Tehnology provides enhancement to home security systems

Published: Saturday, May 18, 2013, 7:24p.m. Updated 18 minutes ago

Home security has moved far beyond the days when an alarm was the main protection against a burglar.

Now, home automation systems record when a person comes home. Cameras watch deliveries and whether a unauthorized person picks them up. They turn on lights and adjust thermostats.

It is more than convenience.

Security is what we're all about, says Pamela J. Petrow, president and CEO of Vector Security, headquartered in Warrendale.

Much of it has to do with a blend of the alarms that sound when a door or window is violated and the automation that flicks on lights as a homeowner enters. But the technology all seems rooted in protection.

When you get right down to it, people are concerned about their stuff, says Joyce English of American Alarm Systems in Millvale.

Concern about everyday security seemed to heighten after the Boston Marathon bombings in April, but representatives of these businesses say interest in the systems has been steadily growing for a while.

I saw more of a jump after stock market problems in 2007, English says. Them that's got want to keep it.

Joseph Lininger, senior vice president of marketing for Guardian Protection Services, also in Warrendale, says home security has been trending greatly in the past five years or so.

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Tehnology provides enhancement to home security systems