Stop, Thief! You've Got Mail
Alarm Systems Are Poised to Be the Command Centers of the Wired Home

March 9, 2000

By DAVID KUSHNER

The race to build the ultimate wired home is on. Near Seattle, Bill Gates has his digital dream palace. Across the country, cable providers and phone companies are pushing broadband Internet access for the rest of us. In Europe, the appliance manufacturer Electrolux is even working on a way to put the family refrigerator online.

But the home security business might just beat them all to the finish.

For decades, security companies have been wiring houses with central nervous systems of motion sensors and computer controls. Now those installations are adopting more sophisticated wireless technology and are starting to be exploited for home automation; such systems will soon help residents manage things like the family computer and the living room audio system.

"The smart home of the future is all about the interconnectivity of appliances," said Timothy McKinney, vice president for residential sales and marketing at ADT Security Services, one of the largest providers of security products. "We already let you arm your house. We might as well let you check your voice-mail."

In January, Lucent Technologies began marketing a home network called the HomeStar Wiring System through ADT.

By plugging various home devices into a built-in network like HomeStar, a resident might, say, set a videocassette recorder with the same control used to manage the alarm system.

For a house that is smart as well as secure, the usual keypad control mounted near the front door could be replaced by a touch screen that could display a wide array of information and controls. If a homeowner was going away for a few days, for example, the touch screen could be used to set the alarm and to program the audio system to play in the evenings so the house would seem occupied. It might also be used to control the thermostat so the family hamster would be snug at night.

On ordinary days, this same control unit could be used to record and relay voice messages. ("Honey, the schnitzel is thawing on the counter.") During the mad morning dash to the office, a homeowner could simultaneously arm the alarm and read the latest traffic report off the Internet.

These kinds of services will start becoming available this year and are likely to be hot topics at next week's international security conference in Las Vegas. Prices have yet to be set. "We're working with focus groups to see what the market will bear," Mr. McKinney said.

Until now, that kind of expanded home-security automation has been largely the domain of high-tech hobbyists.

For more than 20 years, X10, a Hong Kong company with an American base in Closter, N.J., has been engineering popular do-it-yourself home security networks with features like video surveillance and remote-controlled lighting. A newer product called Active Home lets the homeowner manage all those controls through software that runs on a personal computer.

"It's always been natural for people to want this kind of basic integration," said Peter Lesser, president of X10 USA and chairman of the integrated home systems division of the Consumer Electronics Association.

X10's modular technology, which is used by companies like ADT and the Ademco Group, provides an alternative for people who do not wish to pay others to install and maintain the systems.

Approximately 95 percent of sales take place over the Internet, Mr. Lesser said.

Though these homemade systems can cost as little as $25, they are part of a formidable industry. Last year, consumers spent $6 billion on securing their homes, according to the Securities Industry Association.

David Saddler, director of communications for the association, said the interest in home automation was expected to be an important factor in the expansion of home security businesses. "The ability to integrate different technologies is responsible for the most significant changes in the industry," he said.

Those changes include an expansion of wireless services, which add more flexibility for the basic alarm system, the backbone of home automation.

Herb Lustig, the senior vice president for marketing at Ademco, a Pittway Corporation division that produces security equipment, said that 30 percent of all systems being sold now featured some type of wireless capability. That number is expected to rise to 35 percent or 40 percent by next year, he said.

Ademco's system relies on its 300-megahertz frequency, part of the band set aside forthe Federal Communications Commission for wireless communications.

Wireless systems work much like wired systems, connecting sensors at the house or business to a central control unit that communicates with the security service's monitoring station. That strategy dates from the 1800's, when night watchmen used telegraphs to signal for help from the fire department or the police.

In many places today, the night watchman has been replaced by an array of electronic sensors.

Positioned throughout the house, the devices can detect things like changes in temperature, broken glass and fluctuations in sound waves. When a sensor indicates that someone may have broken into a house, the sensor transmits an identifying serial number to the main control unit, which sounds the alarm.

Simultaneously, the control unit dials the monitoring station and sends electronic transmissions that identify the house's location as well as the point of entry. Newer systems communicate with cellular phone technology rather than phone lines so residents do not have to worry about lines being cut. The entire communication process occurs within seconds.

The only human interaction in the chain occurs when the central station's representative calls the residents to verify that a break-in has occurred. If a resident does not respond or provide the password, the security system employee calls the local police department. As of now, most police stations are not equipped to receive that kind of information electronically -- wirelessly or otherwise.

Wireless innovations are smartening up personal security as well.

Later this year, Ademco will release a product developed with Timex that gives new meaning to a wristwatch alarm. By pressing a button on the watch, the wearer can arm or disarm a home security system.

A person within a given range can also hit a panic button, which will set off the house alarm.

A similar personal security technology is being offered by ADT to victims of domestic abuse in a program called the Abused Women's Active Response Emergency program, or Aware. The program gives electronic security pendants to women selected from around the country. Pressing a button on the pendant sends a signal to a local monitoring station, which can immediately dispatch help. If the wearer is in her home or near it, the signal will set off her house alarm, too.

The wireless transmission range for personal security devices is becoming less of an issue. Later this year, ADT will introduce a Global Positioning System monitoring device that will be marketed to parents.

The device, Mr. McKinney said, is to be slipped into a child's backpack. Throughout the day and night, a parent will be able to press a button to find out the child's location. So much for sneaking off to the mall.

Despite these innovations in personal and residential security, don't expect the race for smart homes to end any time soon. "Security companies have an advantage because they're already in the home," said Billy Pidgeon, an analyst at Jupiter Communications, a technology research firm in New York. "But I don't see a compelling consumer application that's going to drive adoption of this yet."