He’s using an Arduino Uno and an Ethernet breakout board to hook it up to the network. This allows him to send text messages to himself when the alarm system is armed, disarmed, or triggered.

We think of the Arduino as a rapid prototyping tool but we never thought of it as an FTDI breakout board before. [Ihsan Kehribar] wrote a quick post to show how it’s done. You’ll find an FTDI ...

Although the Arduino Uno can power a host of projects ... the Arduino family is compatible with numerous sensors, motors, breakout boards, and other accessories, making them pretty versatile ...