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Integrated solutions for home security

From the neo-classical to the ultra-modern, our homes are like architectural tattoos, representing our individual tastes and personalities. There’s poetry in every passage and a dream in every doorway.

Indeed, we are no longer creating mere homes; we are creating worlds, veritable microcosms replete with functionality and convenience; monuments to humankind’s inborn desire to be the master of our surroundings. Much like an artist poring with furrowed brow over a blank canvas, we tackle each new project with a view to creating something that is beautiful as well as functional, applying brushstrokes of technology in order to paint the complete picture of security, convenience and aesthetics.

In the 1960, anthropologist Victor Turner popularised the concept of ‘liminality’ – a term that was coined by folklorist and ethnographer Arnold van Gennep and is derived from the Latin word limen, meaning ‘threshold’ – to describe the ‘middle stage’ of rites of passage amongst certain tribes. In the liminal phase, the initiates (or neophytes, as Turner often referred to them) were ‘betwixt and between’, existing in a state of disorientation and ambiguity and having been stripped of their pre-ritual status but not yet possessing the qualities and attributes that will be bestowed upon them once the rite is complete. They become, in essence, tabula rasa: a blank slate.

In a much more literal and tangible sense, our entrance gates are the thresholds between the outside world and us, the barrier between order and potential chaos, between the Apollonian and the Dionysian. As our first line of defence against criminal intrusion, this threshold must be protected at all costs.

The rising popularity of gate motors in domestic settings has led to massive innovation in this field, with local manufacturer Centurion Systems leading the charge. Jam-packed with high-security features – including beam automatic closing and integral intruder-detection alarms – and setting the standard in terms of reliability, functionality and performance, Centurion’s gate motors have become a staple of home security.

However, according to Centurion’s communications coordinator, Charl Mijnhardt, the operators’ true potential is unleashed by integrating and expanding the system with the company’s range of ancillary solutions, which includes the G-ULTRA GSM solution.

“The G-ULTRA is the ‘ultimate GSM solution’”, says Mijnhardt. “Combining wireless technology with an intuitive user interface, this device enables homeowners to remotely monitor and control a wide variety of appliances including automated gates, electric fences, alarms, sprinkler systems and even pool pumps – all using their smartphones”.

One possible, and popular, application is to use the device to remotely monitor and control a garage door. The homeowner would simply have the module installed at her garage door, and then use the G-REMOTE mobile app to open and close the door from virtually anywhere, as well as receiving notifications on her phone of the door’s status for added peace of mind. Harnessing the expandability of the G-ULTRA, the user can even create wireless connections to a pedestrian gate with Centurion’s WiZo-Link wireless input-output modules. This is ideal for allowing entry to armed response companies. To summarise, it is now easier than ever before to create a complete wireless solution for superior home security.

From an installer perspective, the solution can be easily set up onsite using the G-WEB ULTRA mobile application.

For more information contact Centurion Systems, +27 11 699 2400, [email protected], www.centsys.co.za

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