Ten years ago, Terry Wenzel realized the difficulties many gated communities faced when providing security protection for residents. Turnover can be high among security guards, who sometimes are poorly trained yet command salaries up to $16 an hour.

As Wenzel saw it, human sentries just weren't cost effective. Instead, he found a more reasonably priced, high-tech solution that dovetailed nicely with the emergence of the Internet. Wenzel touts his company, Hidden Eyes Guard Service, as a security tool for gated communities and a host of businesses. Using the latest technology in video-conferencing hardware, Internet data transfer and database management, the system can either replace security guards or enhance their performance.

Using the company's software, communities can control access to restricted areas. Remote-control cameras, speakers, computer microphones and a video monitor are set up around a kiosk at the community's front gate. A Hidden Eyes operator can communicate directly with people who want access into the community. The cameras record and time-stamp photo images of who comes in, and who has been granted entry. This video and audio information is transmitted via high-speed Internet to a central monitoring center at the company's headquarters in Sebring, Fla., where it's stored in a database for future reference.

"It's most definitely Big Brother watching," says Wenzel, Hidden Eyes' founder and CEO. But communities are lining up to use the process, which recently received a U.S patent. So far, 16 gated communities, most in Naples, have signed on to use the software.

According to Wenzel, the average homeowner's association pays $125,000 annually to staff a security gate 24 hours a day. Hidden Eyes can be set up for less than $100,000, including a new gate, saving the community $25,000 in the first year and 15 percent to 30 percent on average thereafter.

Getting rid of security guards was not an option for the Windstar community on Naples Bay when it contracted with Hidden Eyes about four years ago. Master Association Manager Debra Bruner says that guards help emphasize the neighborhood's friendly atmosphere. But the community finds that using Hidden Eyes' service is a good supplement to guards.

Bruner says that before the community started using Hidden Eyes, security guards filled out a lot of paperwork to register guests. Now the guards can step away from the gate to patrol the community, and Hidden Eyes takes over.

"It's a double-check of who gets in," says Bruner.

The system is not foolproof, he adds. During heavy storms, or when there is a problem with the phone lines between Naples and Sebring, the gates can sometimes swing open unexpectedly. Wenzel admits the phone lines occasionally go out, but believes the benefits of Hidden Eyes far outweigh any temporary technical difficulties.

Hidden Eyes Guard Service is also flexible enough to be used for other businesses. Wenzel and his staff of sales representatives are courting companies that run water-treatment plants, airports, nuclear facilities and utility plants, all of which must beef up security measures in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"Security is here to stay," says Wenzel. "Our lifestyles have changed permanently.'

Wenzel says his company's Web site is getting hits from Fortune 500 companies and the CIA, along with other government and military agencies, and he's confident this is just the beginning. He hopes to step up advertising to increase Hidden Eyes' presence throughout the country, expand his sales staff and eventually take his company's stock public.