SAN DIEGO, Sept. 23, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MIR3, Inc., the innovator of real-time Intelligent Notification (IN™) and response technology, today announced that the University Police Department at California State University at San Marcos (CSUSM) has upgraded their existing Intelligent Notification Essentials™ edition to the more full-featured Standard™ edition as a tool for emergency notification throughout the campus community.
Emergency manager Robert Williams works closely with the CSUSM Police Department to ensure there is always a reliable system in place to alert students, staff and faculty across the campus and beyond. Although the existing tools in use were certainly good enough, Williams wanted a way to integrate the various elements (like loud-speakers, digital signage, phone and SMS alerts, and more) to make the system faster and less complicated. Working with the MIR3 team, Williams found a way to integrate the system, known to those on campus as AlertU, making it faster and simpler to initiate. Soon after, the system was tested in two unrelated incidents, and the improvements were verified.
On May 14 a fire erupted in the dry, brush-covered hills just south of the campus. Students had to be alerted and evacuated quickly, and families needed to be notified. "Over 33,000 emails, 25,000 phone calls, and 11,000 texts were delivered within five minutes and an orderly and complete evacuation ensued," said Williams. Just three months later, a man was sighted crossing the campus, reportedly with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder. With the push of a button, alerts were delivered by all modes and the school went into immediate lockdown while a local SWAT team and campus police took action. It was soon discovered that the suspect was carrying a large black umbrella rather than a weapon and the lockdown was quickly ended. In both cases, the emergency notification system worked as planned. (Read more about the two incidents in the related case study.)
"Our team was happy to tackle the challenge of integrating Intelligent Notification with other emergency alerting tools," said Ann Pickren, COO for MIR3. "Campus safety has increasingly been under threat and we applaud Williams and the University Police Department in persevering to find a workable solution."
ABOUT MIR3
MIR3, Inc. is the leading developer of Intelligent Notification and response software, which helps organizations and companies enhance communication, protect assets, and increase operational efficiency. MIR3 technology provides a common communication platform that enables advanced rapid, two-way communication for IT, business continuity, and enterprise operations for many of the Global Fortune 100 companies, as well as government entities, universities and companies of all sizes in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit www.mir3.com. Follow MIR3 on Twitter: @MIR3.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
The CSU system is a leader in high-quality, accessible, student-focused higher education. With 23 campuses, almost 447,000 students, and 45,000 faculty and staff, it is the largest, most diverse, and one of the most affordable university systems in the country. Learn more at http://www.csusm.edu/.