successful professionals recognize that to maximize rental income, a mini-storage facility must offer tenants conveniently accessible space and security.

WHAM gives your tenants both. They enjoy the easy access of private personal log-in (PIN) codes, and the secure feeling that their possessions are protected by the most advanced electronic engineering.

WHAM gives the owner even more. You enjoy the protection of a highly visible alarm system which discourages vandals as well as thieves, and the safety of optional fire and smoke detection. You also enjoy extraordinary flexibility in the control of access to your facility, even during unattended hours. Individual tenants may be scheduled for normal, extended or twenty-four hour access, or assigned customized hours. Delinquent tenants may be flagged or denied access automatically by any computer bookkeeping system configured to do so, or manually through WHAM's own keyboard.

About the WHAM System

Find out about some of the details of the WHAM System:

Unique Features

WHAM's unique features include:

High speed (virtually instantaneous) alarm detection, a seemingly obvious criteria for a security system, but by no means one which may be taken for granted. Most others are slow serial-multiplexer scan systems which often fail to detect violations of even as long as several seconds or more, leaving plenty of time to break in or tamper without detection.

The WHAM System is false alarm free, period. Its design and signal processing routines pay unprecedented attention to the avoidance of false alarms which would otherwise completely destroy confidence in your System. Be assured, when the alarm goes off, there is something really worth investigating.

Starting with the simplest, most popular computer in the world, every single electronic component of the System resides at one and only one, easily serviced location... inside the controller itself.

99 percent of the System's background operations are devoted to continual self-diagnosis. If a trouble occurs, the printed and recorded results of this powerful tool are instantly at the disposal of your serviceperson. No other system does this.

With proper configuration, your bookkeeping system automatically informs WHAM of rental delinquencies and other changes of tenant status via an optional, industry standard RS232C interface. Of course, delinquency access denials may also be entered from you manual bookkeeping records via the keyboard.

Components & Configuration

The WHAM System is simple, tough and maintainable. Based on a standard dedicated PC-based controller, the System includes a color VGA display monitor and an optional journal printer. The use of proven hardware and disk-based software reduces obsolescence and allows for easy system updates.

The computer is configured as a alarm system through the addition of plug-in modules. These are connected to tenant-operated code-entry keypads, door switches, burglar and fire alarm detection equipment and, if applicable, electrically actuated entry and exit gates and doors. The alarm detection devices may be wired or wireless, or a combination of both, if called for.

Interfaces are provided for external alerting devices ranging from simple sirens and lights, to advanced telephone communications linked to off-site monitoring facilities. Perimeter detection devices (such as motion, vibration or seismic sensors) and devices on common-access corridor doors are managed automatically. Provision may also be made to protect your office, fencing, and stored recreational vehicles and boats.

System Options

The WHAM System has been designed to allow for the addition of various options:

The Color Motion Graphics Security Marketing Display Option

The Color Motion Graphics Security Marketing Display Option adds a highly visible demonstration of your security investment which may appear on a color monitor of up to 35 diagonal inches. Built into a wall panel or supported from a wall or ceiling bracket, the pictorial display continuously pans your site, homing-in on tenant activity, highlighting units that are logging-in, opening, closing, alarming, etc. It pictorializes over a hundred different reports on the status of occupancy, vacancy, delinquency, lockouts, schedules, unit groupings, security zones, cabling, sensor types, etc. You see graphically the sizes and locations of all your units. You can virtually "drive" new tenants to their units on the screen to show them the best route, and you can zoom-in on other points of interest along the way (dumpsters, etc.).

You can draw your own WHAM-compliant screen artwork using Microsoft Paintbrush. Or you can have it exported from your architect's AutoCAD drawings. Or WHAM's graphics artists can draw screen artwork for you from your door-numbered blueprint. We also do touch-up.

The Digitized Speech Messaging Option

The Digitized Speech Messaging Option gives voice to your System. It sends human voice instructions to your tenants at the keypads. New tenants can hear complete instructions on the use of the system. A valid entrant hears "OK, thank you," a late entrant "Sorry, no access at this time," a delinquent tenant "Sorry, please come to the office," a wanderer "Sorry, no access at this location," etc. The manager can hear all activity (keypad log-ins, door openings, closings, alarms, etc.) on the office speaker or over a field walkie-talkie. Similarly, the installer/servicer can receive troubleshooting diagnostics while in the field, extraordinarily useful particularly during the installation.

The Intercom Option

The Intercom Option allows paging and talk-back between the office and the keypads or other remote locations throughout the site. Tenants seeking assistance can call the office from any keypad. The office can page or listen-in on remote corridors, elevators, keypads, or other exterior locations to monitor activity or locate personnel. Frequently "listen-in" provides better, cheaper security than CCTV surveillance cameras, merely because you don't have to keep a constant vigil on the monitor.

The Remote Control Option

The Remote Control Option allows you to take control of the WHAM System via modem from another modem-equipped computer. It allows you to see the complete color text of everything that is happening or has previously happened on the site and to control the System from your keyboard and/or mouse from anywhere in the world.

The Serial Interface Option

The Serial Interface Option allows you to connect the System to your bookkeeping computer. WHAM performs no accounting functions. It is a dedicated security and access control system. Most major vendors of computerized bookkeeping and property management software products provide cables and software drivers to host the process of move-ins, move-outs, code changes, access scheduling, and lockouts. WHAM provides the software and RS232C Serial Interface connection for its end of the link.

The Office Keypad Option

The Office Keypad Option lets the manager demonstrate keypad usage to a tenant without needing to walk to an outside keypad. This facilitates the secret PIN code selection feature, which allows a tenant to pick a PIN code right in the office without revealing it to another soul.

Installation & Service

The wiring of the WHAM System is elegantly simple. It may be installed in new or existing facilities and can replace any existing, non-functioning system.

The System can protect up to 4096 units. Running out from the computer are 3/8" cables belting the inside perimeters of the storage buildings and connecting up to 512 doors. A pair of wires, in series with a lightning suppressor, rises from a switch mounted at the top of each door and snaps onto the overhead belt cable in accordance with a preprinted stick-on label. WHAM installation is largely a one-man job. A new installer can wire about thirty doors a day, a more experienced person, twice that.

Unlike any other system, all electronics reside solely inside a PC-based controller. There are no active electronics in the keypads nor enroute to the switches on the storage doors. Electronics are entirely eliminated from building corridors and exteriors where they are difficult to service and vulnerable to lightning, moisture and tampering.

We require observance of U.L and N.E.C. grounding and lightning protection standards for the structures and metal conduits which contain the System. This is a prudent precaution which enhances the survivability of your System in the worst of environmental hazards, electrical storms.

Selecting the right installer

Choose your installer/servicer primarily for his availability for long term service.

The foregoing is certainly the most important sentence in this document and cannot be overemphasized. Agree in advance with your installer/servicer on how the System is to be maintained in the future. This is a far more important part of the relationship with him than is the installation itself. It is the most important factor in the long-term success of your WHAM System as a money making asset. Lose service and you may lose your asset. So don't install without a service solution.

Because only you can determine the phasing and timing of your installation, we suggest that you employ a local installer/servicer, someone very close by the site, who can be flexible enough to accommodate changes in your construction schedule and readily available for future maintenance. It's our job to train him and support him. It's your job to pick him and keep him. His allegiance must be to you. You and he together can then judge our performance; that will keep us on our toes.

To protect you, we do not permit installations by other than qualified installer-servicemen. We will train your installer at our factory training center or via phone and correspondence, then ship a complete kit containing all of the required installation materials to your site. The installer needs to supply only his skill and commitment.

Operation of the System

When a new tenant signs his lease he also establishes a personal 4-digit code. Upon each subsequent visit he must use his code, known only to him and the computer, to open the gate and disarm the sensing device on his door (or doors, if he rents multiple units). If a tenant is delinquent in his rent or attempts access other than during his scheduled hours, or to an unauthorized zone, the gate will not open and the alarm on his door will remain armed.

The optional speech synthesizer delivers specific instructional messages to those who unsuccessfully attempt to gain access, or forget to close their door before departing.

An automatically updating site status screen shows the manager at a glance the instantaneous status of each tenant progressing through the site. With simple, pull-down menu commands, the manager may call for reports on vacancy, delinquency, access schedules, overall system statistics, and many others. The graphics option allows these reports to be viewed pictorially. The journal printer permanently archives a chronological, too-the-second record of all activity. The computer's hard disk drive similarly records all events in color, so you can scroll backwards in time (through millions of events, if necessary) to view the history of site activity.

Contacting WHAM

Thank you for your interest in WHAM's products and services. We hope that you have found the above material helpful and informative.

Please contact us directly so that we may discuss the specifics of your facility and answer any questions that you may have. You can reach us at the following:

WHAM Security Systems
WHAM Systems Ltd.
1635 Forest Creek Drive
Blue Bell, PA 19422
VOICE: 267-647-9426
FAX: 267-647-9427
e-mail info@WHAMSystems.com
www.WHAMSystems.com

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