Alam.com cites Gartner's recent analysis of the PDA market in its announcement, which includes cellular-wireless handhelds like RIM's BlackBerrys and HP's iPAQ Pocket PCs. So the new service works with Wi-Fi enabled PDAs and smartphones.

"We were hearing from an increasing number of customers that our Web dashboard and e-mail and cell notifications were very useful, but that PDA-compatibility was also needed," explained Alarm.com CEO Steve Trundle. Gartner said last year's 15 million PDA shipments surpassed 2001's previous high of 13.2 million.

By logging into Alarm.com's new handheld-friendly Web site, Alarm.com users can arm or disarm their systems, view current system status, assign and manage user codes, and even control lights. They also receive e-mail and text message notifications of power outages, alarms, among other functions.