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Air Force Completes AtHoc IWSAlerts Deployment to Additional 25,000 Personnel at Eglin and Wright Patterson Air Force Bases
Deployment Complete After AtHoc Awarded Contract for Network-Centric Emergency Notification System
| Source: AtHoc
BURLINGAME, CA--(Marketwire - September 10, 2008) - AtHoc,
Inc., the pioneer and leader in
network-centric emergency notification systems, today announced that
the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) has expanded its use of AtHoc
IWSAlerts™ within the command. AFMC awarded a contract for AtHoc
software licenses and services, and the emergency notification system is
now deployed to an additional 25,000 people. The contract was awarded
through Harris IT Services, a business unit of Harris Corporation.
This deployment expands AFMC's use of AtHoc IWSAlerts at Eglin Air Force
Base, increasing the number of personnel alerted through the system from
5,000 to 15,000. AFMC is also using the same centralized instance of AtHoc
IWSAlerts to alert up to 15,000 personnel at the command's headquarters at
Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
AtHoc IWSAlerts has been deployed centrally at Eglin and will support the
emergency needs of all AFMC personnel at Eglin as well as headquarters
staff and personnel at Wright Patterson. In this single instance,
multi-tenant model, emergency operators at each Air Force base command post
can log into the system through a secure, password-protected Web browser to
alert personnel on their individual base or at command headquarters, either
on base or off-site.
"As one of the largest of the Air Force major commands, AFMC is a
highly-distributed organization with significant emergency notification
requirements," said Colonel Richard Wesche, Deputy Director of
Communications for Headquarters AFMC. "Having a centralized system in place
that can serve the needs of the individual command posts up to the base
level and beyond has numerous benefits, including cost savings, reduced
maintenance and improved emergency communication within and between
facilities."
"AtHoc has already proved its value through existing deployments at Eglin
and Edwards Air Force bases, and it has the capability to scale to the
needs of the largest commands. In addition to the scalability and
centralized enterprise management capabilities, unified alerting across
multiple channels including desktop alerting, telephony and Giant Voice
were of key importance," said John Heller, vice president, DoD Operations,
Harris IT Services.
With its network-centric approach, AtHoc IWSAlerts manages the entire
alerting process to all delivery media using a single management
application. Emergency alerts appear on PCs as intrusive audio/visual
desktop notifications and they are also delivered to landline and mobile
telephones. Alerts are delivered within an average of two minutes. With its
enterprise-class capabilities, AtHoc IWSAlerts provides a Web-based
management system that controls all capabilities across the underlying
delivery systems from notification, scenarios, permissions, user contact
information and alert tracking. It also provides a feedback capability that
allows the command to see who has acknowledged receipt of the alert and
their status.
"AFMC supports more than 6,400 aircraft and 29,500 engines. Keeping the
command operational and personnel protected is critical for ongoing Air
Force missions," said Andy Anderson, vice president of defense sector
operations for AtHoc. "By providing personnel with immediate information
about emergency situations and potential danger, AFMC can protect their
personnel while also affecting an optimal response to the situation at
hand."
About AtHoc
AtHoc is the pioneer and recognized leader in providing enterprise-class,
network-centric emergency notification systems to military, government and
commercial organizations for physical security, force protection and
personnel accountability. Millions of end users worldwide, in organizations
such as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Hawaii State Civil
Defense, NASA, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Boeing,
PricewaterhouseCoopers and eBay, rely on AtHoc's unified management systems
for their emergency alerting and critical communication needs. AtHoc has
partnered with market leaders including Microsoft, Cisco, Harris, Siemens,
Avaya, Lockheed Martin, Unisys and others to bring these notification
solutions to the public and commercial markets.
For more information on AtHoc, please visit http://www.athoc.com.
About Harris IT Services
Headquartered in northern Virginia, Harris IT Services is a leading
provider of mission-critical IT and communications services and support to
defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and commercial customers.
With over 3,000 professionals performing to the highest industry standards
at locations worldwide, Harris IT Services offers essential past
performance, proven technical expertise, and innovative solutions in
supporting large-scale IT programs that encompass the full technology
lifecycle. The organization's distributed workforce, present in all 50
states, and extensive experience in performance-based contracting and
managed IT services, combine to deliver best-value results to our
customers.