Alarm technology

Having looked at various options to replace my alarm system at home, I have been surprised by how mainstream ‘professional’ alarm technology seems to lag behind that of the new ‘smart’ consumer alarms now available.

Recently I had to secure a warehouse and initially chose one of the smart alarms by a company called iSmartAlarm. I found the basic premise of this to be excellent. It was very easy to set up, offered a seemingly excellent user interface and seamlessly interfaced with its own CCTV system. Cloud support for notifications etc, IFTTT support (for many other things) and lots of other features were inbuilt from the get-go. Unfortunately, the security aspects were woeful. The siren is not weatherproof and is ridiculously quiet, there is no panel (arguably not needed), no battery backup and lots of other security ‘basics’ simply missing. It also soon became clear that the company behind it is constantly flirting with bankruptcy, so the cloud goes down and suddenly you can’t operate your own alarm, not even on the same LAN. So, exceptional user experience but very poor security.

So, in addition, I installed a Pyronix Enforcer. The security aspects are much better as you’d expect, but the level of smart integration is poor, and appears to be have been bolted on to a design that is basically out of date. No IFTTT integration, the App works, but is very basic, and all but the most basic configuration is beyond the reach of an ordinary user (going through all of those menus feels distinctly 1990’s!).

Between the two of them, they give me excellent peace of mind. The Pyronix handles basic site security. The iSmartAlarm backs it up and also allows me to remotely switch on all manner of burglar frightening devices (via IFTTT) if I see something amiss. But it’s not perfect (IFTTT can go down, as can Pyronix, as can the iSmartAlarm cloud) but there’s an element of redundancy built in (I’ve got 2 networks in there as well!). The price to pay is I now have 2 alarms in one place.

I often wonder whether any mainstream alarm company is designing something that combines the two. Looking at all of the solutions out there at the moment I struggle to find one that offers the best of both worlds, and whilst the mainstream is moving in this direction it still all feels a bit like it is added as an afterthought. The same basic, out of date infrastructure underpins it all. Some of the US solutions look much better thought out, but they don’t seem to be available here.

What are your thoughts? Am I just missing something, or looking in the wrong place? Or am I being unreasonable?

shedbang said:

It also soon became clear that the company behind it is constantly flirting with bankruptcy, so the cloud goes down and suddenly you can’t operate your own alarm,

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Any system that connects via the internet carrys the risk of being hacked or rendered useless if the internet connection / server stops working.

Too much sophistication is being added to alarms and incorporating the sophisticated functions compromises the design of the basic alarm funtions.

Agree with that but user expectation is driving this. I can remotely configure my car to do all sorts of things. Surely my house should be the same.

It should be possible to build secure systems (my online bank can be hacked, but it's not exactly a regular occurrence), and for most users the benefits outweigh the risk. Agreed that for very high risk premises, a different solution may be appropriate but for the majority of installs, the risk is low enough with appropriate safeguards.

Either way, alarms are heading this way anyway, but surely the risk is enhanced not reduced by bending the old technology to do it, rather than starting from scratch?

shedbang said:

Agree with that but user expectation is driving this

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User expectation is often driven by profit driven marketing creating a lust for the latest technology.

shedbang said:

Either way, alarms are heading this way anyway,

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I have never seen any logical need for a person to be able to turn off ( disable ) an alarm system unless that person is actually at the protected premises.

We're straying a bit off-topic here, but I think this is just the march of progress isn't it? Clever people research new things, big companies offer them (with a view to making money), we buy them because we like them.

I like the fact that my TV connects to the internet. I like my smartphone shows me where my family is. I like the fact that I can change all my cars settings from an app. I can do all of these things a different way, but the 'new' way feels better, more efficient. Maybe I'm unique (evidently not) but I just like it.

As for the alarm, I frequently disarm my current system remotely so that someone can enter and do something. I also exclude zones (for various reasons) remotely. Occasionally I get an alarm. If it happens, I logon to my app, look at the cameras. If everything is ok (i.e. a false alarm) I reset the system and go back about my business. If it's not (thankfully never happens) I would call the police or friends. I like knowing when someone else arms or disarms it, or if there's an emerging fault somewhere. I don't absolutely need any of this stuff, but I like to be able to do it.

well I disagree.

when we let a property and had the letting agent show people round and they forgot there own dam code and we got lots of alerts coming through we were able to disable reset and ream the property after the agents left.

Pretty much there are many ways of achieving this, Texecom Premier Elite and smart com can do most of what you suggest and with permission Integration to other devices can be arranged via and NDA.

Thanks!

From what I've read, the newer Texecom stuff does seem to do most of what I'd need and I'm leaning in that direction at the moment.

Permission integration is an option but doesn't seem especially easy to achieve, especially for a bog-standard end-user. That said, I note that Texecom now have smart plug integration which is a big step forward.

Why did you fit a wireless system in a warehouse for a start ?

I had an ismartalarm. They were rubbish, often going off line and unable to set or unable to turn off. I replaced it with a Yale alarm which is mildly better but still a bit crap. After fannying about with the Yale, which goes through batteries like nothing, has various faults popping up all the time about radio jamming and supervision errors, im selling it and buying a wired texecom. I should of installed this in the first place.