Lose Your Key? Just Carry A Computer

Access to the Internet has made it possible to keep an eye on the office from home. Soon it also might enable employees to watch their homes from the office.

Privately held emWare Inc. of Midvale is working with Weiser Lock Co. of Tucson, Ariz., on a door lock that users may control via the Internet or any other type of point-to-point connection, said Christopher Sontag, the company’s president.

The lock, which Weiser has said will be available in six months to a year, is embedded with a tiny emWare Web server that allows users to access and control the device using a Web browser at a remote location. The lock’s owner may call up its image on the Internet, type in a password and lock or unlock the door. The owner also may monitor if someone else with access to the code has unlocked the door.

EMIT eventually will enable the creation of a high-tech home, where everything from the security system to the thermostat and the telephone is tied into a network and can be controlled remotely.