LAS VEGAS--Alarm.com, a provider of wireless and Web-enabled security and monitoring technology, announced on April 1 at ISC West a partnership with CMS, the combined wholesale monitoring operations of CMS and Criticom International, to offer a wireless, GSM-based two-way voice response solution.

"Consumers are disconnecting their landlines and either going to cell phones or voice-over-IP, so the issue has been, for the entire industry, how do you get this basic alarm unit to work if you don't have cell phone back-up or the ability to go out over a broadband connection?" said Tony Wilson, president of CMS. "We think two-way voice over GSM module is the best of all worlds."

Alarm.com's GSM module integrates with GE Security control panels, Concord and Simon XT, and uses the panel's built-in or external speaker and microphone to communicate with a CMS operator in the event of an alarm.

When the GE panel is triggered, Alarm.com's module sends a digital signal via GPRS protocol, the data part of the GSM cellular network, to Alarm.com's operations center, located in the Washington, D.C., area. The operations center then routes the signal over a secure, encrypted IP connection to CMS's central monitoring station. When the customers' GSM module receives confirmation back from Alarm.com's operation center that the alarm signal went to the central station, it then initiates the GSM voice connection allowing operators to communicate directly with the customer via two-way voice, said Alison Slavin, vice president of product management for Alarm.com.

"This system doesn't change the operator process," said Slavin. "It doesn't interrupt how the operator takes the call," she said.

In addition to transmitting the alarm signal to the central station, Alarm.com's operations center also sends alarm notifications to a customer's mobile devices. "The whole system is marketed using the dealer's brand," said Slavin, "so customers receive alerts from their dealers." With the GSM module, customers can also access their security systems through the Web for remote programming, arming and disarming the system and reviewing event history.