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Guaranteed GSM connectivity

Make sure your security signals reach their intended audience.

You can have the best security system in the world, but without a reliable routing service for alarm signals, you are not much better off than you would be with just a couple of Rottweilers and a carrier pigeon.

So says Zane Greeff, technical director for Elvey Security Technologies, who believes that countless home and business owners throughout South Africa are not nearly as well protected as they think, despite having spent small fortunes on their security systems.

“The problem,” he explains, “is that people often do not realise that an alarm system, no matter how sophisticated, is only as effective as its ability to transmit a signal to the control room. Without a dependable signal routing service, you and your property are likely to become yet another South African crime statistic.”

Breaking the security technology barrier

In the interests of providing customers with the kind of uncompromised security that can withstand the efforts of opportunistic criminals and crime syndicates alike, Elvey has introduced a product called SureConnect, and Access Point Name (APN) dedicated to security-related services.

Greeff describes it as a signal clearing house for the country’s electronic security industry. Through the use of cellular networks and Internet connections, it provides a reliable, dedicated routing service for electronic security signals coming via TCP/IP, SIM card or GSM/GPRS.

When an event is triggered, a signal is sent through the APN via cellular network and/or the Internet to the clearing-house. From there the signal can be relayed to:

* The dealer’s monitoring station.

* The security service provider.

* One or more end-users.

Unlike conventional security reporting systems, he says SureConnect allows end users as well as monitoring stations to receive signals. “This gives owners immediate and visual access to their homes or businesses, thereby allowing them to check their security status at any time. The service also allows parents to receive alerts of their children’s safe arrival home from school, which in this crime-ridden day and age, is a peace-of-mind factor.”

Depending upon the type of product they choose, end users can access mobile real-time CCTV (closed circuit television). This, notes Greeff, is increasingly being used on public transport vehicles to alert operators of incidents. In the same vein, alarm signals received from households can, via text message or video verification, notify end-users of break-ins or arming and disarming of security systems. These messages can, of course, be received anywhere in the world.

State-of-the-art products

In order to best accommodate the differing security needs and budgets of clients, Greeff says SureConnect is compatible with a full range of products, including night vision cameras and wireless communicators.

He explains: “The monitoring of remote sites in particular can be a real challenge because they are often difficult to secure, or situated in areas without power or communication lines. In such instances, we recommend the use of integrated night vision cameras, which when activated, will send a 10 second video of the intruder over the cell network to the monitoring station and the site manager. Any false alarm will be immediately identifiable, which is obviously a benefit.”

In the event that the video footage shows a crime in progress, monitoring staff will immediately dispatch security personnel to the site. Through their advance knowledge of the situation and timely, unanticipated arrival, they will hopefully not only prevent the commission of a theft (commonly copper theft on such sites) but also arrest the culprits and use the footage as evidence.

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