Franklin, Tenn. — PlantCML, an EADS North America company, today announced the success of its year-long efforts to augment public safety communications across the state of Virginia through enhanced emergency notification technology. PlantCML clients involved in this initiative include the City of Richmond, the Town of Vienna, and the Virginia Department of Transportation.

In September 2010, the City of Richmond’s Office of Emergency Management decided to upgrade its existing system – The Communicator! NXT emergency notification solution, located in the E9-1-1 center – to PlantCML’s latest release, version 4.2.0. Included in the change is the migration of the GeoCast Web solution, which enables highly targeted, map-based alerting of communities, to version 1.7. Additionally, the City of Richmond will take advantage of the company’s MassCall^® option, through which officials can easily and securely offload high-volume communications (e.g., evacuation orders) to PlantCML’s SAS-certified hosting facilities.

The upgrade also will include the company’s new Self-Registration Portal (SRP) for the GeoCast Web solution, allowing local residents to proactively sign up online to receive alerts issued by the operation. Implementation of the SRP and the aforementioned applications is planned for early November.

“The Communicator! NXT and GeoCast Web solutions have served us well in years past,” said Anthony McLean, Richmond’s Coordinator of Emergency Management. “By upgrading these critical systems, we are able to take advantage of the latest features and functionality available and with little to no impact on operations.”

Like the City of Richmond’s Office of Emergency Management, the Town of Vienna’s Police Department recently upgraded The Communicator! NXT and GeoCast Web notification solutions and added the SRP.

Mike Miller, Captain of the Vienna Police Department, sees the SRP as an invaluable

tool for gathering vital contact data, such as cell phone numbers and SMS addresses,

and believes its implementation will improve the efficiency of his organization. Charles Ghent, Information Technology Coordinator and system administrator of the notification solutions, will attend PlantCML’s upcoming NSS Summit 2010, November 2-4. He plans to return to Vienna with best practices for SRP deployment and several new ideas for using the system, both internally with personnel and externally with local residents.

Earlier this year, and with funding provided by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) deployed The Communicator! NXT solution to execute its list-based communications with personnel. To date, the organization has successfully built, tested and exercised both emergency and non-emergency notification scenarios surrounding such events as inclement weather. VDOT currently is exploring an expansion of the system to other agency offices.

“The Communicator! NXT solution allows us to rapidly alert and, in certain situations, mobilize critical personnel,” said Earl Sharp, Assistant Field Operations Manager, VDOT. “We are quite pleased with the results we have seen so far, and are continuing to add new notifications to the system on a regular basis.”

Numerous other public safety operations throughout Virginia also have implemented, expanded, or successfully utilized emergency notification technology from PlantCML over the last several months. These include Albemarle County’s Emergency Communications Center and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

Most recently, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office called upon their REVERSE 911 system to alert residents of a missing eight-year-old boy. Having received a message, which included a description of the child, one local family spotted the youngster and contacted law enforcement as instructed. Deputies quickly responded to the area and found the missing boy safe and unharmed.

“Collectively, these Virginia public safety operations are taking all the necessary measures to ensure their communications readiness and reach in every possible contingency,” said Bob Freinberg, vice president and general manager of PlantCML’s Notification Solutions and Services business unit. “I would like to take this opportunity to commend them on their use of emergency notification technology to ensure the safety of personnel, community volunteers and constituents. Congratulations on a job well done.”

About PlantCML
PlantCML, an EADS North America company, is the industry’s leading provider of crisis communications and response technologies for public safety, federal/DoD and business markets globally. The organization’s full-circle security and communications portfolio includes emergency notification solutions and services, IP-enabled call center applications for computer-aided dispatch, mapping and information management, and P25 land mobile radio networks. These PlantCML offerings and others are resident in 14 of the 20 most populous US cities, 250+ military operations, numerous Fortune 500 corporations, and internationally in 15 countries. (www.plantcml-eads.com)

About EADS North America  
EADS North America is the North American operation of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $11 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 200,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. Operating in 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its customers in the commercial, homeland security, aerospace and defense markets. (www.eadsnorthamerica.com)