Editorial

The intruder alarms industry has never effectively penetrated the domestic market and, despite many efforts, only a small percentage of homes have electronic security. However, with developments in remotely monitored CCTV going at a pace, it may be left to the CCTV sector to crack this particular nut. RemGuard Visual Management believes that there are significant opportunities for installers to apply remotely monitored CCTV to the domestic environment, particularly the more valuable properties. The company has seen the number of domestic sites it monitors increase by at least 50 per cent in the past 12 months.

Many homeowners still rely on measures which are not effective in preventing a break-in in the first place. Installers might consider bridging this gap by moving away from the traditional intruder alarm approach.

I think we will see event-driven CCTV increasingly applied to the domestic sector as well as the commercial, especially for higher value properties. And what better proof of the effectiveness of detector-activated CCTV than the arrest of two intruders at the scene even before they stole anything. Where did this happen? At the home of RemGuard’s MD, Adam Wiseberg, who, understandably, has no doubt about the potential of this technology to make a difference. With many homes now having broadband – allowing connections to a monitoring centre – this could be the time for installers to set their sights on this potentially lucrative market.

Alan Hyder