Two Alberta remote-technology companies are looking at the bigger picture.

Both are using existing and emerging technologies to push the traditional business envelope.

HomeCustodian, a developer of home-automation products based in Calgary, has launched an online home-care product that employs remote technology to provide home-care services, incorporating the automation of manual tasks and monitoring.

In Edmonton, Sintec North America hopes to make inroads in the consumer image communication and remote-monitoring fields with SmileCAM, its high-speed pan-and-tilt web camera. At the same time it is also marketing Dome Cam, the business-to-business version of the web cam.

HomeCustodian’s business model was put into place after Ed Prins enlisted the help of son Glenn to develop a product to monitor his wife’s health once she was released from hospital after recovering from a series of massive heart attacks.

Dave Olecko photo, Business Edge
Ed Prins demonstrates his HomeCustodian technology to aid caregivers.

Glenn, now HomeCustodian’s vice-president and director of software engineering, designed a program that turned the family’s home computer into a caregiver. Ed, a telecom equipment specialist and company president, installed remote sensors, web cams and intercom speakers around the house. The project, which combined existing alarm, Internet and web cam technology, achieved its objective. The recovering Marian Prins could carry out household tasks from one central location and father and son could monitor her from any location or city.

Meanwhile, South Korea-based Sintec, which specializes in biometrics and security solutions, has moved its North American head office from Los Angeles to Edmonton.

The two companies are going after a growing market, according to Peter Carr, executive director of Athabasca University’s St. Albert-based Centre for Innovative Management.

“I think the market for web cam applications for the home is definitely set to expand. We’re only starting to imagine the uses they can be put to,” said Carr. “We’ll see a dramatic expansion over the next four to five years.”

Usage of web cams, or cameras imbedded in various devices, to deliver motion rather than still pictures is well under way, added Carr, especially in the Far East where cellphone networks work at higher speeds than in North America.

The only drawback is present-day limitations relating to bandwidth and picture quality, said Carr.

“The technology itself is in its infancy. The pictures are not that good quality, but we’re going to see that change. The technology companies are doing the work and, over the next three or four years, that’s going to change a lot.”

Demographics showing an aging population and the need for home-care services also came into play, as HomeCustodian realized there might be others who would be interested in its product.

With its research showing a staggering number of caregivers in North America alone, “we decided to move it from a specific program (developed for Marian’s recovery) to a generic one for the public,” said Ed.

“We also wanted to make it more user-friendly, sort of like a Microsoft Wizard, where it walks you through so family members could actually put it together and program it,” said Ed.

It took the father-and-son team only 14 days to come up with what they now call their Mark 1 version.

That allowed Marian to lay in bed and lock and unlock the doors and back gate, turn the lights on and off, and receive reminders (necessary because of short-term memory problems related to medical aftereffects) to take her medication or let her know if the oven or other electronics needed to be turned off.

As they refined their product and target market, HomeCustodian came up with a new version that takes some of the burden off the caregivers, who are still required for essential services and to replenish food and other supplies.

The company is now actively looking into franchising opportunities and additional test markets for trial units. It has extended its product line to include automation systems to assist people in offices and cottages.

The technology uses the Internet and local networks to provide remote-access services, including real-time monitoring, automation of manual tasks and emergency services.

HomeCustodian can be installed for approximately the same price as a month of home care with a nurse visiting the home three times a week.

Over at Sintec, where the company’s technology evolved from biometrics work in its Korean head office, plans are in the works to add a manufacturing component to its Edmonton operations.

Even though labour is cheaper in Korea, it makes more sense to have manufacturing and distribution in North America since the company’s target markets are Canada and the U.S., said David Kim, Sintec’s vice-president of marketing.

Reasons for locating in Edmonton have to do with its vibrant economy, added Kim.

Further, the SmileCAM, which retails for $199, and its more expensive business counterpart, the Dome Cam which starts at $499, leave sufficient margin to recover any higher production costs.

Core technology development will remain in Korea, said Kim, where work is progressing on new facial and iris recognition products.

The SmileCAM has been doing tremendous business, added Kim. “In only a couple of months we’ve done a lot more than we expected.”

He anticipates moving 7,000 SmileCAM units in Canada in the next quarter, adding that the product is still in its launching stage.

SmileCAM, with a 180-degree left/right angle, detects and tracks motion automatically and can be controlled via the Internet by clicking on the screen with a mouse.

An application program can provide diverse functions such as video monitoring, live video conferencing and web broadcasting without additional cost.

The Dome Cam, with its 360-degree horizontal rotation, can be connected up to digital video recorder technology, extending the amount of material that can be stored.

This also eliminates the need to replace videotapes as in a number of current surveillance systems.

But there is one cloud on the web- cam horizon.

A new ruling by the Quebec Human Rights Commission, interpreting the Quebec Charter of Rights, said that the constant display of images should not be allowed over the Internet even if the site requires a password for access.

The reason, the commission said, is unreasonable working conditions if employees are filmed non-stop, and a need to respect the right to privacy.