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AtHoc Brings IP-Based Emergency Notification System to Texas A&M

By Anil Sharma, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Texas A&M University reportedly has selected AtHoc to provide it with an integrated mass notification solution.

 

According to AtHoc officials, the school will use AtHoc’s so-called “IWSAlerts” software to send out emergency alerts to its campus population through multiple devices, including campus computers, via pop-up alerts, an emergency radio broadcast, cable TV, telephones, mass e-mail and text messages, all from a Web-based console.

 

Company officials say that AtHoc IWSAlerts will bring cost-savings by leveraging existing communications infrastructure.

 

AtHoc IWSAlerts will leverage Texas A&M’s IP network to communicate with desktops and mobile devices, the phone infrastructure, cable TV and campus radio. All of these devices can now be triggered simultaneously.

 

“Texas A&M University has exhibited uncompromising commitment to protect its students and staff,” said Ly Tran, vice president of AtHoc.

 

Tran said that the university has demonstrated vision and technical leadership in building a campus-wide, integrated emergency notification system.

 

Officials say that the AtHoc solution addresses one of the biggest challenges in deploying an emergency notification system: the integration of disparate communications channels.

 

To meet this challenge, officials said the AtHoc IWSAlerts software leverages the new and innovative AtHoc IP Integration Module, which is based on the OASIS CAP 1.1 industry standard, to maximize interoperability with the campus’ existing communications systems.

 

The Texas university joins some elite company.

 

Millions of end users worldwide, in organizations such as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, NASA, Microsoft (News - Alert), Boeing and PricewaterhouseCoopers rely on AtHoc’s unified management systems for their emergency alerting and critical communication needs.

 

AtHoc, Inc., recently announced that the U.S. Army Garrison Vicenza, located in Vicenza, Italy, has deployed AtHoc IWSAlerts to meet its emergency mass notification needs.

 

The deployment will provide alerting to Vicenza personnel as well as personnel located at Camp Darby, the Army garrison near Livorno, Italy.

 

The Vicenza deployment of AtHoc IWSAlerts further expands the Department of Defense’s extensive use of AtHoc’s solution in the United States and throughout the globe.

 

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Anil Sharma is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anil’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Michael Dinan