Disaster Planning

Wireless communications are becoming increasingly  important in disasters or crisis, when wireline phone and IT networks are compromised or down.

Trapeze Networks (News - Alert), a provider of Smart Mobile wireless solutions has helped increase the awareness of this benefit by installing Wi-Fi for these critical situations.

 

Today, the company announced that more than 13,000 students, faculty and staff in the Livermore Unified School District are using Trapeze Networks' Wi-Fi infrastructure.

 

With Wi-Fi, the students, faculty, parents and emergency responders are given seamless and secure communication for emergency response and preparedness.

 

"We saw that a wireless network could be leveraged across multiple agencies to support our district as well as the police, fire and other local government entities during a crisis," said Kevin Peterson, ISS Specialist, Livermore Unified School District in a statement to the press. "In addition to aiding the local first responders, the wireless network provides a communication hub for the community so that they can connect with their loved ones."

 

Trapeze's Wi-Fi wireless networking solution offers budget-constrained schools with discounted pricing on products for qualified educational institutions, including schools, school districts, universities (both public and private) as well as special models of gear designed for the budget-sensitive education market.

 

With the wireless network in place, the district is now able to relay critical information and keep faculty, staff and students in constant communication across the campus. As well as provides first-responders with a way to communicate with each other on-site.

 

"Schools are emerging as natural emergency gathering hubs in which communities can congregate during a crisis or disaster when all cellular, wireline phone and IT networks may be severely compromised or down entirely," said Jim Vogt, president and chief executive officer, Trapeze Networks. "In such critical situations, wireless connectivity is indispensable -- and is perhaps the only method for enabling communication. Livermore Unified School District is the perfect example of how a district can use Wi-Fi in an innovative manner for emergency response."

The district has also installed wireless security cameras at two high schools and is using wireless as a way to increase interactivity and flexibility in their student learning environments and has also deployed Trapeze's wireless location appliance, the LA-200, for tracking of emergency response vehicles and personnel.