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| Challenge |
| Universities and colleges are looking at campus security more seriously than ever.
Campuses have placed alerting systems at the top of their priority list to protect students and staff in case
of an emergency or threat. The main concern for schools is the threat of terror and criminal acts, as well as
fires, accidents and extreme weather such as earthquakes, tornados and tsunamis. Warning thousands of individuals
quickly about the situation and delivering clear instructions for action help ensure a quick, effective and safe
response. |
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| Campuses must deploy a reliable, state-of-the-art solution that complements and
leverages their existing communication channels and infrastructure for disseminating relevant information to
both the general population and specific groups of people, through multiple means of communication, in a matter
of seconds. |
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| Audience |
| Campus emergency managers, security managers, crisis management teams, fire and
safety personnel, IT managers and campus executives |
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| Sectors |
| Higher Education: Universities and colleges |
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| Solution |
IWSAlerts is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solution that turns a schools’ existing
IP network into a comprehensive emergency notification system. IWSAlerts integrates with other alerting channels
such as PA communication, sirens, telephony and text-messaging services and provides a single, unified console for
managing, triggering and controlling the emergency notification process across all delivery devices. This allows
campuses to quickly and efficiently communicate a consistent yet individually tailored alert to students,
personnel, first responders, senior management, security managers, parents and surrounding communities.
The information is sent via multiple and redundant means, including desktops and laptops, cell phones, PDA’s,
Blackberries, landline phones, PA systems and sirens.
Alerts can be activated in seconds, reaching thousands of people on the network in an average of one minute.
And because the network uses multi-directional communication, acknowledgements from every alerted recipient
can also be tracked in order to provide an instantaneous picture of personnel status and accountability.
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| Figure 1: IWSAlerts Manages Emergency Notification Process |
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| Solution Benefits and Capabilities |
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Provides rapid mass notification using existing IP network |
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Notifies personnel through multiple channels (PCs, cell phones, PDAs, pagers,
Blackberries, computer kiosks, landline phones, sirens, PA systems and digital billboards)
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Consolidates IP and traditional notification channels into a single alerting platform |
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Sends intrusive audio-visual desktop alerts to recipients |
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Sends alerts to other organizations such as emergency services and neighboring facilities |
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Section 508 compliant - Provides alerting for special needs community |
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Tracks recipient feedback in real-time |
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Establishes standard operating procedures for emergency notifications |
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Manages alert recipient information and integrates with user directories |
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Integrates with sources of emergency information such as the National Weather Service |
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Allows operators to trigger alerts from any Web browser using secure login credentials |
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