MessageNet

Category: Emergency Communication

  • The Benefits of an All-in-One Device

    When it comes to an emergency communication system, the more methods of communication, the better. But if you wan’t signs and screens and speakers, that results in an unsightly mess of devices cluttering up your wall. Plus, people aren’t sure which device they should be looking at. On top of that, all of these different devices are expensive to purchase and expensive to install. You don’t want to miss out on something that could potentially save lives, but you also have to stick to a budget and there’s a limit on the amount of wall space and network ports available. The solution is an all-in-one device.

    emergency devices installed on a wall

    What Is an All-in-One Device?

    An all-in-one device is a single device that has multiple capabilities. For an emergency communication system, an all-in-one device should at minimum have speakers and a text board so that it can deliver both audio and visual messages. Some have more capabilities than that. For example, MessageNet’s Omni device has speakers, an LCD screen (which can display not just text-based messages, but also images and videos), a microphone, wireless panic buttons, a camera, and flashers, all built in to the same device. On top of that, there are many other benefits to having an all-in-one device.

    Easy Installation

    An all-in-one device is a lot easier to install. There’s only one device that needs to be mounted on the wall, only one device that needs cable pulled. The wall isn’t cluttered up with a lot of different devices that compete for space, attention, and power outlets.

    Lower Cost

    An all-in-one device may be more expensive than each single device individually, but the cost of devices with only one feature each adds up pretty quickly. Investing in one device saves money overall because the value an all-in-one device provides is far greater than any other device by itself. If you think about the cost of a single, one-feature device as the price you pay for that feature, then add them all up to see how much it would cost to have each of the features of the all-in-one device, the all-in-one device will end up being less expensive per feature.

    Plus, an all-in-one device is much less expensive to install. If you hire an installer, they’ll only need to pull cable for one device and hang one device on the wall, saving you money on the installation cost as well. Some devices, like the MessageNet Omni, may not even require an installer because they’re so easy to hang.

    Easier Maintenance

    An all-in-one device is also a lot easier for your IT and maintenance departments to manage. With only one device needed per location, staff only have to troubleshoot and maintain one device instead of several. This also makes it easier to manage the network, since fewer devices need to be on it. IT and maintenance staff are often overworked as it is, so it’ll make their jobs a lot easier and free them up to focus on other tasks if they don’t have to manage and maintain more devices for your emergency communication system.

    Messaging Convenience

    Getting an emergency message out to those who need the warning is also a lot easier with an all-in-one device. The notification’s recipients don’t have to try to decide which device to look at if they’re all going off at once. They’ll know there’s only one device that they’ll need to look at in the event of an emergency. That one device will provide them with all of the information they’ll need and, in the case of the Omni, can even alert them to the fact that there’s a message that needs their attention with its flashers.

    —

    , ,

  • The Importance of Audio-Visual Communication to Emergency Notification

    How we communicate with each other is constantly evolving. For millennia, any communication that wasn’t in person was by necessity visual. Advances in audio technology, such as the telephone and public address systems, turned communication trends towards the audio for a long time. Making pages over PA systems and calling people on their phones was the fastest and easiest way to get in touch with people. Emergency and critical communications systems mirrored that preference. They focused on paging and on phone calling. But recently, there’s been a shift back towards visual communication. It’s vital that emergency notification adapt to keep up.

    A Shift to Visual

    Even within everyday communication, there has been a shift towards a preference for the visual. People would rather receive an e-mail or a text than a phone call or a voice mail. There are many reasons for this, including convenience, but a major contributor is that important information is easy to reference with no action required on the part of the recipient. Everyone’s remembers listening to a voice mail multiple times in order to write down a phone number. Now, if you leave a voice mail with important information in it, a lot of people will see that as an inconvenience and wonder why you didn’t just text or e-mail them instead.

    Direct messaging isn’t the only place we expect more visual communication. Increasingly, people want subtitles on videos, even in their own language, so that they can be viewed with the volume turned down or understood even when in a noisy environment. If a speaker has a different accent from our own, subtitles can make it easier to understand. So why don’t we expect subtitles for paging and announcements?

    Audio and Visual Public Address

    Even in normal, everyday announcements, having visual communication be a part of the page is extremely helpful. People aren’t always paying attention immediately and could miss the first part of an audio-only PA announcement that is then not repeated. Environments can be noisy, or people could be wearing headphones. Then there’s the fact that some people are more visual learners and would have a harder time immediately comprehending something that is only audio. Providing visual communication on top of audio makes all communications accessible to the deaf and blind communities, helping organizations ensure ADA compliance. Text may also assist people whose first language may not be English and who might be able to read English better than they can hear it. Everyone deserves to have equal access to information.

    Audiovisual PA in Emergencies

    Emergencies are unpredictable and can be very noisy environments. Between people shouting and screaming or the sounds of of a storm, gunshots, an explosion (which could render the people nearby at least temporarily deaf), or other loud noises, the people you’re trying to reach might be unable to hear an audio page over the PA. A visual component to your emergency communication system thus becomes vital to communicating the information people will need to save lives. People also often look to a second source of information to corroborate what they’re hearing before they actually take action. Providing a visual component to your PA announcement can provide this second source of information.

    MessageNet’s Audiovisual Solution

    MessageNet’s solution is audiovisual PA. Instead of having speakers alone, MessageNet’s devices are signs that have both speakers and a screen so that both audio and visual messages can be played. Some audiovisual devices have LED text boards, but MessageNet’s Omni includes an LCD screen that can scroll messages, display images, including evacuation maps, and videos as needed in addition to speakers and flashers that can get people’s attention.

    —

    , ,

  • The Future of PA Is Text-to-Speech

    Public address has been in use since the time of Ancient Greece in the form of megaphones. Modern PA and paging systems were invented in 1910 by the Automatic Electric Company in the form of a loudspeaker. Since then, they’ve been a central component of communications systems. They’re used to make announcements in schools, to amplify performances during concerts, and much more. They’re also an integral part of emergency communications systems. In some cases, paging is the emergency communication system.

    Because of its prevalence in emergency communications, it’s important to take advantage of the latest advances in technology to ensure that paging messages are as understandable and intelligible as possible.

    megaphone used for public address

    The Introduction of Text-to-Speech

    People have been attempting to build machines to replicate the human voice for centuries. If legends are to be believed, the earliest of these was as long ago as 1000 CE. Between 1779 and 1950, many succeeded in building bellows-operated replicas of human mouth and vocal cords that could actually reproduce both vowel and consonants. It wasn’t until 1950, however, that computers were first used to try to synthesize speech. 1968 saw the very first English-language text-to-speech engine created in Japan. Early on, however, text-to-speech technically worked but was so difficult to understand that it wasn’t a practical option for communication.

    But what has text-to-speech got to do with public address?

    Text-to-Speech and Public Address

    In an emergency situation, public address can be useful for reaching large numbers of people at once within the same location or building. However, someone has to use the paging system and make the announcement. This person may be panicked, making their message difficult to understand. In addition, that person may need to evacuate, depending on the nature of the emergency, and therefore would not be able to stay to continue to deliver potentially life-saving information. This is where text-to-speech comes in.

    With an emergency communication system like MessageNet, messages can be created and saved ahead of time that address any emergency or contingency that you can think of. These messages can go to any devices connected to the MessageNet system, including public address and paging systems. The message is delivered via text-to-speech to audio devices so that the message says exactly what it’s supposed to and provides all of the information necessary to listeners so that they can take appropriate actions. The message can repeat as many times as desired, including continuously for the duration the message is active. No one has to stay behind and no one has to try to give a detailed message in an emergency situation.

    Improved Emergency Messaging

    The only thing anyone would need to do is to start the message running in the first place, which can be done with a few clicks from either a computer or a mobile device. Everyone knows ahead of time that any emergency messages that go provide exactly the information needed, no second attempts needed because someone was making an announcement in a stressful situation. Text-to-speech often sounds more official to many, so listeners may be more likely to immediately obey instructions. On top of that, pre-saved text-to-speech messages can be launched more quickly and eliminate potential mistakes from human error.

    —

    , ,

  • Why WiFi Is Better Than Data for Emergency Communication

    The Convenience of Cellular Data

    Chances are good that you can’t imagine not having cellular data (3G, 4G, LTE, etc.) available for your phone. The convenience of having Internet access no matter where you are is now such an intrinsic part of life for many people. Cellular data has actually been around since 1991, when it was introduced as 2G, and has only got faster and faster in the years since. 2019 will see the gradual introduction of 5G!

    Mobile Data in Emergencies

    Unfortunately, cellular data becomes less convenient in emergency situations. In emergencies, everyone tries to use their cell phones at the same time, overloading the network. Cell towers aren’t meant to handle the volume of traffic that comes from all mobile phone owners trying to use them at the exact same time. Depending on the emergency, there could be physical damage to the towers that prevents phone calls or data usage on cellular networks from going through. In the end, the result is the same – emergencies can result in communication delays that can affect not only personal communications, but also official emergency communications.

    For example, cellular networks were completely overwhelmed with communications and shut down during the London Subway Bombing, 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombings, and Hurricane Sandy. After the London Subway bombing, because the network failure impacted the emergency responders’ ability to communicate with each other as well, London authorities invested in communications technology that would be specifically for emergency responders and the authorities. The Boston Marathon bombings sparked rumors that government authorities purposely shut off cell networks so that they could not be used to detonate explosives. Hurricane Sandy damaged the cell towers to the point where extensive repairs were needed before they could be used again.

    Depending on WiFi

    There’s a reason why most people prefer to connect to a wireless network when one is available. Even if it’s a public WiFi, often it’s faster than using cell phone data and it doesn’t use up your limited high-speed cellular data. Often, there are fewer people using a WiFi network than there are using data at any given time. This may be because of the limits of the wireless signal’s range or because it’s password-protected and only certain people are allowed access to that network.

    In an emergency situation, using a wireless network instead of relying on data to send out emergency alerts is preferred. Not only is the network faster and more reliable, but it also may help ease the congestion on an already-swamped mobile network. Some emergencies, like Hurricane Sandy, may also knock out power, and therefore WiFi along with it, but in many cases, wireless networks may still be active even if the cellular networks are down. Cellular service providers may be working to improve their infrastructure so it can more easily handle an increased volume of calls and texts. They already do this for sports games, concerts, and other events that see large crowds in one location. But emergencies can’t be predicted, so it’s best to rely on your wireless network first and leave using cellular data as a backup. It’s also important to have a contingency plan for if both are unavailable.

    —

    , ,

  • Why You Should Use Your Emergency Communication System Every Day

    Help sign

    Emergency Communication: An Unfortunate Necessity

    While it would be nice to live in a world where emergency communication wasn’t necessary, it’s unfortunately not the world we live in. Every organization, from schools to companies should have some kind of emergency communication system. Even the Gotham Police Department has the Bat Signal and the Bat Phone. Most emergency communication systems aren’t quite as simple as flicking the switch on a spotlight or picking up a phone, however, so it’s important to know how to use it properly.

    The Bat Signal

    The Problem with Infrequent Usage

    Practice Makes Perfect

    Using your emergency communication system regularly is key. This does mean running emergency drills on a regular basis so that you can be sure that not only does everyone know how to use the system but they also know exactly what to expect when an emergency alert needs to go out.

    Run Regular Drills

    Schedule regular drills for a variety of different emergency messages. Make sure your staff (and students, if you work in education) are aware that a drill will be occurring. A staff member who would be in charge of sending the alert in a real emergency should be the one to send the alert for the drill. If you have different types of emergency alerts, such as active shooter, tornado, extreme weather, fire, etc., then you’ll need to run tests for each one. This will ensure that not only does everyone know what to do in an emergency but also that they know exactly what to expect should an emergency arise. Plus, you’re regularly testing the entire system to make sure it functions as it should in an emergency situation, rather than waiting until an emergency occurs to discover that something isn’t working.

    Use the System Every Day

    Even better than scheduling regular drills is to just use the system every day. MessageNet Connections has many uses far beyond just emergency communication. You can use it for a bell schedule, posting lunch menus, displaying announcements, requesting meetings, contests, trivia, and more. Devices like the MediaPort and the Omni can display videos as well as images, PowerPoints, and text.

    MessageNet Connections is far more than just a spotlight in the sky or a phone call to Batman. The system’s versatility gives it a wide range of everyday activities that can be done. The more that is done daily by your staff, the more experienced at using the system they’ll be. If an emergency situation arose, they would already be familiar and comfortable with using the system. Administration would also be more familiar with all of the capabilities of the system and so could design emergency alerts so that they utilize the full potential of the system. Emergency alerts can therefore reach more people in the event of an emergency scenario.

    —

    , , ,

  • Best Practices for a Safe Environment

    Last week, I wrote about how important it is to have a plan for emergency events. More lives are saved when a plan is in place and everyone knows what to do, rather than simply reacting to the situation.
    The Council of Educational Facilities Planners International have released Safe Schools: A Best Practices Guide, for that very reason. The guide, available in PDF form for free online, emphasizes the need for communication in a crises. In fact, page 7 of the guide is titled Crisis Communications.
    The guide lists recommended devices, including PA, cameras, multiple communication devices, broadcast messaging, and a plan, all of which MessageNet Connections can provide. We go a step further, however, and use the emergency system for everyday communications as well, to ensure that users won’t forget how to use the system before an emergency happened.

    —

  • Using Web Links in Emergency Messaging

    The internet can be a powerful messaging tool, especially when it comes to getting specific information out to specific people in an emergency situation. MessageNet Connections can provide links to web pages that pop up and load on PCs when the message is sent. This type of message can also be sent to LCD digital signage screens via Mediaport controllers.

    This capability is important because it gives organizations the ability to provide everyone with the specific instructions that they need rather than general information that is not specific enough to be actionable or may not apply to everyone. These messages can be created and saved in advance, so different types of emergencies can be planned for.buy sumo suits For example, if there is a severe weather emergency, the national weather service webpage can be displayed on LCD screens, while specific relevant sections of an online emergency preparedness manual can pop up on the computers of the emergency response or security team.

    Displaying a webpage on an LCD screen can be easily set up in advance as a media message with web page selected as the media type, this can be set up in the Hyperlink section of the message editor. To pop a web page up on a computer, PC Alert has to be resident on computers receiving the message. If you elect, the MessageNet support staff can manage this process for you or instruct your staff in its application.

    —

    , , , ,

  • Why is Clery Act Compliance Still a Problem?

    With a daughter about to leave for college, I began to look into the Jeanne Clery Act. Professionally, I was surprised, and as a parent extremely concerned, that even after almost 25 years since its enactment, compliance to the Clery Act remains a problem across many U.S. campuses. A safe learning environment should be a right for any college student or employee. Why is compliance such an issue when there are solutions easily available?

    The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act, signed into law in 1990 and originally known as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act, places numerous and intensive reporting requirements on colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs. These requirements include the following zorb balls canada:

    • Issuing “timely” warnings of crimes that represent a serious or ongoing threat to the safety of all students and campus employees.
    • Publish and distribute an Annual Campus Security Report to all current and prospective students and employees.
    • Devise emergency response, notification, testing policies and publish these policies in their Annual Campus Security Report.
    • Compile and report fire data and publish annual fire safety reports.
    • Maintain a public crime log of the most recent 8 years, disclosing crime statistics for eight major categories (Criminal Homicide, Sexual Offenses, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Arson, Motor Vehicle theft, and Arrests and/or disciplinary referrals for Liquor-law; Drug-law; and illegal weapons possession violations)
    • Enact policies and procedures to handle reports of missing students.

    Many emergency communication systems have proven ineffective for mass notification of ‘timely’ warnings during an emergency as these systems are reliant on mass dial to cell phones, which depends on the capacity of the cellular towers servicing the area. These towers are designed to meet the needs of normal daily communications, far less than the volume required during an emergency. When tower capacity is exceeded, messages are delayed and even discarded by the cellular service due to the ‘bottleneck’ of outgoing bandwidth.

    MessageNet Connections is an on-site, network-based, emergency communications systems; it doesn’t have the capacity limitations of mass dialing and texting systems and can deliver thousands of messages simultaneously. Additionally, Connections can provide location-specific messages instead of a ‘blanket’ message as well as specific instructions in relation to the event or emergency. Location-specific messaging can save lives by providing unique directions to individuals to seek safety with respect to the location of the danger at hand.

    MessageNet Connections also provides detailed logs of all messages, including both emergency notifications and daily communications. This information trail is very helpful in meeting Clery Act requirements for compiling and publishing annual security reports.

    Lastly, MessageNet Connections integrates both a daily communication system with an emergency notification system. Staff become very comfortable sending and receiving messages since it’s part of day-to-day operations. In the event of an emergency, staff members will react and respond quicker because they are very familiar with operating the system as part of their daily work. Minutes saved at a critical time can minimize dangers and save lives.

    —

    , ,

  • The Unification of Safety, Security & Emergency Communication

    In the MessageNet Connections video found on our home page (and on the right side of this post) we try to provide the viewer with a concise introduction to the features and benefits of our product and describe how Connections addresses the safety, security and communication challenges facing organizations today. What follows is the complete text of what I said in the video with an explanation of what I said and its importance to you, interleaved on a point by point basis.

    “Emergencies, such as 9/11, Virginia-Tech, the London subway bombing, hurricane Katrina, and many others, have demonstrated that text messaging and mass dialing phones does not work.”

    Many emergency communication and mass-notification systems deployed now and in the past have relied heavily on mass dialing phones and text messaging as the primary or exclusive way to notify people. For all of the significant incidences mentioned above, the internet is full of documentation that these methods have failed to effectively direct or even notify the affected people.

    “These methods of notification fail because they don’t notify the majority of people fast enough to protect them from danger.”

    Many emergencies evolve rapidly, often requiring life saving decisions to be made within a few minutes or even just a few seconds. For example, the shooter at Virginia Tech killed over 30 people in less than 10 minutes. A simple Google search of the incident reveals that many people received the warning as late as hours after the events occurred or didn’t receive it at all.

    “On-site, network based emergency communication systems are needed to deliver information and instructions fast enough and specific enough to save lives.”

    Mass dialing and text messaging are essentially completely dependent on the capacity of the cell phone towers servicing the area. These towers are designed to meet the needs of normal daily communications, far less than the volume that would be required to notify everyone in an affected area during an emergency. Though these systems advertise that they can send a large number of text or calls very quickly, the cell phone towers are limited and the delivery of the phones calls and text messages can be delayed and messages can be thrown away by the towers entirely. On-site, network based emergency communication systems like MessageNet Connections, which uses the high speed enterprise communication backbone, do not have these capacity limitations and can deliver many thousands of messages in a few seconds. Additionally, because Connections communicates to both mobile and fixed-location devices, it can provide instructions unique to the needs of people in specific areas during an emergency so they have the information to make better decisions that can save their lives.

    “MessageNet Connections combines your emergency communication systems, with your everyday communications forming one, unified system.”

    Connections, as the name implies, communicates across the spectrum of communication systems and devices, such as PA systems, fire and life safety systems, and security systems, integrating them with your PC network and phone systems to form a very cost-effective system that presents a unified functional capability to your staff.

    “By having everything integrated, your emergency communications are given immediate priority delivery, with the ability to override daily communications, ensuring that your emergency messages won’t be drowned out by daily communications.”

    As people become aware of impending danger, their stress levels quickly rise. This effect greatly reduces people’s ability to process information effectively and make decisions that can save their lives. By using the same communication equipment for emergencies that’s used for daily purposes means that Connections will suppress normal communications during the delivery of high priority messages reducing the stress and confusion.

    “And, because your staff is using Connections daily, you know the system works and you can be confident that your staff will know how to operate it in an emergency.”

    Study after study has shown that people under stress fail at executing procedures that they are not used to doing. By unifying emergency and daily communications under the same functional system, your staff can use the same skills and behavior when communicating and responding to emergencies that they use daily.

    “MessageNet Connections is a multi-user system that allows your staff to send important messages from almost any device through a central system to virtually any combination of other devices.”

    MessageNet Connections integrates your existing phone systems, cell phones, PA systems, fire and life safety systems, security systems, camera surveillance systems, and e-mail systems with panic buttons, sensors and your network of PCs.

    “In addition to emergency communications, Connections is a great tool for everyday communications as well. It lets you get the most out of your investment in existing communications systems and appliances.”

    Because Connections allows you to integrate your disparate communication, safety and security systems into one unified system you derive new synergies between these systems and deliver a real return on investment.

    —

    , ,

  • The Benefits of Barricading

    In light of the recent shootings at the Navy Base in Washington, D.C., it’s important to think about what our responses should be in an emergency. In situations with an active shooter, locking the door is one of the quickest things to do for people to protect themselves, but it’s often not enough. A locked door isn’t difficult for a determined shooter to shoot or break through. A barricaded door can protect better against bullets and can more effectively prevent an intruder from entering a room or breaking through a door.

    However, barricades take time to create and a messaging system that can get instructions to the correct people in seconds rather than minutes can save many lives. A network-centric emergency communication system such as MessageNet Connections would be able to get a message out more quickly, which is vital in a situation where every second counts.

    Emergency communication systems also needs to be location-aware and to be able to send different messages to different locations. In the event of an armed intruder, a message sent to cell phones wouldn’t be able to provide accurate instructions for everyone, because the same message would be sent out to everyone regardless of location. A system that can send messages out based on location, even including building and room number, could provide instructions to non-affected buildings requesting evacuation, while providing instructions to those in the same building as the shooter to barricade the doors. This would also save more lives, because an action that would save people in one location could endanger people in another unless everyone has the appropriate directions for their location and its circumstances.

    —