The leading provider of safety applications for mobile users

Rave Wireless chief executive Tom Axbey says his company is changing the direction of mobile alert technology.

Now, he says, it goes two ways.
While several software companies enable college security personnel to send mass safety notifications to students’ cell phones, Axbey said Rave’s Guardian is the only solution that enables students to send emergency alerts back.

“We’ve patented this technology,” Axbey said. “We’re the only one who provides both a one-to-many and many-to-one [notification] solution.”

Rave has deployed Guardian on more than 100 college campuses nationwide, many of them after the Virginia Tech shootings last spring.

“It’s like insurance,” Axbey said. “You don’t realize you need it until something bad happens.”

That’s the message the company is sending to hospitals, municipalities and corporate enterprises as it tries to branch out of the college market.

Though colleges will likely always be Rave’s primary market, Axbey says the technology has far-reaching applications in a number of vertical markets as well.

“We have great penetration in the university marketplace and we’re ready to start testing outside of our comfort zone,” he said.

For schools that use Guardian, students and employees can register their cell phone numbers with campus police and create a profile in the security database that includes their name, photo and important personal information. They are then given a PIN number that they can punch into their cell phone to activate Guardian at any time.

Should a student feel nervous about walking across campus late at night, for instance, they can activate Guardian through their phone, by dialing or through voice activation, to tell the system how long they expect the walk to take. If the student doesn’t respond to a reminder to deactivate the system when the allotted time is up, campus security is alerted.

Security can then call the student’s phone, track his or her location on a GPS map and dispatch officers accordingly. Students can also engage a panic alert at any time.

“Security immediately knows exactly who, when and where the alert is coming from so that they can dispatch the nearest officer,” Axbey said. “From a personal safety standpoint, it’s a very powerful tool.”

American University explored 10 other alert notification systems before deciding on the Rave solution, which the school is launching this fall.

“None were anywhere near as comprehensive as the Guardian system,” said Chief Michael McNair, the university’s director of public safety. “We have campus emergency phones, but we can’t put them everywhere.

With the Guardian, students essentially have an emergency phone with them at all times.”

Rave is now marketing the Guardian to employers of transient workforces and to entities that operate during unorthodox hours. A visiting nurse who frequently makes house calls, for example, could activate Guardian before appointments. A town worker or contractor could initiate the system before the start of a dangerous job. During a natural disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, companies and organizations of all kinds would be able to track where their constituents are.

“Corporations have to worry about the safety of their employees more and more,” Axbey said.

Rave has yet to finalize any deals outside of the college market, but Axbey expects to announce a couple “in the very near future,” he said.