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Concerned about security when you're away from your small-business premises? Want to automate control of lighting and HVAC to conserve energy and save money? How about if you could remotely control and monitor everything from your cell phone?

Commercial building managers are starting to install automated and remotely accessible control and monitoring systems. You can do the same, without spending a bundle, using Z-Wave-based products designed for the home market—products such as the HomeRemote Wireless Home Automation Gateway (about $250 online) and Wireless Video Camera (about $200). Hawking Technology, one of several manufacturers of Z-Wave-compatible gear, launched its HomeRemote line earlier this year.

I built a test system using the Hawking gateway and camera with Z-Wave lighting control units from Intermatic. (You can also get Z-Wave-compatible thermostats.) The system lets me use any Internet-connected computer to control lights in my home office and view live video from the camera. For Internet access to the gateway, you need to subscribe to a "dynamic DNS" service that allows a remote computer to access your computer or server through its high-speed Internet connection. Hawking provides 30 days of DDNS service for free, after which you'll pay about $30 a year. I can also monitor and control my office from a cell phone using Hawking's Cell Link service, which costs about $90 a year.

The gateway is a small, modem-size device with an antenna. It comes with a remote control of the kind that works through walls. You plug the gateway into a network router using the included Ethernet cable. This allows you to control it from any computer on the network—or the Internet—using a Web browser. The gateway sets up its own separate Z-Wave network for controlling lights, etc. I installed two Intermatic Z-Wave plug-in dimmer modules and an in-wall dimmer switch (about $60 each). The plug-in modules simply plug into a wall socket, then you plug the lamp or other device you want to control into the module.

The Hawking products were pretty easy to set up. Both come with software wizards that walk you step-by-step through the process, automating much of it. The camera virtually installed itself. Adding the Intermatic lighting control modules to the Z-Wave network using the gateway's remote is a slightly tedious but not complicated procedure. Ditto for programming the remote to control the lights. Setting up Cell Link is a little more involved, in part because Hawking doesn't yet officially support Canadian cellular carriers. But it can be done, at least with some devices.

The gateway software, which lets you turn devices on or off from a computer, set timers and program "scenes" for controlling a number of devices at once, is rudimentary compared to others, such as HomeSeer's HS2 home automation software. But it does the basics, and it makes setting up remote monitoring and control surprisingly easy. To find out more about Z-Wave and Z-Wave compatible products visit Z-Wave's website .