Consumer security market grows

as marinas that want security without being lit up like used-car lots. “We’ve been surprised by the amount of interest in residential security,” Klink said. “Mostly it’s been higher-end residential.”

The cameras produce a black-and-white image of people and buildings. Technically known as thermal-imaging cameras, they produce images in daylight as well as in the dark. In a video on the company’s Web site, a figure walking across a street is clearly seen to be a man, though facial features, skin color and other details cannot be discerned. Klink said that lack of detail is sometimes an advantage. The company sold thermal-imaging cameras to a celebrity who wanted security and privacy but not cutting-edge pictures.

“He didn’t want video from his security system turning up on the Internet,” Klink said.

The movement of electronics companies into the home security market is supply-driven more than demand-driven, said Mike Paxton, an analyst with Arizona-based market research firm In-Stat. “I don’t think consumers feel less secure than they did two years ago,” Paxton said. “During the last six months, we’ve seen an emerging trend of corporate security vendors pushing their products toward consumers.” Paxton said it is too soon to know whether industrial security companies will be successful in the consumer marketplace.

Glenn Busch, head of investor relations for Location Based Technologies of Anaheim, which will use CES to introduce the PocketFinder referred to earlier, agrees that the current crop of security gadgets probably reflects falling prices of technology, but he said changes in society’s comfort level also are in play. “I think it’s a combination of the technology and the times we live in,” Busch said. “When I was growing up, we would ride around on our bikes all day and I’d go home when my mother rang a bell. Today, with two-career families, parents want to know where their children are at all times.” Busch said recent independent research suggested that 44 percent of parents would pay for a location service for their children. The company’s PocketFinder products also can be placed in a car to alert parents if a young driver is going faster than 65 mph. The system works with a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and GSM cell phone networks. The company, which is beginning production of its PocketFinder products, has not yet disclosed the price for the service. There are competing services that use cell