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Cellular security

Cellular communications finds a willing audience in the security world.

Cellular communications have changed the way we live. If you need to get hold of a friend or family member, you no longer call their office, or even their home, you now call them on their personal cell number.

Hans Vestberg, CEO of mobile phone maker Ericsson, told delegates at the 2010 Mobile World Congress that the last decade had seen the number of mobile subscriptions worldwide grow sixfold to 4,6 billion. To put this in perspective, the entire world population is 6,7 billion people. He also said that he envisaged 50 billion connected devices by 2020, and that patients would be connected remotely to hospitals, trucks would be online with logistics centres for efficient routing, and city students would be connected to students in rural villages halfway around the world.

Why has this technology, based on GSM (global system for mobile communication – the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world), become so dominant in our lives? It all comes down to convenience, efficiencies and, more recently, necessity. People are no longer dependent on being at a specific location in order to communicate with their worlds. Devices can now communicate wirelessly with one another over continents. Connectivity at this level has now moved from being new and advanced to being expected and even demanded. So much so, that many security systems are now adopting it and using it as a cost effective and reliable means of telephony.

Security via GSM

Centurion has embraced this technology and its recently released GSM device, called the G-Switch, is a classic example of how it is being put to very practical use. The G-Switch, once connected to the GSM network, allows you to activate almost any type of device or appliance from anywhere in the GSM world. For example, the G-Switch can, via either of its two outputs, trigger your gate automation system if you are sitting in Paris but need to let your garden service into your property in Parys. Or you may wish to switch on your air conditioner whilst you are driving home so that you arrive at a cool, relaxing home after being stuck in the summer traffic snarl-up for a few hours. All this is done by simply making a free missed call, or by sending an SMS to your G-Switch.

Your G-Switch talks back to you too. It can receive information from various devices, through either of its two inputs, and can relay this back to you via an SMS. For example, it can be set up to alert you if someone has attempted to breach your electric fence, or you can even integrate this with your gate motor to warn you that someone has just opened the gate to your holiday home.

This technology is not new. It is just getting quicker, smarter and cheaper than ever before. In the same way that most of us never leave home without our cellphones, we will soon be using them to control our security systems, home automation and all sorts of other devices. Even our more rural friends are using these devices to switch on borehole pumps, saving them from a few kilometres of bundu bashing.

Harnessing and utilising the benefits of cellular technology is certainly the way of the future. So, why wait? Do not get left behind, get on board and get up to speed.

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