Administrator sends emergency message

The University of Illinois administrator Robin Kaler needed students to register for its new hi-tech emergency communication system, which will use cellphone text messaging and e-mail to get the word out in the case of an urgent situation like the April shooting at Virginia Tech, says Chicago Tribune.

But students do not always pay attention to official mailings and postings in dorms.

So Monday morning, Kaler crouched down on the campus quad and went to work with a piece of purple chalk, scrawling this message on the sidewalk: "Sign up now!!! emergency.illinois.edu."

A visitor to the Ball State University campus sometime during the week of 29 October may be puzzled if it seems students on campus suddenly all start reaching for their mobile phones at the same time. But that`s precisely what designers of the university`s new emergency notification system hope will happen, reports Muncie Free Press.

Delivering alerts to students, faculty and staff via text messages to their mobile phones is a major component of the university`s efforts to speed important information to the campus community in the event of a weather-related or other emergency. Faster deployment of warning e-mail and voice mail messages also figures prominently in the multi-pronged approach to communicating with the campus when time is critical.

"Our philosophy is that no single approach can be relied on to reach everyone," Kay Bales, VP for student affairs, told the university`s board of trustees when unveiling plans for the new system.

M3 Technology Group, a provider of testing and evaluation services for the latest messaging technology, plans an aggressive expansion strategy after securing $6.5 million in new venture capital, says WRAL.

Frontier Capital, which recently closed on a new $115 million fund, is the sole investor in the deal. M3TG touts itself as a vendor-neutral provider.

Growth plans include new product development, adding more professional and enterprise service personnel, and beefing up direct sales as well as channel marketing efforts.