Is it true that Simplex will be going non proprietary by end of this year???

Somebody’s spreading rumors that Simplex is going non proprietary by the end of 2017, and that all panels will be modular and scalable? They say it’s a rebrand, which makes me wonder if they’re talking about the Autocall thing, but where would they hear this from? I’ve never heard of it, and as far as I knew about the Autocall thing Simplex was going to remain proprietary.

Can someone shed some light on this as to whether it’s true or not and what this means? I’m confused.

Unless the Autocall thing is going to be non-proprietary I doubt it, Simplex has gotten (imo) more proprietary over the last 20 years, and I don’t see that trend reversing, maybe stopping though. The 4007es I think is as non-proprietary as they will go. To me it doesn’t make much sense. Maybe Retired STR-SG will have an opinion on this?

Why release the Autocall versions to be non-proprietary and then make the Simplex brand non-proprietary too? Doesn’t make sense. As near as I can tell, the Simplex brand will be sold and serviced by Johnson Controls the same way it was under Simplex Time Recorder and SimplexGrinnell. JCI has an existing customer base and they acquired the Simplex customer base in the buyout. They will want to cultivate and retain that customer base offering the convenience of a full service company.

As I mentioned in the other discussion it takes only a little bit of software magic to make the Simplex panels and programmer incompatible with the Autocall panels and programmer. This can be done using the same panel hardware and the same programming software. Just a few little tweaks is all it takes.

What exactly happens when the panel is converted into a 4100ESi? Does it enable front panel programming, or does it just switch to a different programming software?

Edit: I just found this website (http://4100esi.com.au/) I’m going to read it to see what it says.

We’ve actually had a <URL url="Simplex 4100ESi Non-Proprietary Fire Alarm System]topic[/url] all about the 4100ESi before.