911 Services

Wonderware, a major supplier of industrial automation and information software, recently deployed 911 Enable’s (News - Alert) enterprise E911 solution to unify its communications network that supports 650-plus employees, according to company officials.

The company has offices across the U.S. -- 60 work-at-home/mobile employees, and over 1,100 IP phones on the network. They needed a product providing reliable and accurate 911 services for all of its employees -- and they wanted the management of phone moves, adds, and changes for E911 purposes simplified.

A tall order -- but crucial. Without a sufficient E911 tool in place, a 911 call placed from a branch office or work-at-home employee remotely accessing the centralized Avaya (News - Alert) Communication Manager (ACM) would be routed not to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point, but to the PSAP serving the location of the ACM.

Wonderware tried addressing the issue by installing local gateways and analog phone lines to connect to the appropriate PSAPs, but this required complicated and time-consuming integration with the local exchange carrier. According to company officials, this still did not allow emergency response locations to be specified to the level of granularity required to locate distressed callers.

Even worse, Wonderware employees working remotely or from home, who accessed the central ACM via VPN, were actually told not to call 911 from their phones in times of crisis. Obviously the situation had to change.

Wonderware chose 911 Enable’s enterprise E911 offering, comprised of the Emergency Gateway (News - Alert), the Emergency Routing Service and Desk Alert. The Emergency Routing Service is a monthly subscription service that provides nationwide connectivity to PSAPs across the U.S., and the EGW is an on-site appliance that delivers 911 calls and location information to the Emergency Routing Service.

Desk Alert is a software app on the security desk workstation. When 911 is dialed, a pop-up screen appears on the security desk workstation monitor, notifying security personnel of all emergency calls in progress, and providing accurate location information.

“911 Enable’s solution was simple and easy to set-up. Their knowledgeable and accessible professional services team went the extra mile to get our E911 solution operational in the shortest time frame possible,” said Dave Ochoa, telecommunications administrator for Wonderware.