Connecting to home security system

I am looking for a solution that will allow me to tie my security system in with SmartThings. I would like to be able to receive notifications on my phone of an event and also be able to control my system through the application. Does such a product exist? I have seen security system that have built in z-wave but since I am using SmartThings I want to be able to tie in with this product and use their app. We are building a new house and are getting all of the details together about what will be included and I have to let the builder know what type of alarm system I want installed. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Well I suppose it depends on what your house is built around. SmartThings can act like a security system, but it is no replacement for one. A security system can notify the authorities while SmartThings cannot. Whether that will change in the future has yet to be seen. There are LOTS of legal issues to deal with in that sense and I wouldn’t expect it in the near future. But then again, who knows?

If you’re talking about hardware there are some Z-Wave units that can tie into things like existing open/close sensors. They are untested as of right now though, but I don’t imagine it being any stretch to add it to the profile. I don’t believe it will be possible to tie into a home security system to use BOTH the built in and SmartThings. I haven’t researched it much, but I will definitely read up on it.

A friend of mine who recently bought a new house came with all of the sensors installed, but no actual alarm system. I’d like to take a closer look into that and see what we can come up with.

@Brianh. Welcome to the community! We have started this discussion over here:

http://build.smartthings.com/forums/topic/dsc-alarm-integration-and-alarms-in-general/#post-685

Each security system will be  a little different but thread already has some good starting points!