All technology eventually fails. Cars, phones, tablets, computers, even MessageNet servers.
MessageNet Connections, which is often heavily relied upon for both everyday and emergency communications, is software and web browser-based. However, the hardware that supports it unfortunately cannot last forever. Many customers that have been with MessageNet for many years and have much older servers find that their hardware begins to fail; and the way they’ve got their system set up means that until they can purchase a new server, they’re completely without MessageNet services. In addition, if the server failure stems from the hard-drive, data may not be recoverable and the customer would have to start from scratch.
It’s important to have the right setup to protect data. MessageNet usually recommends having a redundant server setup so that if one server fails, there’s a second one to act as back-up. However, this isn’t always possible, so instead keeping a saved copy of the MessageNet hard-drive can prevent data loss and decrease down-time if a new server is needed.
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.
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.
Most people think of PA as being a simple audio tool. Pick up a phone and speak and your voice will be transmitted to speakers all over the building. While MessageNet does have the capability to transmit to any combination of speakers, our PA system has a lot more to offer.
Reply to a PA message via the two-way intercom feature.
Record and store thousands of recorded message for later play. Most systems limit you to a handful of recorded messages.
Schedule recorded messages to automatically play once or repeatedly.
Speak live and automatically record what was said for future use and for documentation.
Have a typed message spoken aloud through text-to-speech software that supports multiple languages.
Flash high-intensity lights to get attention.
Have a text message scroll across the PA device.
These additional capabilities make for a far more versatile and useful system that can meet the needs of many different situations. As an audio and visual PA system, it can be used in environments with deaf and blind people and is also ideal for emergencies, as people can be rendered deaf or blind in an instant by an explosion or other type of disaster.
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.
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.