Just this past week, less than a year after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, disaster again struck in the form of a gunman at Northern Illinois University. Such situations are sadly part of the concerns today for any contingency planner in virtually any organization. They happened before, and no doubt will happen again. Any kind of disaster with a probability of 100% should be at the top of the rack-and-stack for any serious recovery planner. With this in mind, I have written now and again about emergency notification systems designed to get the word out after a catastrophic event. I have stressed the need for “4Ci” (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) for a military level of control in any disaster response and from time to time highlight products that aid in 4Ci. With this in mind, I am dedicating this month’s column to a 4Ci update.

The challenge of deploying an effective emergency mass notification system is a growing concern facing nearly every commercial business, school, community, and municipality in the country today. All organizations need the capability to detect a crisis situation, develop an effective communication method, disseminate the information, and track the response in a timely manner. A successful solution that proactively delivers relevant, prompt alert communications in emergency situations saves time and resources, ensures productivity, and most importantly, saves lives.

There are many such systems out there today; run a web search and see for yourself. All of them can help you from reinventing the wheel and many are downright affordable for the control and peace of mind they can bring to your organization. Some solutions, however, are largely ineffective in today’s converged communications world. Some systems are enterprise-focused and function only when the user is in the building or has email access. Some are also not suitable for a residential offering or any type of mass market solution (e.g. “I’ve fallen and can’t get up!”). Many have no knowledge of network capacity and fail to employ notification congestion control to ensure timely message delivery. Some have little leeway for user-defined delivery options or other kinds of customization.

An ideal notification system is one that enables an organization to respond appropriately to compelling emergency events (tornado warnings, hurricane/tsunami warnings, terrorism events, amber alerts, campus alerts, hazardous chemical spills, medical pandemics, etc.) with communications to all stakeholders – anytime, anywhere.

A few months ago I highlighted an enterprise-based system by a company called Telecom Recovery Inc. http://www.telecomrecovery.com. It has many of the features that are desirable in setting up and maintaining 4Ci.

Since that time, I have found a few systems that were actually what could be considered “carrier grade” systems on a par with what a phone company could do – if they were inclined to do so. If you are a telecommunications carrier, I suggest that you contact NeuStar. Neustar performs numerous services for carriers such as telephone number administration, U.S. Common Short Codes (short codes for direct response advertisers as well as content providers used to reach mobile subscribers across multiple networks and types of devices to create marketing relationships for brand placement and messaging). Additionally, NeuStar provides various infrastructure services such as technology migrations and network optimization. So, what is NeuStar best known for? They manage the LNP data base. As the custodian of the LNP (Local Number Portability) database, NeuStar imparts a beneficial service for disaster recovery and 4Ci. From a carrier perspective, LNP is in my opinion the hottest technology going for maintaining 4Ci after the “big one” hits.

When disasters strike central offices, telephone service in and out of them needs to be redirected. The trouble is, traditional methods of doing this (such as call forwarding or remote call forwarding) are functions of the switch. That means when the switch goes under water or burns up, so do these features. Case in point, about 34 central offices in Louisiana that went under water during Hurricane Katrina.

NeuStar offers a service called Port DR^™ (Disaster Recovery) whereby service providers can point traffic away from a disabled central office switch and toward another switch or technology that is still working. This porting can occur either within the affected service provider’s network or to an affiliated network, or to a competitor’s network. The actual process is largely the same as when you “port” your landline phone to a wireless phone, or vice versa. What’s really cool about it is that NeuStar, using the LNP data base, can restore services for anything from a single phone line to an entire area code. During Katrina, some of the 504 area code for Louisiana was actually redirected to Dallas, Houston and Atlanta! Regrettably, this solution is available only to communications carriers. If you are an enterprise user or other consumer of telecom services, about all you can do is badger your local provider to contact NeuStar to implement Port DR^™. To learn more see http://www.neustar.biz.

Just because you are not a common carrier, however, does not mean you cannot avail yourself of services that are carrier grade. A service worth a look at can be found in a company called Velleros, Inc. As an emerging industry leader in carrier-grade mass notification solutions, Velleros has developed a product called AlertSlinger^™, a telecom-grade, service provider solution that is capable of delivering content-triggered alerts and web-based applications for emergency notification.

AlertSlinger^™ is based on patent-pending technology that monitors time-critical feeds for Internet-based information. For example, an All-Hazards Gateway module in the product monitors National Weather Service feeds for all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean, utilizing National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and Department of Commerce information for public messages. This information is then screened against an alerting database developed with the customer to determine precisely how the information is to be disseminated, under what conditions, and or what the triggering event is. Consider, for instance, a 911 center that has experienced a telephone cable cut. Most 911 centers are engineered with diverse routes. Suppose, for example, 24 circuits take one route and 24 take the alternate route. Since Murphy is alive and well in telecommunications, a cable cut that knocks out half the capacity will probably occur on a busy Saturday night, during a severe weather event, etc. Blockage of 911 calls will occur. In the worst case, a 911 caller will get a recording that states “all circuits are busy now, please try your call again later.” With AlertSlinger™, a number of things could happen with these calls. A listing of callers who tried to call 911 but could not get through could actually be text messaged to another working device, such as a wireless phone or VoIP phone. The same kind of thing can happen for commercial organizations under the same circumstances. A call to a stock trading company that experienced blockage due to a cable cut could receive a record of who tried to call but was blocked. This record could be delivered to another device in a number of formats, such as email, instant message, etc. That data in turn could be bounced up against another database, such as the customer billing database for the carrier or stock trading company to identify the customer. After that, a nice letter of apology for the outage or gift certificate could be sent to the home of the caller in order to maintain customer goodwill. The possibilities are boundless.

Obviously a system like this can be valuable in a disaster since AlertSlinger™ effectively turns phones into automated emergency warning devices. It sends notification messages to existing landline and cellular phones, handheld data devices (pagers and PDAs), VoIP phones, satellite phones, computers, etc. Special emergency devices are not required; messages can be sent via voice call, short message text, email, voicemail, or data session.

The solution has the capability to distribute information over any type of network connection -- wireline copper, broadband VoIP, broadband data, cellular, etc. Therefore, additional investment in network infrastructure is not required for a carrier deployment.

AlertSlinger^™ also provides capability for push-type information services (Velleros CAMLOC^™ and STALO^™ products) enabling campus alerts, recorded announcements, and community interest broadcasts. Based on a patent-pending technology, authorized personnel can create the information to be communicated via voice or text and activate the alert trigger to send in real-time.

AlertSlinger^™ provides a simple, web-based interface for non-technical users to act quickly, confidently, and accurately in times of crisis. Subscribers can manage their accounts on line by using drop-down menus to make simple modifications to delivery method or pre-defined alert trigger categories.

The solution provides system redundancy by enabling deployment in multiple secure locations. AlertSlinger^™ also supports enhanced data encryption techniques for information protection.

Summary

In summary, emergency alert notification has largely become table stakes for any network operator, commercial enterprise, municipality, school, or state/local government. NeuStar’s Port DR™, Velleros’ AlertSlinger™, and Telecom Recovery’s service provide carriers, enterprise users and customers three affordable and viable options for maintaining 4Ci. These solutions allow carriers, enterprise users and customers to deliver appropriate and relevant communications in times of an emergency in order to save resources, enhance productivity, and save lives.

We would like to thank NeuStar, Velleros, and Telecom Recovery for their thoughtful contributions to this article.

NeuStar, Inc.
Corporate Headquarters
46000 Center Oak Plaza
Sterling, VA 20166

www.neustar.net

Velleros, Inc.

PO Box 151

Morrisville NC USA 27560-0151

Phone (972) 798-2609

sales [at] velleros [dot] com

www.velleros.com

Telecom Recovery Inc.

8182 South 700 East, Suite 110

Sandy, UT 84070

www.telecomrecovery.net

Leo A. Wrobel has over 30 years of experience with a host of firms engaged in banking, manufacturing, telecommunications services and government. An active author and technical futurist, he has published ten books and over 400 trade articles on a wide variety of technical subjects. Leo served ten years as an elected Mayor and City Councilman (but says he is "better now." A sought-after speaker, he has lectured throughout the United States and overseas and has appeared on several television news programs. Leo is presently CEO of Dallas-based TelLAWCom Labs Inc., and b4Ci, Inc. See http://www.b4Ci.com. Call 214-888-1300 or e-mail leo [at] b4ci [dot] com.

Sharon M. (Ford) Wrobel served as Corporate Secretary and Director of Personnel for Premiere Network Services Inc. prior to joining b4Ci in 2004. During that time Sharon was instrumental in getting Premiere certified as the first CLEC to be certified in all 50 states by aiding in filings and when called upon, attending hearings. Sharon also engaged in extensive research for Premiere, a function she continues with b4Ci as Vice President of Business Development. In addition to her duties at b4Ci, Sharon was also President of the Ellis County Early Childhood PTA and the Ovilla Lions Club. Sharon attended the University of Maryland and El Centro College in Dallas and received training as a registered nurse before joining Leo in the businesses in the late 1990's. Sharon also served as a public official by accepting appointments to the Planning and Zoning Commission, and Historical Commission.