Last week, the Daily Egyptian newspaper of Southern Illinois, a student-run publication from Southern Illinois University, reported that the radio station WDBX did not receive the funding they needed to from the city council to proceed with purchasing an emergency generator. Jim Wall, vice chairman of the WDBX board of directors, said the station requested that the city pay half the cost of the generator, because it could be used during power outages to transmit emergency broadcasts.
While the city maintains that it has a generator to broadcast emergency information via radio station 1620 AM, Wall said that this transmitter doesn't serve citizens beyond a 3 block radius of City Hall. The council voted the request down because it does not have the funds.
Here's a great example of how unreliable radio broadcasts could be in an emergency. While a radio station in the area is willing to provide the emergency messages, they can't afford to do so without a new generator, and apparently, they can't afford to purchase one without financial assistance.
And the city claims to have a radio frequency set aside for emergency broadcasts, although the reach of that broadcasts seems suspect. Unfortunately, its the citizens that could potentially suffer. If the radio broadcasts fails or is limited in its scope, how will the students of the University and the residents of Carbondale receive emergency information, especially if the electricity goes out?
Communications Made Easy would be the perfect solution. Not only does it have several safeguards in place against a power outage, but it has the potential to reach many more residents and students than the radio station operated by the city. It's important for a city of 25,500 residents to have its own emergency communications system because of the sheer number of people who rely on the city to keep them safe in emergencies.
To read the full story from the Daily Egyptian, click here.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Communications Made Easy Receives $10,000 in Business Development Grants
Rochester, Illinois, February 19, 2009 – Communications Made EasyTM, a 4-in-1 broadcast communications service based in Rochester, Illinois, is the recipient of a $5,000 grant from the Milliken Regional Entrepreneur Network (MREN) and a $5,000 Challenge Grant from the Illinois Homeland Security Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (HSIEC).
Communications Made EasyTM (CME) allows customers to send immediate, simultaneous messages via e-mail, text message, phone voice message, or Web site postings all from one central point of access. The company’s founding partners, Michelle Tjelmeland and Mark Roberts, developed the propriety software independently and launched the service in August of 2008.
“We are thrilled to receive the grant money and will use it to further develop our strategic business plans for CME,” said Tjelmeland. “These awards will allow us to expedite our marketing efforts and target specific customers who can really benefit from CME’s services.”
MREN and HSIEC award grant money to businesses with high growth potential to help with comprehensive business planning, evaluating a proposed start-up or expansion, or other accelerated support services. Through their respective grant programs, MREN and HSIEC help award recipients achieve significant milestones to take their businesses to the next level. HSIEC gives preference to companies demonstrating the pursuit of products or services that clearly meet a published request by the Department of Homeland Security.
By 2013, Homeland Security has set a goal to have at least 75 percent of all jurisdictions possess the ability to send out emergency communications within three hours of any significant event. Helping jurisdictions meet this goal is one of the original motivations for developing CME.
“We created CME to specifically meet the needs of the many rural state and local agencies that respond to emergencies and disasters,” said Roberts. “These responders either lack the strategic tools to efficiently communicate with each other, or depend on a communication system that can easily be damaged and disabled during an emergency.”
CME gives emergency management officials the ability to send news, updates, evacuation instructions, and AMBER alerts, as well as coordinate a quick and adequate response to help people affected by natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other dangerous situations.
In addition, CME is an ideal solution for university and college officials who need to establish a written emergency broadcast communications plan under the provisions in the Clery Act.
“CME provides the service they need to immediately warn students, parents, and staff of a potential danger to the campus or emergencies that require quick action,” explained Tjelmeland.
The application process for the grant awards is selective and awards are based on project viability, growth potential, public purpose, need and merit-based factors. The maximum funding available for each individual award is $5,000. Recipients are required to provide a cash match of 100 percent of the award amount.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity provides financial support to fund both the MREN grant program and the HSIEC Challenge grant. By working with entrepreneurs and businesses that demonstrate the ability to achieve growth through revenue generation and job creation, the Department promotes economic development in Illinois.
About Communications Made Easy
Communications Made EasyTM is communication tool that broadcasts any message in a matter of seconds to a mass mailing list using a proprietary 4-in-1 system. This innovative and user-friendly service makes it easy to use one access point to send messages simultaneously, via the Web, e-mail, text message, and phone. CME offers monthly messaging subscriptions, premium service add-ons that enable customers to enhance their package as needed, concierge service to ensure customer messages are dispatched immediately in times of crisis, and a reseller program to allow organizations to brand and sell the product as their own. Communications Made EasyTM is a subsidiary of The Easy Life, LLC, headquartered in Rochester, IL. Visit www.communicationsmadeeasy.com to learn more.
About MREN
MREN works with entrepreneurs and businesses (regardless of industry or stage) that demonstrate the ability to achieve growth through revenue generation and job creation and to contribute to the economic development of Illinois. MREN is a network of organizations and individuals throughout the region and state that are collaborating together and strive to become the driving force for exciting entrepreneurial activities and initiatives throughout the Central Region. For more information, visit www.millikinren.com.
About HSIEC
HSIEC delivers specialized business development assistance in homeland security to entrepreneurs and small businesses as part of the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network through a joint effort between the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Northwestern University. The Center launched in October 2005 and has made over 20 challenge grants to fund strategic business projects. For more information, visit http://www.hsiec.org.
Communications Made EasyTM (CME) allows customers to send immediate, simultaneous messages via e-mail, text message, phone voice message, or Web site postings all from one central point of access. The company’s founding partners, Michelle Tjelmeland and Mark Roberts, developed the propriety software independently and launched the service in August of 2008.
“We are thrilled to receive the grant money and will use it to further develop our strategic business plans for CME,” said Tjelmeland. “These awards will allow us to expedite our marketing efforts and target specific customers who can really benefit from CME’s services.”
MREN and HSIEC award grant money to businesses with high growth potential to help with comprehensive business planning, evaluating a proposed start-up or expansion, or other accelerated support services. Through their respective grant programs, MREN and HSIEC help award recipients achieve significant milestones to take their businesses to the next level. HSIEC gives preference to companies demonstrating the pursuit of products or services that clearly meet a published request by the Department of Homeland Security.
By 2013, Homeland Security has set a goal to have at least 75 percent of all jurisdictions possess the ability to send out emergency communications within three hours of any significant event. Helping jurisdictions meet this goal is one of the original motivations for developing CME.
“We created CME to specifically meet the needs of the many rural state and local agencies that respond to emergencies and disasters,” said Roberts. “These responders either lack the strategic tools to efficiently communicate with each other, or depend on a communication system that can easily be damaged and disabled during an emergency.”
CME gives emergency management officials the ability to send news, updates, evacuation instructions, and AMBER alerts, as well as coordinate a quick and adequate response to help people affected by natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other dangerous situations.
In addition, CME is an ideal solution for university and college officials who need to establish a written emergency broadcast communications plan under the provisions in the Clery Act.
“CME provides the service they need to immediately warn students, parents, and staff of a potential danger to the campus or emergencies that require quick action,” explained Tjelmeland.
The application process for the grant awards is selective and awards are based on project viability, growth potential, public purpose, need and merit-based factors. The maximum funding available for each individual award is $5,000. Recipients are required to provide a cash match of 100 percent of the award amount.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity provides financial support to fund both the MREN grant program and the HSIEC Challenge grant. By working with entrepreneurs and businesses that demonstrate the ability to achieve growth through revenue generation and job creation, the Department promotes economic development in Illinois.
About Communications Made Easy
Communications Made EasyTM is communication tool that broadcasts any message in a matter of seconds to a mass mailing list using a proprietary 4-in-1 system. This innovative and user-friendly service makes it easy to use one access point to send messages simultaneously, via the Web, e-mail, text message, and phone. CME offers monthly messaging subscriptions, premium service add-ons that enable customers to enhance their package as needed, concierge service to ensure customer messages are dispatched immediately in times of crisis, and a reseller program to allow organizations to brand and sell the product as their own. Communications Made EasyTM is a subsidiary of The Easy Life, LLC, headquartered in Rochester, IL. Visit www.communicationsmadeeasy.com to learn more.
About MREN
MREN works with entrepreneurs and businesses (regardless of industry or stage) that demonstrate the ability to achieve growth through revenue generation and job creation and to contribute to the economic development of Illinois. MREN is a network of organizations and individuals throughout the region and state that are collaborating together and strive to become the driving force for exciting entrepreneurial activities and initiatives throughout the Central Region. For more information, visit www.millikinren.com.
About HSIEC
HSIEC delivers specialized business development assistance in homeland security to entrepreneurs and small businesses as part of the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network through a joint effort between the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Northwestern University. The Center launched in October 2005 and has made over 20 challenge grants to fund strategic business projects. For more information, visit http://www.hsiec.org.
Sirens Helpful But Inadequate in Rural Emergencies
Mountain View, California residents will soon have access to an emergency communications system very similar to the services of Communications Made Easy. The reason we point out this story is because the leaders of this city realize that technology offers huge advantages and public address system sirens are often not effective.
"If we needed to call everybody tonight we could do it," said fire department spokesman Lynn Brown, referring to the ability of the city's public safety departments to call publicly listed phone numbers. They will no longer need to rely on their sirens, which were installed during the Cold War era in case of a nuclear attack. "If you set off a siren today nobody would know what it was for," Brown said.
Sirens and other types of community-wide warning systems are great for the people that can hear them. But unfortunately, their range is limited and the expense to install them prohibits rural fire districts and townships from placing them near every home. People who live outside of the city limits often have to rely on their own awareness and TV or radio to be informed of an emergency.
That's why emergency broadcasts via voice message and text message is so valuable to those rural districts. Public safety is one of the reasons government exists, and cell phones make it possible to enhance this important function. We encourage you to embrace it!
Article quoted was written by Daniel DeBolt and appears at in the Mountain Valley Voice, http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=1121
"If we needed to call everybody tonight we could do it," said fire department spokesman Lynn Brown, referring to the ability of the city's public safety departments to call publicly listed phone numbers. They will no longer need to rely on their sirens, which were installed during the Cold War era in case of a nuclear attack. "If you set off a siren today nobody would know what it was for," Brown said.
Sirens and other types of community-wide warning systems are great for the people that can hear them. But unfortunately, their range is limited and the expense to install them prohibits rural fire districts and townships from placing them near every home. People who live outside of the city limits often have to rely on their own awareness and TV or radio to be informed of an emergency.
That's why emergency broadcasts via voice message and text message is so valuable to those rural districts. Public safety is one of the reasons government exists, and cell phones make it possible to enhance this important function. We encourage you to embrace it!
Article quoted was written by Daniel DeBolt and appears at in the Mountain Valley Voice, http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=1121
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
NYPD Wants to Disable Cell Phones During Terrorist Attack
We just came across a bit of news that we here at CME find very disturbing! Apparently, the New York Police Department to Homeland Security that it wants the ability to jam cell phone networks in the event of a terrorist attack. Their motive is admirable -- they assume that the terrorists would be using cell phones to communicate with each other. However, think of ALL the other people affected by this action!!
Unfortunately we can't keep the bad guys from using the same technology that we use on a daily basis. But honestly, I think the terrorists would find another way to communicate if they knew this policy was in place. And they would know.
The last thing we want to do is shut down a valuable communication tool in the event of an emergency. When something happens, cell phones and text messages will be an important way for emergency officials from several jurisdictions to communicate. Why shut down that line and limit communication to handheld radios that operate on frequencies that vary across emergency responders? What happens when the terrorists target the radio system and that no longer works?
We already know that when something BIG happens, cell phone towers are overwhelmed anyway. Text messages are often the only way to get messages out. They use less bandwidth, so the messages go out quicker. For this reason and many others, we think police and fire departments and emergency management officials should be concentrating on how to use technology to make their response better, faster, and more effective.
For more on the NYPD story, you can read this blog from the Wired Blog Network.
What do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this a good way to stop terrorists during an attack, or would you rather have the ability to communicate with your cell phone? Leave us a comment!
Unfortunately we can't keep the bad guys from using the same technology that we use on a daily basis. But honestly, I think the terrorists would find another way to communicate if they knew this policy was in place. And they would know.
The last thing we want to do is shut down a valuable communication tool in the event of an emergency. When something happens, cell phones and text messages will be an important way for emergency officials from several jurisdictions to communicate. Why shut down that line and limit communication to handheld radios that operate on frequencies that vary across emergency responders? What happens when the terrorists target the radio system and that no longer works?
We already know that when something BIG happens, cell phone towers are overwhelmed anyway. Text messages are often the only way to get messages out. They use less bandwidth, so the messages go out quicker. For this reason and many others, we think police and fire departments and emergency management officials should be concentrating on how to use technology to make their response better, faster, and more effective.
For more on the NYPD story, you can read this blog from the Wired Blog Network.
What do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this a good way to stop terrorists during an attack, or would you rather have the ability to communicate with your cell phone? Leave us a comment!
Friday, February 6, 2009
College Campuses Discontinuing Landline Phone Service for Residence Halls
A true sign of the times and insight into the future - many college campuses no longer provide landline phone service in their residence halls and dorm rooms. Cell phone use on campus is so prevalent that traditional phones are no longer used. Students would rather use their own cell phone or their e-mail accounts to communicate with professors, friends, and family.
According to an article published in the Kansas City Star recently, The University of Missouri-Kansas City, Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and the University of Missouri in Columbia, have all discontinued most of their landline service. Some halls still have phones in the hallway or lobby for student and emergency use.
"Last year, UMKC opened new student housing that included landline connections. Out of 850 students with residence hall rooms, only four hooked up landlines," the article stated.
Communicating with the public by cell phone, whether voice or text message, is no longer just about convenience. It's quickly becoming the only way to reach people. And the same is true for e-mail.
So, if you are hoping to communicate an emergency broadcast message, you had better have a way to send text messages and e-mails if you want to reach a majority of your contacts. It might soon become unusual for anyone to have access to a landline anymore.
You can read the full story here
According to an article published in the Kansas City Star recently, The University of Missouri-Kansas City, Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and the University of Missouri in Columbia, have all discontinued most of their landline service. Some halls still have phones in the hallway or lobby for student and emergency use.
"Last year, UMKC opened new student housing that included landline connections. Out of 850 students with residence hall rooms, only four hooked up landlines," the article stated.
Communicating with the public by cell phone, whether voice or text message, is no longer just about convenience. It's quickly becoming the only way to reach people. And the same is true for e-mail.
So, if you are hoping to communicate an emergency broadcast message, you had better have a way to send text messages and e-mails if you want to reach a majority of your contacts. It might soon become unusual for anyone to have access to a landline anymore.
You can read the full story here
Monday, February 2, 2009
Don't Wait for the Federal Government's Text Message Solution
Some of you may have heard that the FCC is working with cell phone companies to send automatic text messages to all customers in the event of certain emergencies. This is true. In2006, Congress passed the WARN Act - Warning, Alert and Response Network. As a result, the FCC established rules and policies to allow wireless service providers to participate in this network and agree to send emergency alerts to their customers. However, according to the FCC's Consumer Facts statement on the new commercial mobile alert system (CMAS), the actual date that this network will be up and running is probably 1 - 2 years away.
When the system is actually operational it will be used to send the following alerts:
So if you think you'd rather wait until the federal government gets this network established, you'll be waiting a while and you'll be missing out on some essential warning features. Use CME to send out all of your emergency broadcast messages now and you'll be a few steps ahead when the CMAS is ready for deployment.
When the system is actually operational it will be used to send the following alerts:
- Presidential Alerts – Alerts for all Americans related to national emergencies, such as terrorist attacks, that will preempt any other pending alerts;
- Imminent Threat Alerts – Alerts with information on emergencies, such as hurricanes or tornadoes, where life or property is at risk, the event is likely to occur, and some responsive action should be taken; and
- Child Abduction Emergency/AMBER Alerts – Alerts related to missing or endangered children due to an abduction or runaway situation.
So if you think you'd rather wait until the federal government gets this network established, you'll be waiting a while and you'll be missing out on some essential warning features. Use CME to send out all of your emergency broadcast messages now and you'll be a few steps ahead when the CMAS is ready for deployment.
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