School Safety: Safeguarding Your Campus
Jul 1, 2011 12:00 PM, By David Edgar
Maximizing school IP investments with emergency mass notification.
Campuses are ramping up security with mass notification.
Because of the incidence of high-profile emergencies occurring on campuses in the last several years, administrators throughout the country are deploying third-generation emergency mass notification systems to help protect the people and property under their watch.
Many campuses are leveraging their existing Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure to protect people and property and to bolster their emergency response strategies. Network-centric emergency mass notification transforms an existing IP network and its connected devices into a highly effective alerting system, unifying multiple communications channels.
Emergency alerts are triggered from a Web-based console from any network-connected PC (subject to authentication and granted permissions), and once activated, are disseminated across the network in the form of intrusive audio/visual messages to desktop computers, as well as mobile devices such as phones, pagers, BlackBerry devices and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
As many traditional alerting channels (sirens, telephones, public address systems, etc.) now have IP interfaces, network-centric notification systems can trigger alerts to those channels as well. From the IP network and telephony communication infrastructure to the existing fire alarm systems, network-centric alerting extends and unifies these systems under a single alert management platform.
The NFPA 72 (2010) National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code is addressing network-centric emergency mass notification, under the name Distributed Recipient Mass Notification System. The code now is addressing the multi-threat scenario by adding a risk analysis phase, in which all types of emergency situations are analyzed in order to design the best solution. The code also allows the integration of fire-alarm systems with more traditional alerting for multi-threat notification with net-centric emergency mass notification, which can augment existing fire-alarm systems for multi-threat alerting.
By leveraging the existing IP network, installation and infrastructure integration can be completed within hours or a few days. In addition, using the IP network saves an institution costs for new network backbone and the associated costs with hiring additional IT professionals and ongoing maintenance costs.
Network-centric alerting consolidates IP and traditional notification channels into a single alerting platform, helping education institutions to meet federal and state regulations and requirements such as section 508, HEA and the Cleary Act. In effect, network-centric emergency mass notification systems extend legacy life-safety systems from limited alerts to modern, third-generation, bi-directional systems capable of reaching multiple alert channels and devices, enabling a faster, safer and more effective response over traditional methods—and in a cost-effective manner.
Advantages
The advantages of a network-based emergency mass notification system for education institutions are numerous:
1.Unified notification: Integrate with many IP-based and legacy notification systems to provide easy and effective emergency notification from a single Web-based console.
2. Rapid and pervasive reach: Distribute emergency alerts to hundreds of thousands of people through network-connected devices in minutes.
3. Web-based system access: Operators can send out alerts from anywhere they have a network connection (given authentication and authorization).
4. Richer message delivery: Deliver detailed and tailored communications based on the threat or scenario (i.e. evacuation instructions, more data requested, call backs).
5. Multi-use/full-spectrum threat response: Have greater capability to respond to any threat or scenario requiring rapid and pervasive mass notification.
6. Confirmed alert receipt and acknowledgment tracking: Track delivery and acknowledge every alert to ensure people have received the information.
7. Personnel accountability: Receive rapid and reliable feedback on status of personnel.
8. Regulatory compliance: IP-based notification complies with federal and state emergency mass notification guidelines and regulations.
9. Cost Savings: By leveraging the existing IP network, an organization can realize substantial cost savings by eliminating multiple, independent systems and reducing infrastructure and support costs.
10. Integration with social networks: With the widespread use of social networks, campuses can have a consistent messaging with all other delivery channels supported.
