Posted on: Thursday, June 24, 2004
Student's software simplifies alarms
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Daren Iott has never owned a security system in his home, even the one he lives in now in Kalihi.
But he's installed enough of them to know one thing: They're not user-friendly.
"You'd need a book to figure it out," said the former security system installer from Detroit. "It's so incredibly complicated."
So he designed software that connects to an existing home-security system and allows homeowners to control the entire system from their personal computers.
With this program, you can arm and disarm specific areas of your home from any computer through a secured Internet site. And if an alarm in your home is triggered, your computer will send you an e-mail and a text message on your cell phone.
The ease of the system is ideal for the less tech-savvy homeowner who can't afford a high-tech system, Iott said.
One-time installation. Works with any home security system. No monthly monitoring costs.
"I'd buy it," said Pat Bustamante, president and chief operating officer of Pacific LightNet Communications and president of the Hawaii TeleCommunications Association, which hosted Iott at its monthly meeting yesterday. "I believe this product has tremendous potential to a very large market segment."
The design earned Iott and co-presenter Phil Katzman an honorable mention at the 2004 Imagine Cup regionals, sponsored by Microsoft Corp., in Los Angeles in April.
Iott, a 25-year-old senior at Hawai'i Pacific University, is the highest Hawai'i finisher in the competition, which drew more than 500 teams from the United States alone. Other entrants represented more than 70 countries.
This was the first year HPU participated in the Imagine Cup.
"(The contest) is such a great confidence builder," said Dolly Samson, professor and program chairwoman of the computer science and computer information systems program at HPU.
Iott was last year's recipient of HPU's Louis Abraham Computer Science Student of the Year award. "He's prepared, he contributes, he goes beyond what's been assigned," Samson said.
It took Iott about 2› months, or roughly 200 hours, to design and write his program. He had to be as creative in his scheduling — between taking seven classes and, with his wife, raising their 2-year-old son — as he was in his programming.
The program is able to integrate RFID technology — radio frequency identification methods — allowing the homeowner to label particular items, such as TVs and computers, that, if moved, would activate an alarm.
Though he hasn't tested the program in a real home, Iott is confident it will work — and sell. "It's something I'd love to see out there," he said.
Iott figures it would cost less than $100 to mass-produce his program.
Of course, he'd like to add a few things before it hits the market, including fingerprint authorization and a smart logger that will notify the homeowner of any unusual patterns in the system's use.
But he hopes to sell the idea rather than market the system himself.
"I don't want to be an entrepreneur, I don't want to be a businessman," said Iott, who will graduate with a bachelor's degree in computer science in December and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in software engineering. "I want to work for someone and write programs."
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
