This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, and while the U.S. has taken steps to ensure safety and improve security for all, our nation’s emergency communications services have been intensely under the microscope thanks to the FCC’s (News - Alert) proposal for the National Broadband Plan.
A wide scale effort to transition the current legacy system to a broadband-enabled, next-generation 911 system, the comprehensive plan would involve harnessing "the life-saving potential of text messaging, e-mail, photos and video from mobile and landline broadband services. While it may be awhile until the nation adopts this modern approach to the emergency response system, one startup company is one step ahead of the 911 game.
Mobile personal safety service Guardly, brought to fruition by CEO Josh Sookman, is designed to give a mobile user an alternative method to contacting 911 and emergency contacts, and conveying a user’s location – in just one tap. Currently offered on the iPhone, and soon to be introduced to Android (News - Alert) and BlackBerry platforms, Guardly makes calling 911, a task that’s been engrained into our brains since childhood, even easier.
"It takes eight taps to dial 911 on the iPhone (News - Alert)," Sookman said, adding that if the application is placed in the device’s dock, all it takes is three taps to dial in an emergency. In essence, the app has been engineered to offer a group response system to trigger communication following a notification.
Guardly’s personal safety service starts once a user taps “Send Alert” in the app, which triggers a five-second, vibrating countdown timer. Once the countdown hits zero, the user’s default emergency contacts are notified. A call is only placed to 911 if the user has set his or her preferences to do so.
The user’s default safety network contacts receive an instant link to an Emergency Response Page that can be accessed via mobile or Web. In addition to an option to join and connect through a conference call, the page serves as a group resource that provides location updates, photos and messages for contacts.
Guardly also offers a backup system in case the caller is unable to adequately reach a connection due to an unfound signal and fully place the call. Once the system is alerted and a signal is reached, it continues to verify the device’s connection and automatically calls 911 or the users’ safety network contacts.
Sookman hopes to extend this emergency alert and real-time collaboration platform to other hardware devices, mainly those found in the healthcare industry such as heart rate monitors, glucose monitors and other types of detection equipment that lack the ability to alert.
Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
