The control panel is the "brain" of the security system. All the other components communicate back and forth with the control panel letting the panel know whats going on and if it needs to set off the alarm or notify the monitoring center that you need help.

Control panels come in either wired or wireless depending on the design of the overall system.

Having a wireless control panel can bring the overall cost of a system down dramatically because the installer is not required to run wires to all the contact points, motion detectors, keypad and horn saving hours of labor.