As giant flames were sweeping toward Pepperdine University on the hills above the Malibu coast, administrators had a crisis on their hands.
Hundreds of students, faculty and staff members were scattered across the Malibu campus the morning of Oct. 21. Some were holed up, some were trying to evacuate.
Besides working to protect buildings and property, Pepperdine managers were responsible for their safety.
And suddenly every minute counted.
To communicate with everyone on the campus quickly, Pepperdine used a mass notification system developed by 3n National Notification Network in Glendale. The system instantly called students through multiple devices that had been registered their phone lines, their cell phones, their BlackBerries, e-mail addresses and any other means of contact.
“Talk about a trial by fire literally,” said Jerry Derloshon, spokesman for the university, who said the school had just taken delivery of the 3n technology when the fire broke out.
“We found the 3n system very beneficial,” Derloshon said. “We were able to provide our students with updated and accurate information about fire conditions, and more importantly, for campus residents, to advise them to relocate to shelter locations. It was much better than a bull horn from a slow-passing vehicle.”
Methods of alert
Simple notification systems, such as phone tree lists and pager machines, have existed for decades, but 3n’s software delivers two advantages: First, as the Pepperdine experience showed, it has a “device agnostic” approach that can use different media to contact people. Second, the system exists on 3n’s computers, hundreds of miles away and far from any threatening flames, floodwaters or terrorist threats.
“This system goes down a list of devices, based on the person’s communication profile. Other systems are not capable of that,” said Cinta Putra, chief executive of 3n.
3n’s customers include city governments, fire and police departments, hospitals, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and major corporations such as Oracle and JP Morgan, as well as federal agencies such as the General Services Administration and the Coast Guard.
The software allows customers either individuals or an organization’s management to customize the system. Top managers can pre-record messages in anticipation of catastrophes, or they can record fresh messages on the fly. The program formats the message as a phone message or a text message.
Also, registered users can select how to contact them on a priority basis first cell phone, for example, then BlackBerry or landline phone. Putra said instant messaging proved crucial for reaching students at Pepperdine, whereas landlines would work better for an elderly retirement community.
Most clients feed databases of names into the system. But from there, clients organize the data differently. Cities usually have people arranged by geography to quickly notify people in the path of a disaster, while corporations usually organize their lists by operational unit.
“For city fires, the data is ‘geo coded’ so the city manager pulls up a map of the affected area and the system then contacts people within that area,” Putra explained. “The sender interacts with the system through maps.”
In the case of a customer organizing alerts by duties, a hospital might want all nurses to come to work in order to handle injuries from a disaster.
Once the danger subsides, the system helps normalize operations by telling people when to come back to work.
After sending messages, the technology monitors how many people actually receive it. “In real time, if a sender calls 100,000 people, it gives feedback that 80,000 have confirmed and 20,000 haven’t,” Putra said. “It gives you the ability to focus on the issues and decide your next step.”
Making it make sense
Most organizations can’t afford their own emergency notification system, since it’s only used on rare occasions, so 3n’s strategy of hosting the information makes economic and practical sense, according to Putra.
Not for everyone, however.
Bill Sako, chairman of Sako & Associates, a security consulting firm in Chicago, has observed that many companies don’t feel comfortable outsourcing their emergency response.
“Some clients are perfect for 3n, others are not,” Sake said. “A lot of people would prefer to buy the technology because then they control it themselves.”
Putra said the cost for a 3n system ranges from a low of about $10,000, which might cover a work force of 8,000 or 9,000 people, up to a high end of $500,000 to $600,000 for large complex organizations.
When taking on a new client, 3n must deal with so-called legacy systems pre-existing technology that might range from walkie-talkies and loudspeakers to e-mail blast programs.
That’s a particular strength of 3n.
“You have to create interoperability with all these disparate systems,” Sako said. “You can do that with your own system, or you can go to a company like 3n where it’s hosted. 3n is very good at helping the client develop their own procedures and action plans.”
Putra recalls watching TV on Sept. 11 and thinking “Why isn’t anybody doing anything?”
That event triggered the formation of 3n. She put together a business plan and launched the company in 2002 with backing from private individual investors.
Today, 3n has customers in 70 countries, and Putra’s plans call for further globalization. Moreover, she hopes to make mass notification a routine part of business.
“We want to work to improve our system and eventually to be the right communication tool for daily business processes not just emergencies,” Putra said. “Businesses could use it for massive conference calls or meetings, and participation in the call would follow the same device priority system.
3n National Notification Network
Founded:
2002
Core Business:
Notification systems that
communicate with large populations in an
emergency
Employees in 2006:
40
Employees in 2007:
75
Goal:
To eventually integrate mass notification systems into everyday business rather than just emergencies
Driving Force:
The need for emergency
notification systems using modern
communications tools
