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News
Colleges and Universities Can Increase Public Safety
Overnight by 90% with New e2Campus 2.0 Mass Notification System
Its capabilities include using SMS text messages to help schools
instantly communicate with entire campus or specific groups such as
a dorm, branch campus or facilities crew
LEESBURG, VA - April 18, 2006 - Omnilert LLC, the leading provider
of selective mass communications, today announced the release of e2Campus
version 2.0, the mass notification system specifically designed for
colleges and universities that offers instant communication to the
entire campus community. The unprecedented value of mobile phones
is that today's students carry them wherever they go. With various
studies showing more than 90% of college students carrying mobile
phones, schools can utilize this untapped communication tool to increase
public safety. e2Campus is a cross-carrier mobile content service
that enables school officials to use Short Message Service (SMS) text
messaging to communicate important news, updates, and reminders on
students' mobile phones. e2Campus 2.0 is available for purchase today
and pricing varies by the size of the school. The new version of e2Campus
can be purchased and operational in the same day. For many public
schools, government funding for safety and security initiatives are
available to cover the low cost of e2Campus.
"I save a lot of time with e2Campus, because it lets me communicate
with everyone in the manner they prefer to be contacted," explains
Maury Chaput, Executive Director of Administrative Services for Anne
Arundel Community College's 56,000 students. "The faculty generally
prefer to be contacted via email, but the students like SMS text messaging.
And, almost every student I see has a cell phone these days."
Chaput continued, "We had a power outage just before setting
up e2Campus. We essentially had to verbally notify everyone in the
building and people approaching the building that it was closed. Now
with e2Campus, I recently sent an alert about a school closing from
my BlackBerry while traveling in Florida. The campus community was
notified of the closing in minutes. That's effective."
In a time of crisis, phone calls and e-mail can overload and jam,
while text messages use very little bandwidth, making them much more
reliable. For example, wired and wireless phone lines were busy for
hours during the terrorist attacks on 9/11. However, SMS text messages
went through just fine.
With e2Campus 2.0, school officials quickly and easily send time-sensitive
messages directly to students - whether they are on or off campus.
Built around a highly reliable SMS text messaging system, e2Campus
sends out 18,000 messages per minute to subscriber's cell phones,
text pagers, email accounts, and school web pages.
Major New Features
e2Campus' SmartCode™ technology allows schools to "virtually
integrate" e2Campus functions into their existing school web
site by simply adding line of code into any web page for registration,
access or for posting notices. This means new users do not have to
go to a third party site to start the process of signing up, while
the school looks more professional. The Bulletin Board feature dynamically
posts content of messages instantly and automatically on school web
pages, so anyone who posted the message no longer needs to contact
the school webmaster to update the school web site. The new Groups
functionality allows schools to create unlimited groups and assign
"Group Admins" to manage them independently. Group Admins
only have access to their group for sending content, so they cannot
access other areas of the system as an Administrator can.
About e2Campus
Endorsed by Security On Campus, Inc. and used by schools around the
country, e2Campus is the web-based mass notification system that enables
school officials to self-administer and send time-sensitive messages
for a fraction of the cost and complexity of existing notification
solutions. There is no traditional software to install, no hardware
to buy, and no additional phone lines needed. A school can set up
a secure notification system in minutes to send routine, urgent or
emergency notifications to their entire campus community or groups,
such as branch campuses, dorms, staff-only or sports news. e2Campus
instantly and simultaneously sends mass alerts to a subscriber's mobile
phone (via SMS text message), BlackBerry, smart phone, wireless PDA,
text pager, e-mail account, and relevant web page. To learn more,
visit www.e2Campus.com.
Availability
As an Application Service Provider (ASP) or hosted solution, e2Campus
2.0 is available immediately. Schools can choose e2Campus Text Service
and/or e2Campus Voice Service. Text Service pricing is designed to
fit school's needs with Flex Use Pricing and the more popular Unlimited
Use Pricing.
Flex Use Pricing
For schools that need to inform their students, faculty and staff
of public safety issues, but don't know how often they will use the
service, this pricing plan offers pay-for-use fees plus a small annual
fee. This plan is ideal for schools that intend to use the system
for emergencies only. The Annual Account Access fee is USD $995.00
and each message sent cost $0.15. Once set up, a school would be charged
$150 if one notification were sent to 1,000 students.
Unlimited Use Pricing
For as low as $0.03 per user per month, schools can send unlimited
notifications throughout the year for public safety or non-emergency
uses without incurring additional charges. This plan offers a flat
rate price based on the number of potential subscribers during a given
year. There are no hidden costs or extra fees. For example, the service
will cost USD $9,500 per year for a school with 10,000 users. The
service can be purchased annually with discounts applied for multi-year
agreements (10% for 2 years and 15% for 3 years).
About Omnilert, LLC
Omnilert, LLC is the leading provider of selective mass communications
for sending time-sensitive information to large groups of people.
The self-service, web-based system enables a single person to communicate
timely information to thousands of people anywhere, anytime, on any
device. It is ideal for announcing school closings, game cancellations,
weather warnings, terrorist alerts, and marketing promotions. The
system is built around a reliable SMS text messaging system that sends
content directly to a mobile phone, as well as an email address, web
page, pager or wired phone. Omnilert Text and Voice solutions are
sold under the names e2Campus, Amerilert, RainedOut and through resellers.
The privately held company is headquartered in Leesburg, VA and online
at www.omnilert.com.
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