Alarms

On-site alarm vs alarm as a service

On site, the equipment warns on the premises. As a service, the client pays a subscription: the center sees the trigger and armed response can go out.

11 November 2026

An on-site alarm and alarm as a service are not two brands. One is the system on the premises. The other is the subscription: monitoring and armed response when it fires.

Palo Security supplies Hikvision, Dahua, Bosch, Honeywell, DSC, Ajax Systems and Paradox alarms. The panel, the sensors and the siren are set in the quote, according to the site. The Alarm as a Service subscription is another request — that line is also set in the quote.

On-site alarm

The panel sits on the premises. Sensors on doors, windows or movement, and the siren on site. When it fires, the warning is there: the sound, the keypad, and whoever is on the compound. It suits a request that handles the event on site, or that only asks for installation and maintenance of the system.

Alarm as a service

The client pays a subscription. The trigger reaches the monitoring center. Armed response is part of this service: the team can be sent to the site. Equipment still sits on the premises — without a panel and sensors there is nothing for the center to see.

They are not the same line

The equipment — panel, sensors, siren — is the system. It is installed and maintained. That is alarm systems and the shop.
The subscription is the service. It covers monitoring and armed response. It does not replace the box.
The request can be the system only, the subscription with what already sits on site, or both in the same quote.

What not to mix

A fire alarm is another system, so the building can leave. Armed response patrol is the team that goes out; in Alarm as a Service that response sits in the subscription. Cameras record the site; they can join the same monitoring, but they are not the alarm.

What to say in the request

Whether the site is a home or a business, and which doors, windows or perimeter need a sensor.
Whether the request is the system on site, the subscription with armed response, or both.
Whether an alarm panel already sits on site, and which line it is.

We do not invent the set or the subscription value. The site visit closes the equipment and the service. Tell us the compound and we prepare the quote.