Voxcom and Infinity sign agreement

EDMONTON, Alberta--Voxcom became the latest company to offer remote video monitoring with its announcement, Nov. 13, that is has signed a licensing agreement with Infinity Systems of Australia to provide its mobile video and remote monitoring services in Canada. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The new service will allow homeowners to use mobile phones, video cameras and electronic sensors to monitor their properties while away from home. When an alarm has been tripped, clients can be notified via text message, e-mail, or by an emergency response operator. Customers will be able to control their security systems through their mobile phones, PCs or PDAs by accessing streaming video at any time. "The point we're very excited about is the convergence of mobility and video," said Brad Sparrow, president and chief executive officer of Voxcom. "This is a product-agnostic platform that allows us to take any product and utilize the Internet as an interface, utilize the mobile phone as an interface, as well as all different kinds of sensors ... it's sort of a convergence of all of those technologies coming together." When an alarm goes off, users can have the notification go directly to a cell phone at the same time as it comes to an emergency response operator, said Sparrow. Pricing for the new service has yet to be determined. "We'll test it with surveys and consider how to charge for the service," said Sparrow, but it will be over and above the $30 a month the typical customer pays for an alarm system. "We may add as little as $2 to quite a bit more, depending on the level of service," he said. "This service is available elsewhere in the world, we'll be rolling it out in Canada in the new year," said Sparrow.