San Diego, California --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- September 27, 2005 -- MIR3™, the technology leader in Intelligent Notification™ (IN®) solutions, today announced that the Jurupa Community Services District in Mira Loma, California, has contracted MIR3’s notification services in order to send more than 14,000 water customers immediate, high-priority notifications about the status of water wells at the District’s water treatment plant.
On July 8, Jurupa faced a serious emergency when they experienced technical problems at its water treatment plant and two of the wells went down. Jurupa had to rely upon a phone message machine and local residents walking door-to- door to deliver fliers that informed water customers about the well issues. The notification of the more than 14,000 customers was a slow and tedious process requiring help from volunteer staff over a two-day period.
Jurupa decided that a more effective method of notifying its water customers was required for high-priority, or emergency situations. After researching available options, Jurupa staff decided that MIR3’s automated, two-way interactive notification system ensured that all customers would receive the notification alerts. Within one day of contacting MIR3, Jurupa was able to successfully send 28,000 notifications to repeat earlier alerts sent via phone and by door-to-door fliers.
“We were very pleased to help Jurupa get critical warnings out to their customers in such a short period of time,” said Margi Schmidt, VP of Business Development at MIR3. “Our Intelligent Notification technology was designed just for this purpose: to quickly enable the delivery of notifications on a massive scale that issue warnings or instructions in the event of a disaster or emergency.”
MIR3 Intelligent Notification Service Enables the Jurupa Community Services District to Alert Thousands of Customers about Drinking Water Precaution
St. Petersburg Police Department obtains New Emergency Notification System
Alert Software Calls Residents, Notifies First Responders during Hurricanes, Missing Person and other Emergency Situations
St. Petersburg, Florida --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- September 7 , 2005 - The St. Petersburg Police Department has a new ally to help strengthen the city’s emergency response capabilities. Officials today announced they have implemented a powerful alert system that automatically calls residents directly at home during critical situations.
Developed by Tennessee-based DCC (Dialogic Communications Corporation), the Internet-driven emergency notification system will allow the department to pinpoint geographic areas-at-risk during such emergencies as severe weather, missing persons or terrorist threats, and immediately calls residents with information or instruction. The software also will be used to notify and mobilize first responders, including police, fire and EMS.
The new emergency notification system is made up of two solutions from DCC – Communicator! NXT and GeoCast Web. Communicator! NXT serves as the calling engine, rapidly sending voice and text messages to all types of communications devices, including phone, email, pager and fax. The software is powered by Microsoft®.NET™ and SQL technologies and can be accessed by officials from any location via the Microsoft® Internet Explorer web browser. GeoCast Web works in tandem with Communicator! NXT by allowing users to select targeted notification areas on digital, street-level maps - ranging from a single city block to an entire county.
When the software is activated, residents will receive a phone message that could contain such important information as hurricane evacuation routes, shelter locations or missing person alerts.
Aside from communicating with local residents, the St. Petersburg Police Department will also use the technology to mobilize first responders in times of crisis. The software will automatically deliver detailed information or instructions regarding the situation-at-hand, and intelligently fill positions until all required teams are assembled.
Avaya Selects DCC as Emergency Notification Provider
Critical Communications Technology to Automatically Distribute Information Should Operations Face Disruption
NASHVILLE, TN --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- August 17 , 2005 - DCC (Dialogic Communication Corporation) today announced that Avaya (NYSE: AV), a global provider of business communications applications, systems and services, has selected the company as its emergency notification provider.
DCC’s web-based notification software, Communicator! NXT, will help Avaya maintain business continuity during critical and routine situations alike by quickly sharing information between their worldwide offices. The technology automatically distributes critical messages to management, employees and other emergency teams and gathers all-important feedback, vital to quick and appropriate response.
The software rapidly distributes voice or text messages using all types of communications devices (e.g. phone, pager, Blackberry). It also captures responses and provides detailed reports for a full audit trail.
About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.
National Weather Service Forecast Office in Fort Worth Deploys Notification System for Emergency Management Agencies
MessageOne’s AlertFind Selected for Critical Communications to First Responders
Austin, TX --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- August 16, 2005 – The National Weather Service’s (NWS) Fort Worth/Dallas forecast office is ready for action with a new emergency notification system that allows the office to quickly and easily notify first responders prior to the issuance of public weather products. Austin-based MessageOne, Inc. announced its AlertFind system is now in operation at the NWS office. The NWS forecast office provides forecasts and warnings for 46 counties with an estimated seven million residents in this weather hotbed. The NWS is the official voice of the United States for issuing warnings during life-threatening weather situations.
Evaluation of Notification Systems
The Fort Worth/Dallas forecast office began its search for an emergency notification system late last year when the staff realized its emergency management partners had a wide variety of methods for receiving notifications from the NWS. The emergency managers benefit from an early “heads-up” prior to the official public warning. The mission-critical information provides them time to deploy their storm spotter groups, activate their emergency operations centers, and prepare to handle incoming calls from the public.
Gary Woodall, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the forecast office, began the effort to revamp the office’s pre-notification system. “We needed a solution that would be easy to learn and use, and one that would not require extensive resources to manage,” explained Woodall. “Likewise, our emergency management and storm spotter partners wanted a system that would be compatible with their existing technology, be it alphanumeric pagers, conventional e-mail, PDAs, or voice telephone lines.”
Pre-Alert System Adopted for Regular Use
After several months of an evaluation phase with key emergency team members in the system, the NWS office has moved into regular usage with first responders in North Texas who have the equipment to receive the text messages. Several members of the NWS staff issue the notification messages when necessary and they can do so from any computer or phone in the operations area. Within minutes, a pre-notification message can be sent to all or any subset of the network simultaneously.
The NWS office and their emergency management partners are doing everything they can to prepare in advance for the late summer/early fall weather season that in this part of the country is well known for tornados, floods, and severe weather systems.
Emergency Notification Technology Helps Jacksonville Brace for Hurricane Season
Advanced Communications Software to Call Residents at Home, Mobilize First Responders, Protect Community
Jacksonville, FL --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- July 27 , 2005 - With the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season well underway, several Jacksonville area public safety operations are preparing for future storms by using an innovative emergency notification system to warn residents in harm’s way and mobilize first responders.
How is emergency notification technology being used in Jacksonville?
• Evacuate Residents
• Share Shelter Information
• Provide Hotline Numbers
• Update Community on Ongoing Clean-Up Efforts
• Notify Residents of Water/Ice Distribution Points
• Mobilize First Responders &
If activated in the event of an emergency, residents will receive a computer-generated phone message that could contain such important information as evacuation routes, shelter locations and/or hotline numbers.
Aside from communicating with residents, emergency notification technology is also used to mobilize first responders, EMS professionals and volunteers. The software can automatically contact these individuals using all available communications devices (e.g., phone, pager, cell, email, etc.), and intelligently fill positions until the required teams are assembled.
“Hurricane preparation and response takes a team effort,” continued Kirby. “That’s why emergency notification technology is invaluable. It provides the true heroes – first responders, law enforcement, public safety professionals and volunteers – with the information they need to do what they do best.”
Many of the counties equipped with the technology also use it to help with clean-up and recovery long after the storms have passed. For example, in 2004, volunteer groups across the state received instructional information, such as where to report for work and what areas needed additional manpower. At the same time, residents received information on water and ice distribution points, as well as messages detailing their community’s ongoing clean-up plan.