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Saturday,
March 01, 2003
PC Sentry to market Sentinel Pro widely FOR years, PC Sentry Sdn Bhd had been developing its security cum home automation system, Sentinel Pro, and quietly marketing it on a small scale. But it believes the time has come to make an impact on a wider audience. “The Malaysian market is ready for intelligent homes. And we aim to capture that market,” PC Sentry Sdn Bhd managing director Jimmy Tok told StarBiz.
Sentinel Pro, now at its tenth release and renamed Secure Smith, is an integrated home automation system with security alarm, automation and close circuit TV (CCTV) surveillance system which reduces the need for multiple telephone lines for remote access. With its built-in voice menu, Secure Smith would be a breeze to use, Tok said. The home-grown system has been touted as “comparable, if not better than imported products.” Each Secure Smith control panel could control up to 4,000 devices, and thus also powerful enough to cater for the security and automation of office buildings and factories. The control panels could also be easily cluttered to make a larger system. PC Sentry is currently in talks with several housing developers to incorporate Secure Smith into their township projects. For this year alone, it has to date secured over 700 installations from housing developers. “Three major local manufacturing companies have also engaged us to do the R&D for the incorporation of our technology into their products. We should be delivering fully functional products by April. As to when the first product would be commercially available would be up to them,” Tok said, adding that the company was also currently in the process of engaging more dealers and distributors. PC Sentry is also looking at the export market, and has sent the system board to interested parties in China, Indonesia and Singapore. “They are currently doing the testing. The feedback we've received so far had been good. I believe we should be getting some orders by the second quarter of this year,” Tok said. He noted that the awareness of home automation in Malaysia had been very low, until recently, when housing developers started packaging smart home schemes into their properties. PC Sentry director Cheong Kok Yai added that many of these smart home schemes were also more concept than solution. They were largely focused on Internet connections and the putting in place of physical infrastructure, such as the wiring and extra network points, in preparation of the solution, rather than the solution itself. Tok said most of the smart home solutions in the market were imported, and some of the local brands were actually rebranded foreign products. “As such, they were not just very expensive, they were also not tailored to the local environment. For example, these products use a different power cycle, and do not compensate for the line noise problem and the frequent thunderstorms we have in Malaysia,” Tok said. According to PC Sentry, an imported home automation system cost between RM8,000 and RM25,000. Systems at the lower end of the price range were strictly alarm systems with no automation. Integrated home automation systems with CCTV for the whole house could easily range from RM50,000. Secure Smith retails from RM1,399. Its current middle-market package home is priced at RM4,299, inclusive of installation and three CCTV, Tok said. Secure Smith does not need a PC to run. A PC is used for programming, after which the control panel would keep the programme in its memory. Tok said PC Sentry uses an in-house developed technology that utilises existing electricity cables to transmit digital data, G-LOP (ground loop), which dispenses with the need to pull extra cables between the devices to the system's control panel. It also reduces the need for batteries and battery replacement since the power to the devices can be obtained from the mains.
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