Alert info via Internet, cell phone and PDAs

Published 11:34 pm Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Ask any motorist and they’ll tell you one of the most frustrating aspects of driving is getting caught in traffic that is backed up because of some sort of emergency.

But those sorts of delays are becoming a thing of the past in Newton County thanks to a new service that alerts people of what is happening around them.

“The users of this system have really embraced it,” said Newton County Emergency Management Director Gary Galloway Wednesday. “But we are just skimming the surface with traffic alerts. This system is so much more.”

Roam Secure, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has developed an intricate and powerful emergency alert system which is Web driven and can give its users nearly real-time updates on weather, traffic and other emergency bulletins. Users can be contacted via their cellphones, personal data assistants (PDAs) or any other gadget and gizmo on the market today. It’s a way to keep the public informed.

Joe Rafferty, senior vice president and head of marketing for Roam Secure, and Patrick LeFloch, chief technical advisor with Roam Secure, joined a conversation Wednesday by conference call from their Washington offices to explain the system and the services it provides users within a given area.

“This service, once you are signed up, can be accessed from anywhere in the world using virtually any internet or cell phone provider,” said LeFloch. “It is server driven, giving us the capability to quickly send out messages to anyone on their cell phone, PDA, home computer or laptop.”

The technology to do so has only been realized in recent years.

“Cell phones and PDAs have become more able to communicate with other technologies,” LeFloch added. “That, and the increase in towers being constructed around the world, helps us to become global.”

Rafferty said the seven-year old company was anxious to get into the Mississippi Gulf Coast regions of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana after seeing the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina.

“We really wanted to get our product out to the people of this area because the need was so great,” said Rafferty. “We are also trying to find areas in Florida to implement this technology. But the main selling point is this system is easy to use.”

Anyone who can send a text message by cellphone or access the internet will be able to quickly negotiate any of the services which include Amber Alerts for missing children.

“We have the capability to send 36,000 pages per minute,” said Galloway.

For Galloway, having Roam Secure and the Newton Alert Web site means there is a quick and easy backup system for getting valuable information out to emergency personnel in Newton County.

“This system has a redundancy aspect in which if many of the other means of communications to emergency personnel goes out, such as the radio system used for contacting volunteer firemen for example, we can use this to get the word out,” Galloway said.

The Roam Secure Alert Network was funded by a United States Department of Homeland Security Grant totaling $15,800. Galloway said county officials wanted something that would benefit as many residents in Newton County as possible. The service has been in place since Feb. 1, 2007.

There are other paging technologies in the state but Galloway is convinced Roam Secure has the most versatile, powerful and user friendly system available.

“This is just awesome,” said Galloway. “I’m glad we have it and so are the growing number of users.”

FYI

i Who: Roam Secure Alert Network, Washington, D.C.

i What: A local, regional, national and global emergency alert system.

i Where: Newton County. Managed by the Newton County Emergency Operations Center.

i How it works: Emergency messages are sent from a wide range of sources via Internet and cellphone providers to the computers, cellphones and PDAs of registered users.

i Cost: Service provided to Newton County by $15,800 Department of Homeland Security grant. The service is free to users.

i The bottom line: If you need to know of emergency bulletins for your area from the National Weather Service, traffic

conditions during severe weather or traffic accidents or Amber Alerts on missing children, the Roam Service can provide you with near real-time updates on conditions and incidents.