MessageNet

Tag: security

  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • Security in Schools

    In an emergency, like the mass-shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, seconds matter enormously. An event of that nature is impossible to predict, and thus impossible to completely prevent, but if improving the speed and effectiveness of emergency communications can save at least one life, then it’s vital to do so. An emergency management and notification system needs to be able to provide specific, relevant instructions to different groups of people, give different sets of information to students, teachers, and parents, and to quickly notify and inform the police or other emergency responders.

    Security features that can warn of an impending emergency are also vital. Features such as glass-break detectors, wireless panic buttons, fire panel integration, audio/visual PA, cameras, and location-aware way-finding can prevent bullying, save lives, and overall make schools a safer place without the hassle, expense, limitations or risk of armed security guards. While a security guard could provide some level of protection, it’s very expensive to employ even one inflatable water slides for sale. Also, a security guard cannot be in more than one room at a time, while cameras can be in every room and can project a live feed to first emergency responders and police, providing situational awareness so they can be prepared for the situation.

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  • Unifying Digital Signage with Safety and Security

    Digital signage has become a mainstay of public communications. In public spaces, it is commonly used for displaying video, PowerPoints and web content. MessageNet Systems greatly extends these common features by offering MediaPort digital signage, a revolutionary, unique and unprecedented way of enabling emergency communications on the same devices used for everyday communication, available now.

    MediaPort’s capabilities also include video-conferencing, as well as real-time live audio and visual public address. Further, these advancements meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and constitute a major part of MessageNet’s success in unifying safety, security and communication systems. MediaPort digital signage, powered by the Connections platform, provides all of this in addition to standard digital signage capability in a much-needed way to address safety and security needs inflatable santa claus.

    “It’s important to have every day and emergency capabilities on the same device,” says Kevin Brown, CEO of MessageNet Systems. “If they’re not on the same device, you can get different information competing for attention. An emergency message could go unnoticed because of a loud video playing on a different screen. With our Connections platform, however, the same digital sign can function as an everyday and emergency device. An emergency message is treated with a higher priority and will pause or override a lower-priority message, so there’s no chance of it getting lost amongst other media.”

    This unification allows digital signage to play a major role in emergency communication. MediaPort provides features such as location-aware evacuation routing, displaying and recording security-camera video, automated alert messages, gives clear instructions, and interrupts any lower-priority messages so that the emergency message is guaranteed to come through. These capabilities can also be used for everyday purposes. MediaPort can also be used for everyday wayfinding, video-conferencing, and displaying videos, images and web pages. Additionally, basic features such as scrolling tickers and text messages can be used to facilitate communications among customers and staff or provide updates of emergency situations.

    Connections can be easily integrated with digital signage that customers have already installed and can be expanded as well. Using digital signage with Connections provides significant ROI because it eliminates the cost of printing, distributing, and installing traditional printed media. Also, only one system is necessary, because it provides both everyday and emergency capabilities and can be used for customer-oriented content or to facilitate staff communication.

    For more information on MediaPort and the Connections server software platform, please visit:
    http://www.messagenetcommunicationsystems.com/home/products/digital-signage/

    [Syndicated Release]

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  • Now Offering Theater Emergency Management and Security (TEMS) system

    MessageNet Systems is offering movie theaters a much-needed way to address their emerging safety and security needs, in the wake of the recent tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. This solution, called Theater Emergency Management and Security, or “TEMS,” leverages the power and flexibility of its time- and field-tested “Connections” platform to meet the specific security needs of movie theaters and similar public venues. The solution is available now.

    The shooting in Aurora, Colorado, has underscored the urgent need for such a solution. “The employment of uniformed police officers is a short-term, stop-gap measure meant to reassure patrons, but in the long-term, the presence of an officer or armed guard is not economically feasible and could have the effect of constantly reigniting customers’ fears,” says Kevin Brown, CEO of MessageNet Systems. “To preserve profitability, theaters require a permanent, technology-based solution that is comprehensive and cost-effective, and doesn’t further encumber staff or be obtrusive to customers. Because perpetrators will continue to modify their means and methods of attack, the security system deployed must have the flexibility to evolve to meet these changing demands. Theaters that fail to address these vulnerabilities increase their exposure risk to another tragedy and incur significant financial liability.”

    The TEMS solution utilizes features of the MessageNet’s Connections platform and is designed for theaters and their evolving safety and security needs. The full TEMS feature-set is customizable for each theater but can include devices and capabilities such as door-open detectors, cameras and video, panic and duress buttons, and fire-related emergency management through an interface with existing fire panel equipment. “A typical TEMS integration is affordable, quick to install and easy to use because the Connections platform is designed to integrate, connect and work with existing technologies that are already deployed, while providing the ability to add new technologies as they are needed,” says Brown. “It is easy for a multiplex to install a few cameras and door-open detectors on the exit doors, which can be wirelessly connected to the Connections platform and provide nearly instant notification and situational-awareness to staff and first responders.” TEMS can also provide a significant ROI because it provides daily-use abilities such as preventing theater hopping, quickly handling unruly patrons, supporting digital signage, enabling staff messaging, and more.

    For more information on the TEMS solution, please visit:
    http://www.messagenetcommunicationsystems.com/home/solutions/theater-security-emergency-management/

    [Syndicated Release]

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  • Security at the London 2012 Olympics

    For the 2012 Olympics, London, which already had a large number of security cameras, did everything from install surface-to-air missiles to surveillance systems for infectious diseases. One of the most important innovations for the Olympic Games, however, is probably the introduction of the Apollo network. For the first time in Olympic history, Private Mobile Services Radio provider is a sponsorship category. Airwave, the company that built the Airwave Network, in use by London emergency services since the emergency communications debacle of the 2005 bombings of the London Underground, is the official sponsor in that category. For the London Olympic Games, Airwave built a completely new communications network, called the Apollo Network, that was separate from the existing emergency services Airwave network. This network ensures communication across London with no interference from other radio systems. Airwave also improved the existing emergency services radio network, increasing its capacity, especially in the areas where security would be of bigger concern.

    Radio communication was first proposed in London after the mobile phone network, which had been the primary emergency communications system, was overloaded during the aftermath of the bombing of the London Underground. Since then, the Airwave radio network, implemented in 2006 as the Connect Project, has proven to be exceptional, especially underground, and secure and efficient. The Airwave network was tested by a real emergency situation in during the 2011 riots. This made the network ideal for the increased security measures taken for the Olympic Games, although a separate network was required in order to retain the same levels of efficiency and resilience.

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