Southern California Cities and School Districts Use NTI Group's Mass Notification Services to Keep Residents, Students and Parents Informed

As LA, Riverside, San Diego Counties and Cities Residents Evacuate, Cities and Schools Are Contacting Residents Regarding School Closures, Active Fire and Smoke Warnings, Evacuations and Volunteer Programs

SHERMAN OAKS, CA --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- October 25, 2007 – As horrific fires in Los Angeles and San Diego are forcing residents to evacuate their homes, officials sent over two million voice messages and 685,000 text messages within the state of California Monday to communicate important messages and alerts according to a press release issued by The NTI Group, Inc. (NTI) today.

City and school officials, using the Connect services provided by The NTI Group, Inc. (NTI), are able to send messages from any internet connection or just a phone line, in case administrators are evacuated, and reach thousands of recipients through home phones, cell phones, text messages and emails. And as families leave their homes, they are able to continue receiving these important messages through their cell phones, if registered, and stay connected to city and school announcements, even from evacuation locations when cell phone service is available.

According to the NTI Group, Inc. press release, one of every two students enrolled in California’s public schools is currently served by the Connect-ED service, and additionally, NTI is seeing heavy usage by school administrators who are currently sending messages regarding school closures and air quality issues, modifications to class and activity schedules, and to communicate with and mobilize staff.

NTI Group also announced:

• San Diego Unified School District sent close to 400,000 voice messages in six different languages Monday to update parents on school closures quickly and efficiently with a 95 percent success rate;
  
• Poway Unified School District, facing heavy parent and staff evacuations, sent over 280,000 voice messages;
  
• The University of San Diego used its Connect-ED service to keep students and staff up to date, sending voice and text messages to its students and staff as needed throughout the day;
• The city of St. Helena’s fire crews, in Northern California, used the service to call up its Strike Team units to Southern California to aid in fire containment;
  
• The cites of Villa Park and Laguna Woods to send messages to residents regarding unhealthful air quality conditions due to the Santiago fire in Orange County;
• Of all mass notifications messages sent Monday regarding the fires in Southern California, Connect-ED and Connect-CTY represented 68 percent of all voice call and 91 percent of all text and email messages delivered;
  
• In total, throughout the country, NTI sent over three million messages and 750,000 text messages on Monday through the Connect services.
  

Source: Vendor Press Release

Emergency Notification Technology Aids in Evacuation of More Than 500,000 Southern California Residents

REVERSE 911® and DCC Alert San Diego County Residents of Dangerous Wildfires, Mobilize First Responders

Nashville, TN --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- October 24, 2007 - More than 500,000 families have found their way to safety from Southern California’s ferocious wildfires with the help of emergency notification technology. Two PlantCML subsidiaries -- REVERSE 911® and DCC (Dialogic Communications Corporation), have supported the wildfire evacuation and response effort with fast and accurate information.

During this tragic time, public safety agencies and county and city governments throughout Southern California and San Diego County have successfully utilized the company’s patented emergency notification system, REVERSE 911®, as well as Communicator! NXT and GeoCast® Web, to automatically alert thousands of residents and businesses of voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders.

“This is tragic situation, and we are firmly committed to helping communities across Southern California evacuate safely,” said Lorin Bristow, Vice President of PlantCML. ”In critical situations like wildfires, communication can be a lifeline. Our customers tell us emergency notification technology is playing a vital role here. During the coming days and weeks, REVERSE 911® and DCC will do everything possible to continue to assist in the wildfire response and recovery efforts.”

REVERSE 911® and DCC both provide emergency notification technology that automates the calling process, enabling public safety organizations to send voice and text messages by phone, pager, cell and email to thousands of residents in minutes.

In Southern California, residents are currently receiving automated messages containing voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders. Numerous public safety organizations, including law enforcement, fire and emergency management, will continue to use the software to evacuate residents as needed and provide pertinent information during the clean up and recovery efforts.

Aside from communicating with residents, the notification technology of REVERSE 911® and DCC’s is being used to mobilize first responders, EMS professionals and volunteers throughout the region. The software automatically contacts these individuals using all available communications devices, and then intelligently fills positions until the required teams are assembled.

Organizations throughout the U.S. depend daily on emergency notification technology provided by REVERSE 911® and DCC. Whether it’s being used to send a severe weather alert or a missing child report, emergency notification allows the user to quickly and accurately contact a wide audience during a time of need. It also allows them to get the feedback necessary for emergency response and recovery.

Source: Vendor Press Release

Princeton test results of Connect-ED® Emergency Notification System reflect Increased Participation

87% of 12,971 recipients report receiving an emergency notification, with 70% of these receiving message in first 5 minutes.

Princeton, New Jersey --[Emergency Notification News]-- October 22, 2007. Princeton conducted a campus-wide test of its emergency notification system on Friday, Oct. 19, and was encouraged that 12,971 contacts with registered personal information in the system, or 87 percent, received a test message via live phone delivery or answering machine. Seventy percent of the calls were successfully received within the first 5 minutes of the test.

The test of PTENS acquired from the vendor NTI Connect-ED, reflected improvements made to the Princeton Telephone and E-mail Notification System since its initial purchase in April 2007. During the PTENS test initiated at 1 p.m., the University sent simultaneous alerts to faculty, staff and students through landline phones, cell phones, e-mail and text messages, as could happen in a real emergency situation.

When the first test of the notification system was conducted in May, almost 2,500 individuals -- many of whom were graduate students -- were not included in the system. The number of individuals without at least one valid phone number in the system now has dropped to just over 1,000.

Also noteworthy was the increase in the number of people who provided text message information. At the time of the May test, 1,011 individuals had supplied SMS text message addresses, while more than 5,000 additional people opted-in to receive text messages as of Oct. 19.

The test reached the vast majority of University members in student and employee databases through 18,634 phone calls, 17,280 e-mails and 6,604 text messages. Live phone delivery of the test message was received by 50 percent of all contacts in the system, while 37 percent of contacts in the system received the message by voice-mail. The notification system can access up to six phone numbers per person, in addition to two e-mail addresses and a separate text messaging address.

Faculty, staff and students were asked to update their phone, e-mail and text messaging information through the appropriate University self-service websites in order to be notified during the PTENS test. 64 percent of undergraduate students had put their cell phone information in the system as of Oct. 19. In August, the number of undergraduates who had put cell phone information in the system stood at 42 percent. The number of faculty and staff who had registered cell phone information in the HR database also increased, from 27 percent in August to 55 percent as of the Oct. 19 test.

University of Delaware Emergency Notification Test Results Reported

As reported in delawareonline.com Oct.11, 2007, the campus-notification system SendWordNow, was tested at the University Of Delaware. What follows are details from the article.

Location:
University of Delaware

System:
SendWordNow

Test Date and Time: Oct. 10th, 2007, 10:00 am

Message Sent:
"This is a test of the UD Alert system. This is only a test. There is no real emergency."

Methods/Qty of Notifications:
Email: 27,000
Mobile: SMS: 10,000

Notifications Received*:
Email: Not Reported
Mobile: SMS: 33% Responded

System Cost:

"More than $50,000 anually."

System Capacity:

"...send messages to 60,000 contacts, enough to cover both full- and part-time students and staffers."

Delawareonline.com reported:

"UD sent out e-mail messages to most of the campus community because students and staff receive school-issued accounts -- providing a cell phone number for text messages is voluntary. Test e-mails included instructions for users to provide a number for text messages."

Public Safety Director James Flatley said, "more than 98 percent of the text messages and more than 96 percent of e-mails were sent successfully during the test, judging by the low number of messages that "bounced back" from invalid e-mail accounts or phone numbers."

*No post-test survey was completed.

Source: delawareonline.com

Virginia Tech Reports 13% of Campus Confirms Receiving Emergency Alert

After 2 Hours, 13% percent of Recipients Confirm Receipt of Test Message

BLACKSBURG, Va., --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- October 11, 2007 -- Shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday, Virginia Tech initiated its first system-wide test of VT Alerts, an emergency notification system that can send text messages to cell phones, voice messages to non university telephones and cell phones, instant messages on the AOL, MSN, and Yahoo networks, and e-mail messages to non-Virginia Tech e-mail accounts.

As of yesterday, 18,266 students, faculty and staff signed up for the subscription service, which represents approximately 60 percent of the university community.

According to analysis provided by, 3n (National Notification Network), the California-based vendor who contracted with Virginia Tech to establish VT Alerts, the first attempt to deliver the test message to all subscribers was sent in 18 minutes. Second and third attempts to deliver the message (to those who requested multiple deliveries) were completed in 31 minutes. After the two-hour test concluded, approximately 13 percent of the recipients confirmed receipt of the message.

At 1 p.m. Wednesdsay, the university distributed a campus wide e-mail informing the community that the test was complete. Community members were asked to complete a survey regarding what they experienced during the test. As of 4 p.m. yesterday, 711 people reported through the survey that they did not receive the test message.

Of the 18,266 who signed up for VT Alerts, approximately 87 percent are students, 8 percent are faculty and 11 percent are staff (Note: totals exceed 100 percent because individuals may have more than one affiliation.)

Of the subscribers, approximately 43 percent opted to receive messages using one method, 30 percent selected two methods, and 26 percent signed up for the maximum of three delivery methods.

Text message is the most widely selection option of delivery; selected by 77 percent of all subscribers. A voice message to a mobile telephone is next at 34 percent, followed by an instant message (31 percent), a message to a non Virginia Tech e-mail (15 percent), voice mail to a home phone (10 percent), voice mail to an “other” phone (7 percent), and voice mail to an office phone (6 percent). Percentage totals exceed 100 percent because subscribers can sign up for more than one contact method.

The primary or first method of message delivery selected most by subscribers is a text message at 72 percent, followed by a voice message to a mobile phone (16.2 percent), an instant message (3.8 percent), a message to a non-Virginia Tech e-mail (2.9 percent), a voice message to an office phone (2.6 percent), a voice message to a home phone (2.1 percent), and a voice message to an “other” phone (0.5 percent).

VT Alerts is part of a fully integrated and coordinated notification system maintained by Virginia Tech’s Office of University Relations. It augments other communications tools, including the university homepage and the Virginia Tech News homepage, broadcast e-mail alerts, broadcast voice-mail messages, a recorded hotline (540-231-6668), the university switchboard, and a coordinated use of public media outlets, used to convey urgent messages.

Source: Virginia Tech

MIR3’s Campus-Notification System is Praised for Performance During Real-Life Threat at New York’s St. John’s University

MIR3 inCampusAlert is Praised by New York Governor, New York City Police Commissioner, State Assembly Member and University Administration.

NEW YORK, NY –[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- October 1, 2007 – After a masked gunman was spotted and subdued without a single injury on the campus of St. John’s University on September 26, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told a news conference, “St. John's newly instituted emergency text messaging system worked like a charm.” The inCampusAlert™ Intelligent Notification (IN®) system, provided to St. John’s University by MIR3™, a California technology company that specializes in automated emergency notification systems for corporations, governments and universities, was credited with quickly keeping the campus population informed and calm and for enhancing public safety during the crisis.

MIR3 claims that inCampusAlert is the only mass notification system in the market today which allows for true two-way texting. According to MIR3, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer praised the recently installed MIR3 campus-notification system at St. John’s University, and New York Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman offered legislation requiring universities to implement emergency campus-notification at college and university campuses throughout New York State.

Dr. James Pellow, chief operating officer of St. John's University, lobbied his administration for an emergency notification system shortly after the Virginia Tech tragedy in April 2007. inCampusAlert was installed in early September. Last week, Dr. Pellow was quoted in the media as saying, “No one thought that we would be testing this latest technology this quickly for an emergency”... it “allowed us to manage this mini-city of 20,000 people.” The initial emergency alert was sent using MIR3 technology to St. John University’s campus on September 26 by Thomas Lawrence, the university's vice president for public safety and a former deputy chief of the New York Police Department. The message read as follows: “From Public Safety. Male was found on campus with rifle. Please stay in your buildings until further notice. He is in custody, but please wait until the all clear.”

According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, more than 70 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds own a cell phone and 92 percent of them use text messages regularly. “The University's response serves as a national model,” New York Police Commissioner Kelly added. “Coincidentally, St. John's was one of the participants in our campus security conference last week, during which we examined the emergency response at Virginia Tech, and other campuses.”

Source: Vendor Press Release

San Diego City Mayor Unveils Reverse 911® Broadcast System

$180,000 Reverse 911® system has the capacity to make two 30-second voice mail broadcasts a minute, giving the City the ability to broadcast to a total of 11,520 devices in an hour.

San Diego, CA - [EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- Sept 6, 2007 - As part of National Preparedness Month and to further highlight the City’s increased ability to respond to emergencies, Mayor Jerry Sanders today unveiled the City’s new Reverse 911® emergency notification call system. The system can optionally deliver emergency messages to as many as 240,000 households and businesses in an hour.

Reverse 911®, recently acquired by PlantCML, Inc. from Sigma LLC, is web-based, community-alerting system is designed to make mass telephone calls to the public in a timely manner during emergencies or disasters. The system uses a combination of databases and GIS mapping technologies to quickly target and effectively disseminate emergency notification calls to a precise geographic area.

The City of San Diego purchased Reverse 911® as another tool to rapidly broadcast emergency notifications to the public in the event of an emergency. The system hardware, software and three-year contract cost $180,000. The system was paid for with Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Homeland Security grant funds. Additional per event pricing for the Mass Call® feature during large emergencies wasn't specified.

When activated, the Reverse 911® system uses the 911 telephone database to initiate a voice mail broadcasted message via landline telephones to San Diego residents and businesses in the affected areas. A taped message delivers instructions on how to proceed during the ongoing emergency. Individuals using non-landline cellular and VoIP phones can also register their numbers online to receive the emergency calls.

When would be Reverse 911® be activated?
Reverse 911® would only be activated for the following emergency situations:

• Evacuation notices
• Imminent or perceived threat to health, life or property within the City of San Diego
• Disaster notifications
• Public safety tests to verify data accuracy and system operability

How many calls can be made?

• The Reverse 911® system offers a variety of features designed to meet small, medium, and large-scale—including citywide—notification needs.
  
• For large-scale disasters and emergencies, the City has the ability to activate the system’s Mass Call® feature. This feature provides the ability to use a remotely located telecommunications hub with the capacity to make up to 240,000 30-second community emergency calls per hour.
• During small- and medium-scale emergencies, the Reverse 911® system has the capacity to initiate two 30-second voice-mail broadcasts a minute, giving the City the ability to broadcast to a total of 11,520 telephony devices in an hour.
• If more than the 11,520 voice-mail broadcasts are required in an hour, the City of San Diego can request assistance from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department via mutual aid. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department utilizes a similar Reverse 911® system which includes landlines within the city and can effectively double the broadcasts per hour to 23,040. When more than 23,040 calls need to be made in a given hour, the Mass Call® feature can be activated.

What is the activation process?

• An incident occurs and is reported.
• Reported incidents are routed to the San Diego Police Department Watch Commander.
• The Watch Commander initiates the relay of information through a prescribed chain of command.
• The information ultimately flows to the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Public Safety and Homeland Security (DCOO).
• The DCOO notifies and consults with the Mayor, Chief Operating Officer, and Communications Director (Executive Team).
• Executive Team makes the decision to issue or not issue the Reverse 911® call.
• A series of final organizational steps are followed until the message is ultimately launched by the San Diego Police Department Communications Division.

How are the defined areas chosen?

• Notification ares are defined by subject matter experts (Fire, Police, Water, etc.)
• The number of required calls is calculated by the system based on the defined area.
• The City Executive Team decides on the appropriate call areas and approves the capacity deployment.

Who broadcasts the Reverse 911® messages to the public?

The City of San Diego Police Department is the entity that broadcasts the actual Reverse 911® emergency notifications to the public on behalf of the City of San Diego. Although cellular phone numbers and VoIP numbers are not currently in the system database (because it only contains landline telephone numbers), these numbers can be added to the system. To receive Reverse 911® on a cellular telephone or VoIP, an individual needs to complete the Reverse 911® Cellular/VoIP Addition Authorization Form on the City of San Diego Office of Homeland Security webpage at http://www.sandiego.gov/ohs. Persons using a TTY/TDD phone system will also receive Reverse 911® notifications.

Source: San Diego City Press Release