OT(?): Non-proprietary alarm systems

[Erik Bixby]

Let me start by apologizing for not scouring Google for more
information, and for posting what might possibly be off-topic to the
list.  Monday morning, I am to have a meeting with some decision
makers about the current state of my organization's alarm system.  My
knowledge of these systems is somewhat limited, in that I work on the
network.  The only reason I have anything to do with this is because,
at least one of, our current system types (Honeywell I9000) talk on
our network.  I want to be able to go into my meeting on Monday
morning and present options, preferably as open and non-proprietary as
possible.  I have heard that there is a open source project to do
pretty much what I want, but I have not been able to find it.

So as to get the discussion started, I will offer a bit of background
about the organization.  It is a high school district with fourteen
sites, ten of which are comprehensive high schools with numerous
buildings.  The sites currently have either the Honeywell I9000
system, or another system from Honeywell with which I am even less
familiar.  Is anyone aware of something similar to Nagios that's able
to talk to various alarm systems, and send emails (SMS messages) when
certain conditions exist?  Would anyone have any suggestions on a new
alarm system that might be more open, and less vendor specific?

I'm very sorry to be throwing this out like I am, but I want to have
some ideas to bounce around on Monday.  Thank you all, in advance, for
any advice you can offer.
-Erik