Suppose you own a company with multiple locations, and you want to see how well business is doing at a particular location at a particular time of day - without going there in person?

The Detroit — based technology company MIST Innovations believes it can help. Formerly known as SecureCom Technologies, MIST (Mobility, Information, Security, Technology) Innovations has developed MISTonDemand (MoD), which allows clients to view video streams on request on "smart" mobile phones from either closed-circuit TV cameras or internet protocol cameras.

Larry Smith. MIST Innovations president and CEO, said both the on-demand video streaming and the fact that customers can tie in to either CCTV or internet protocol cameras give his company two significant advantages over competitors.

"You've got a number of companies that have the ability to view video on a smart phone from an internet protocol camera, but you have a lot of businesses with huge investment in what I'm going to describe as legacy CCTV cameras." He said, "Our system, the best of our knowledge, is the only system that is compatible with those legacy CCTY cameras."

Smith uses the word "legacy" as a short-hand for the fact that CCTV has been around for a long time. Prior to the debut, of internet protocol cameras, CCTV cameras were the established choice.

Smith said a company with a huge investment in CCTV cameras that wants to obtain the abilities to view those cameras on a cell phone has one of two choices convert everything to Internet Protocol Cameras — a huge financial investment — or utilized the MIST Innovations system and utilize that same capability with CCTV cameras.

Another big advantage of the MoD technology is that the video stream is not always on, but only streams on demand, Smith said. That, he contends, reduces the likelihood of a hacker gaining access to that video stream.

For those enterprises requiring an even higher level of security, MIST Innovations is working on an encrypted version expected to be available later this year.

The minority-owned company was established in 2004 by Marquis Coleman and Terrance Moore. Originally headquartered in Southfield, the company moved to Detroit in 2007, Smith said that in the process of relocating, the company was able to increase employment from two people to 18. The Southfield office had been very small by comparison. The move also allowed for an expanded operation.

He also said the founders — both Detroit residents — felt it would be in their best long term interests to have a strategic presence within the city.

The reason for forming the company was to become the leader in data and communications security, with a heavy focus on homeland security, according to Smith.

The company is still negotiating with various agencies regarding homeland security applications, but Smith said its in the process of conducting a pilot program with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. He remains cautiously optimistic that this will result in a product order install the MISTonDemand system to monitor 128 bridges, tunnels and expressway areas in that state.

Those, Smith said, could have homeland security applications, as well as give that state's Dept. of Transportation the ability to monitor traffic congestion and / or road construction.

Closer to home, the company recently implemented a system in a Detroit Housing Commission senior citizens facility, which had been getting an excess number of false fire alarms believed to have been trigged by individuals smoking in areas where they're not supposed to smoke.

Smith predicted the Housing Commission will see a payback on its investment in less than a year.

MISTonDemand pilot have been running since 2005. Locations include a Pontiac municipal building, a housing unit in Inkster, and system in the MIST Innovations offices. That last system has been running for two years.

"We believe that because those systems have been running since 2005, we've demonstrated that they're robust, they're durable high-quality systems," Smith said.

The current version of MistonDemand system is targeted at businesses, but the company is working on a more cost-effective version with residential applications. Smith said this wouldn't be available until sometime next year.

In addition to corporations with remote and satellite operations, as well as quasi governmental entitles, Smith said other potential clients could include school systems concerned about vandalism in evenings or over weekends, as well as General managers of construction sites.

He believes the company's technology can be used in an almost infinite number of applications, and added that the base system handles four different camera inputs, but can also be configured to handle up to 16 cameras. On top of that, it can daisy chain a number of server's to give the client almost infinite camera capability.

A mobile version of the application, Mobile-connect, which could be installed on a moving vehicle, such as a bus, is in the works. A prototype with the University of Akron was scheduled for this month, and production is expected by January.

MIST Innovations was recognized as one of 50 companies to watch, It is located at 333 W. Fort, Ste. 1850.