ANXIOUS parents and homeowners are turning to Web surveillance to keep tabs on their toddlers and homes. And this trend has propped up D-Link's Internet camera sales in Singapore by nearly four-fold in the past year.

'We are selling about 500 pieces (of Internet cameras) a month. In the past, we were selling 100 to 200,' said Peter Lim, D-Link's vice-president of its South Asia operations.

The Taiwanese firm, which started out making networking gear like routers and switches for both consumers and businesses, has been aggressively trying to diversify its revenue streams through new products like Internet cameras.

This push is set to make up for slower sales in D-Link's traditional offerings like wireless routers and PC cards.

The market for such products is fast reaching saturation point as there are over 800,000 subscribers here on broadband and a further 1.9 million have registered for wireless Internet services. Most of these consumers already have their wireless gear in place, leaving little ceiling left for growth.

'We are seeing it (wireless) as mature market,' Mr Lim told BizIT in an interview earlier this week.

Against this backdrop, the company has charged into the Internet camera segment with a slew of new offerings in the past year. More than just a basic tool for Web conferencing, D-Link's cameras include features like motion detection as well as the ability to remotely control camera movement and to zoom in and out of a set frame, making them suitable for office or home surveillance.

In addition, it has also launched cameras like the DSC-2120 Securicam that are capable of streaming video feeds to smart phones and handhelds via high-speed cellular networks.

In its latest effort to broaden the use of such products, the company on Monday joined hands with childcare provider Cherie Hearts and M1's research subsidiary Wireless Intellect Labs to launch a new monitoring service for parents.

Called ToddlerEye, the new service allows parents to log on to a website (www.homecamera.com) to check on their children while they are in day care.

D-Link has equipped 20 Cherie Hearts centres across Singapore with the DSC-2120 camera while Wireless Intellect Labs developed the website and underlying technology to power this service. The effort will be expanded to all 26 Cherie Hearts centres by year-end.

Unlike competing Web-monitoring services, ToddlerEye does not require any technical know-how and it can be set up in mere minutes, claimed Varun Arora, general manager of Wireless Intellect Labs.

'This is vastly different from the Web camera surveillance services out there,' he told reporters at the launch of the service.

Parents will simply need to register and they can log in at any time to view images and videos of their kids at the childcare centres. Feeds can also be recorded and they can even be sent to mobile phones or handhelds.

Moreover, additional cameras, such as those in a user's home or office, can also be linked to the website, he added.

ToddlerEye is currently available for free to all Cherie Hearts customers. This service will also be extended to other markets like the United States and Australia, Mr Arora said.