Ding-dong! Vivint can tell you who's calling

PROVO, Utah—Vivint's new Doorbell Camera allows customers to engage in a two-way conversation with visitors from their mobile devices and provides them with a 180-degree view, with night vision, of their doorstep.

“It's a really important extension of what we already do,” Jeremy Warren, Vivint's chief technology officer, told Security Systems News.

The Doorbell Camera integrates with the company's full suite of offerings, he said.

“Do you need to stay at home to let the plumber in? This allows you to do what you need to do every day. It simplifies involvement at the door,” Warren said.

A doorbell ringer could be the homeowner's child, a delivery person, a brother-in-law needing a place to stay for the weekend or a potential thief, he said. Each can be seen remotely and allowed in—or not—by the homeowner.

“All of these things start at the front door,” Warren said.

Vivint's customers don't need “some secret decoder ring. You get notified if you're away from home,” Warren said.

Customers can disarm their security system, remotely put the garage door up for a delivery person or for a neighbor who just might want to borrow a ladder, for example, and customers can then also ensure that the worker or neighbor is not making off with a prized set of golf clubs, he said.

Vivint is rolling out the Doorbell Camera to new customers. Soon, existing customers will be able to add it as an upgrade.

“There's a lot of interest out there. Our customers love it,” Warren said.

Other companies have similar devices, he said, but Vivint worked hard on its Doorbell Camera design.

“Others looked space-agey,” he said. “We wanted the size, shape, design to be significantly better. We have high standards for a project like this.”

Vivint uses existing wiring for the Doorbell Camera.