Rave Wireless Integrates AOL’s AIM Service into its Award Winning, Multi-Channel Emergency Notification System
10.29.2008
Instant messaging joins full range of notification methods supported by Rave Alert
EDUCAUSE 2008 Annual Conference, Orlando, FL - Rave Wireless, Inc. today announced the expansion of the Rave Alert emergency notification platform with the addition of AOL's AIM service, the most popular instant messaging service in the United States. Rave Alert enhances campus safety by providing college and university administrators an easy and effective way to send broadcast or targeted emergency notification and other important announcements. The messages can be created and sent from one easy-to-use web console, with complete reporting on message delivery and performance.
Instant messaging to AIM users joins a range of delivery methods supported by Rave Alert including:
- Text alerts to cell phones and smartphones
- Voice alerts to cell phones, smartphones and landlines
- Websites and portals
- RSS feeds
- Digital signage
- Loudspeakers and Public Address systems
The product integration between Rave Alert and the AIM service ensures that emergency notifications are quickly and efficiently delivered to AIM users. The integration of AIM into Rave Alert ensures that broadcast alerts delivered by instant message benefit from the same high throughput and fast delivery that have become the hallmark of Rave Alert.
The Higher Education Act (HR-4137) recently signed into law by President Bush states that higher education institutions must have procedures to "immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff occurring on the campus." A variety of emergency notification best practices guides, including the Blueprint for Safer Campuses from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), strongly suggest that colleges and universities implement an emergency notification system that is capable of notifying constituents through multiple means.
Rave Wireless is a market leader in providing mobile safety applications to higher education, with a long list of college and university clients nationwide including American University, Colorado State University, Duke University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Indiana State University, Quinnipiac University, University of Kansas, University of Louisville, University of South Florida, and many more. Many institutions have recently switched to the company's Rave Alert emergency notification system for its superior performance and reliability, while other institutions such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have recently launched the Rave Guardian personal mobile alarm system on campus.