Emergency Communications Network responds to Contra Costa Times article

Aug. 28, 2012 - PRLog -- The recent Chevron refinery incident in Richmond, CA is an unfortunate reminder that emergency situations can occur anywhere at any time and having a reliable notification system in place is paramount to communicate emergency messages.

CityWatch was selected by a trusted third-party integration solution vendor through Contra Costa County approximately four months ago to provide custom dialing services to the vendor, which services the county. During the past four months of service and of the 600+ notifications sent by Contra Costa, CityWatch did not receive any complaints regarding “persistent shortfalls” related to delay of service. This limited time-frame does not present enough evidence to classify the system as having a “history.”

Emergency Communications Network (ECN) recently acquired CityWatch for their unique hardware solutions, knowledgeable staff and loyal client base. Over the next six months to a year, ECN will be working toward advancing CityWatch’s infrastructure and dialing capacity to integrate with ECNs massive and proven triple redundant infrastructure.

Mass notification providers cannot guarantee call delivery rates because throughput is dictated by the capacity of the local telephone company to transmit messages, for example. In most cases, ECN’s massive dialing network, if left unbridled, would overwhelm any telephone system in the United States. ECN takes great effort to analyze and then match each community’s telephone infrastructure limitation before discussing calling throughput with our clients. Using this advanced technique results in more connected calls, less network congestion and fewer busy signals during a time-sensitive situation, and allows the client better planning for emergency situations.

ECN’s solutions were designed for municipalities like Contra Costa to be used in time-sensitive, critical situations. Government agencies representing all 50 states have used our platforms for more than a decade to communicate to large populations during times of emergency. Since the late 90s, clients have used ECN’s solutions to quickly and reliably deliver more than a billion messages.

ECN’s mission statement is to rapidly alert and inform groups of people, giving them the necessary time to make educated decisions which affect their lives. It is through this mission that ECN is committed to providing the resources and support its clients need as they serve to protect, inform and alert millions of citizens.

Source: Contra Costa Times http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_21367383/chevron-ref...