Rave Wireless Adding BlackBerry Devices to Notification Service

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/05/08

Rave Wireless will be adding BlackBerry devices to the roster of mechanisms by which alerts can be sent out through Rave Alert, its notification service. The company has also added AOL's AIM Express instant messaging service to its list of supported text receiving methods.

The integration with smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM) will provide organizations with the ability to use the Rave Alert system to send messages to users via PIN messaging. A PIN uniquely identifies BlackBerry smartphones on the wireless network. By sending alerts via PIN message, administrators can track who has received and opened the messages.

This new delivery mode will join text messaging, e-mail, RSS, and recorded voice messages as ways to send notifications through Rave Alert.

The integration will also give police officers and other first responders the ability to monitor Rave Guardian personal mobile alarm cases on their BlackBerry smartphones. Rave Guardian is a phone-accessed application that can be armed, and when triggered, automatically sends the user's picture, mobile number, and personal information to campus police. In a statement the company said Rave Guardian works on any cell phone from any provider in the United States and in many cases can display the user's GPS location on a map for campus police or other first responders to provide assistance more quickly.

Integration with the AIM Express service will allow people who use the AOL platform to be notified in the event of an emergency or other announcement.