Verdant Technologies, a Shepperton-based company, has won a prestigious government grant to develop a ground-breaking technology that will enable digital CCTV to be transmitted through existing analogue cables.
The Smart Award is from the Department of Trade and Industry's Small Business Service (SBS) and aims to encourage innovation in the UK. It is awarded to small and medium-sized businesses to research and develop technologically innovative products and processes.

Verdant Technologies was founded in March 2002, and is a specialist supplier of digital closed circuit television products. The company will use the grant to test an innovative and patent-pending technology, which consists of a low-cost, low power transceiver that will enable the transmission of digital closed circuit television signals over existing analogue cabling.

The innovation could save firms large amounts of money on re-cabling and open up digital quality security footage to a much wider audience.

John Douglass, founder and chief executive officer of Verdant, said: "The digital CCTV market has been held back because the only way for security managers to get the bandwidth they need is to invest in their own cabling – an expensive option – or to negotiate with their IT colleagues for a share of the office network. We believe that our 'Smart' backed transceiver provides a compelling and cost-effective alternative."