Rafiki Protection Ltd is one of a group of companies owned by Red Dot Technologies Ltd that include; Santana Solutions Ltd a specialist Building Security Systems Integration company and Rafiki design centre a specialist software design company based in Pune, India.
Rafiki is a well respected and established Fire Alarm System design and manufacturing company based in the UK and is recognised as one of the leading companies in its field. Since it's formation the company has experienced steady growth, has established a wide customer base and enjoys a significant share of the UK market as well as establishing distributors in mainland Europe, Middle East, India, Malta and Pakistan.
The company operate from its group headquarters, a purpose built design and manufacturing facility, in South Wales UK, and have invested heavily in state-of-the-art production and design equipment in order to maximise quality and efficiency. In recent years the company’s growth has been in the region of 40% year-on-year.
Established in 1994 , Rafiki's philosophy has been to harness the very latest technology in the design and manufacture of its fire alarm components and systems. This philosophy brought about the development of the "Multipoint" microprocessor controlled multi-criteria fire detector. This unique, intelligent, detector offers the ability to select any one of fifteen programmable smoke and or/heat detection modes, which may be changed at any time. The multipoint also has the option of full alarm sounder built-in the device.
Patents and Approvals
To date the company has registered twenty-two European patents on its product designs. It also holds approvals on its products from The Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB), British Standards Institute (BSI) and is a member of the British Fire Protection Systems Association (BFPSA). The company is also accredited to ISO 9001.
Systems
The technology contained within the multipoint detector led to further system developments. Including the "Twinflex" and Twinflex" plus two wire conventional fire alarm systems, widely recognised as the most advanced, flexible and cost effective two wire systems available. Rafiki are well-established market leaders in this field.
The introduction of the Sita 200 plus intelligent addressable system allowed Rafiki to compete in the analogue systems market. With the Sita system the same high technology approach was adopted with the microprocessor in each device implementing a large degree of distributed intelligence. The system supports 200 Multipoint detector/sounders on a single loop with full I/O and isolator within each device.
Customer demand to extend the Sita technology to larger, multi loop, systems capable of being fully networked has resulted in the development of the "Quadnet" system. Quadnet has been designed and developed using the same innovative approach as Sita, using the full range of existing Sita devices. The Quadnet offers a 1- 4-loop panel and is capable of supporting up to 50,000 devices on one system. The system can also be interfaced to a PC-based alarm and event management system.
Award Winning Designs
Rafiki's success has come about by using the very latest technology in their system design and manufacture. The company, however, realise that in today’s marketplace technology is not enough on its own. Today’s prestige construction projects also demand cutting edge aesthetic design with interiors the designer, installer and client are proud of.
When developing their multi loop product range aesthetics was a major design consideration. In order to meet this objective the company commissioned a specialist firm of design consultants to create a unique design with universal appeal. Rafiki's brief to the designers was to design a fire alarm control panel enclosure to complement today’s modern hi-tec equipment and interiors. "It must be significantly different, timeless and not instantly recognisable for what it is". The design was so well received it was entered into the prestigious "Red Dot Design Award" in Germany where it competed alongside designs from Sony-Ericcson, Audi, AEG etc. to be recognised as one of the worlds leading new product designs.
Quadnet won the Red Dot Design Award and is now displayed in design museums all over the world and included in designers' handbooks as a reference for "good" design. As far as Rafiki are aware, Quadnet is the first fire detection control panel to receive such an accolade and is an endorsement to its position as one of the most advanced systems in the market today.