Door Entry/Intercom help

[mgfair]

I am looking for some suggestions to upgrade/ better integrate my front door entry system and intercom. Presently, I am using 4 Aiphone colour video intercoms which can unlock the front electric door lock. I am also using a HID keypad for entry at the front door.

The Aiphone products are basically connected through Cat5e cable. I am also using the Cytech Comfort Alarm system which is integrated with SideKick from Convergent Living and Panasonic IP cameras.

I basically want to replace the Aiphone intercom perhpas with small UMPC's with built-in cameras.

My basic question (which shows my lack of knowledge in this area) is how do I control the unlocking of the front door - what software should be used? - what additional hardware is required (relays?)?. Any ideas? Or other suggestions???

Mark

[toscal]

Why would you want to use UMPCs. Seems like over kill to me, if all you want to do is see who is calling, speak to them and the open the door.
What model of Aiphone are you using.

[mgfair]

By using an umpc - I can use realvnc to the Convergent Living SideKick so that I can arm/disarm the Comfort alarm as well as seeing each of my Panasonic IP cameras. We have quite a multi-level home. An alternative would be to used usb touchscreens running back to Sidekick but I do not think that will end up cheaper given the required usb/vga extenders over Cat5.

The model of Aiphone used is KC-1HRD.

What I am trying to figure out is how to open the unlock the door as discussed in my previous post and effectively how to get a neat door bell button/ loudspeaker at the front door. At present, the Aiphone camera at the front door, has a built in door bell button and speaker.