Texas A&M Goes AtHoc for Campus Notification
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 04/10/09
Texas A&M University has selected AtHoc IWSAlerts software for its integrated mass notification system to provide campus-wide emergency alerting. The university's emergency managers with alerting authority will be able to trigger messages from Internet Explorer and send out information through computer desktops, SMS text messages, BlackBerry devices, and phone calls. They can select from predefined alerts or create a custom alert and to notify students and staff about the emergency. Delivery is tracked in real time for response and accountability reporting. At the same time, alerts also can reach the campus cable, TV, and radio station. Texas A&M has about 48,000 students.
AtHoc IWSAlerts software leverages an IP integration module based on the OASIS common alerting protocol (CAP) 1.1, a format for exchanging emergency alerts and public warnings over multiple kinds of alerting technologies. The format was approved as a standard in 2005.
Another IWSAlerts user, the University of California, Los Angeles, deployed alerts using the software during an earthquake and a wildfire. UCLA uses the application's text messaging services as part of BruinAlert, the campus' multimedia system for emergency notification.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.