CCTV comes to mobile phones

By Jo Twist
BBC News Online technology reporter

People worried about break-ins while away from home can now check up on their house from their mobile phone.

CCTV images can be seen on standard GSM phones

A new security service hooks up private CCTV cameras to the net and sends a text message to a mobile if something moves.

Home owners can watch the live pictures from their mobile and alert the police if someone is attempting a break-in.

The images can be seen on standard GSM mobiles, instead of sophisticated third generation (3G) video phones.

Suspicions

With homeowners becoming more concerned about property safety, more security companies are offering businesses and homes private CCTV systems.

Some use technology to allow people to log onto the net to check on images of their home already.

Paddy Guaghan saw what the man was doing from his mobile

Many are planning to offer the ability to look at live moving pictures directly on mobiles, but CCTVSafe claim to be one of the "first in the world to offer this service".

"The box we sell links into any standard CCTV camera, but it transmits pictures to the mobile phone," CCTVSafe's Gerry Lawrence told BBC News Online.

The images are taken using any standard, private CCTV camera plugged into a server.

The server has a built-in motion detector, so if there is any movement, pictures are uploaded over the net to central storage servers.

The video images can then be sent to the owner's mobile over ordinary mobile networks, and viewed from anywhere.

One company which installed the system almost foiled an attempted break-in after they received an alert. The company director watched the events unfold live on his phone.

"I was out shopping when I got the alert on my mobile phone," explained Paddy Guaghan.

"I was amazed to see this guy trying to break into my office right in front of my eyes."

The man left without going through with the attempt to get into the building.