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Tuesday, June
17, 2003
Home security systems for property developersBy CHARLES F. MOREIRAPETALING JAYA: Local designer and developer iNix Technologies Sdn Bhd is targeting its Secure Smith range of home automation, security and surveillance systems at local and foreign property developers. According to its business development manager Ralph Yew Eng Teik, the company plans to use distributors to help sell its systems beyond the Klang Valley. He claimed that iNix Technologies has received interest from several local property developers, and also some from China and Indonesia. The company believes its solution fits a real need -- indeed, the company's birth goes back to 1995 when iNix cofounder and current CEO Jimmy Tok Soon Guan came home to find his home burgled. His expensive alarm system had been triggered, but none of his neighbours seemed to have bothered about it. Unable to find an intelligent home security system which would protect his home the way he wanted it to, Tok and his partner Cheong Kok Yai established PC Sentry Sdn Bhd to design and develop a home security system which met their needs. The result was their Micro Sentinel home alarm system, which is on display at their mini-museum in the iNix office. The two had also developed the Sentinel Pro intelligent home security and automation system, complete with a DOS-based PC controller running software they had developed using Pascal and Assembler. "Between then and now, PC Sentry sold about 280 of those systems, mainly to endusers. On April 15 this year, confident that the local market was ready for intelligent home systems, PC Sentry incorporated iNix as a subsidiary to more aggressively market its systems locally and overseas," said Yew. Two days later, Malaysian Venture Capital Bhd (Mavcap) and PC Sentry agreed to make iNix one of Mavcap's portfolio companies, with the former investing an undisclosed sum, thus acquiring an undisclosed stake in iNix -- PC Sentry holds the rest. "With that investment, we're now ready to more aggressively push our Secure Smith systems locally and overseas," said Tok. The company changed its product's name to Secure Smith since the name "Sentinel" was already used by several other suppliers.
Talking to each other "For an intelligent home system to be effective, all of its sensors, control and surveillance devices must be able to talk to each other. The system must also be able to notify the home owner and other designated parties -- like security or the police -- of possible intrusion," said Tok. Central to a Secure Smith system is its Main System Board (MSB), which operates on a standalone basis. Its 22 ports can be configured for security, automation or data acquisition. Secure Smith can be configured and monitored both graphically and through surveillance videocameras with a PC running iNix's client module through a serial RS-232 port on the MSB. Minimum PC requirements are 20MB hard disk space and a Windows 98 Second Edition or higher operating system. So far, Secure Smith is not available on Apple Macintosh platforms. iNix incorporates its Secure Smith G-LOP (ground loop) Automation Modules inside its mains socket adaptors, which are inserted between a home's mains sockets -- appliances like lamps, fans, TV's video recorders, etc., are then connected to them. Secure Smith communicates with these modules over the neutral and earth wires of a home's mains wiring, which iNix claimed not only saves on having to run dedicated wiring but also lets Secure Smith work with single- and three-phase wiring, both of which have a common neutral and earth wire. Each of these modules has a unique identification (ID) number through which they will respond to instructions issued by owners via the MSB using a TV, video remote control or a home telephone keypad when at home. The remote control communicates with the MSB through a Secure Smith infrared (IR) controller card connected to it and within the home. Tones generated by pressing the telephone's keypad directly control the MSB through the telephone line connected in parallel to the phone, the MSB and perhaps a fax machine. The owner controls lights and appliances by keying in their respective IDs, and the MSB will respond by switching one, more or all devices on, off or dim them according to the code keyed in. So far, separate wiring is required to connect the video surveillance cameras and intrusion sensors to the MSB via their respective controller modules, but iNix already has surveillance cameras which communicate over power lines and wireless security sensors which it plans to launch around August. "However, we don't plan to have sensors which work through the mains wiring since home owners will have to install more power points to accommodate them, which is impractical -- so we're sticking with separate wired and wireless sensors," said Tok.
Remote control When outside the home, the owner can call the MSB from a fixed line or mobile phone and it will respond to keypad tones in a similar manner. Secure Smith will respond with voice confirmation of actions initiated by the owner. Users can also dial in via fixed line or GPRS modem and remotely control the MSB from a desktop, laptop PC or PDA running the Secure Smith graphical client software, and view the status of monitored points in the home on a layout plan. They can also view scenes captured by videocameras connected to the MSB through a closed circuit TV (CCTV) control module on their PC or PDA. So far, Secure Smith has client modules for Palm OS and Pocket PC based PDAs. Secure Smith's MSB can connect to dialup, ISDN, ADSL or SDSL lines; when it's permanently online as with ADSL or SDSL lines, owners can also remotely access it over the Internet through Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator browsers on their PCs with an iNix Java plugin. Where there's no permanent connection to the Internet, Secure Smith will have to dial into the Internet at predetermined times, and owners must call in at the same time to access Secure Smith. "With either of those means available at their disposal, home owners can remotely check up on the status of security in their homes, see whether they've forgotten to lock any doors, switch on or off any lights or appliances in the home," said Tok. They can remotely disable the alarm when service or delivery people are visiting, turn lights and music on and off to make it seem someone is at home, or switch on their lights and airconditioners before they arrive so they will come back to a cool and comfortable environment. Or they can program Secure Smith to do all that automatically at certain times.
Intrusion responses Owners can configure Secure Smith to respond in different ways to an intrusion. They can configure Secure Smith to sound the alarm, turn on the lights and telephone them and even their security guards or the police, the moment the sensors detect motion or vibration of a door or window which the intruder is hitting when trying to break in. The sensitivity of each of Secure Smith's monitoring ports can be configured to avoid false alarms due to, for instance, the movement of small animals and minor vibrations. "On the other hand, owners may prefer to catch the culprit in the act and upon intrusion being detected, Secure Smith will start recording the intruder's movements with the cameras, call the owner and security or police -- owners can also remotely turn on the home hifi system and warn the intruder that he is being observed and to leave immediately," said Tok. Tok declined to disclose the prices of Secure Smith systems, citing "sensitivity," but was prepared to say that they would typically cost between 30% to 50% less than imported systems depending on the buyer's requirements. INix plans to offer buyers a choice of three Secure Smith packages. "The most expensive package will be a home automation and security system comprising between 15 to 20 sensors, eight to 10 automation points and three videocameras, as well as installation, testing, commissioning and user training; the cheapest package will just be a security system with 10 sensors. "These packages are mainly designed for link houses," said Tok, who expects iNix to sell 1,000 Secure Smith systems per month over the next three quarters and for sales to reach 5,000 units per month next year. For more information, call iNix at (603) 5632-2653, fax (603) 5632-1075 or remotely try out their demonstration home through a web browser at www.inix.com.my/demo_house.html.
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