Emergency Communication a Growing Market

Anika Clark
Sentinel Staff

As the list of recent crises lengthens - from tsunamis, to hurricanes, terrorist attacks and shooting rampages - emergency notification services may prove a growing niche.

"We just saw a need for mass notification and then the need to get the word out to the public in an emergency situation in a short period of time," said Daniel R. Denman, account executive for Avtex Inc., describing why his telecommunications company got into the business of emergency alerts over 13 years ago.

Avtex offers CityWatch, the system Keene State College uses, which is advertised on the company's Web site beside photos of running businessmen and a firefighter clutching a baby.

In the last four to five years, the company's seen a greater demand for the CityWatch program, according to Denman, who said, "Especially in the last two or three years the market has grown quite a bit."

This, he attributed, in part, to public outcry after incidents when people felt they weren't properly notified of danger. Numerous firms focus solely on disaster alerts for colleges, such as Plymouth State University's provider, e2Campus, which was founded in 2003. Others, such as the University of New Hampshire's contracted company, Virginia-based Roam Secure, span federal, local and business sectors.

Regardless, anecdotal evidence from Keene State College's director of campus safety, Amanda G. Warman, supports the notion that the emergency notification arena is swelling.

When Keene State searched for a company to bring an alert system to campus - ironically, on the same day as last year's Virginia Tech shooting - the school got responses from about 14 firms, Warman said.

"I probably have (had) an additional 20 companies contact me post-Virginia Tech that are now in the business of emergency communications," she said. Anika Clark can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1432, or aclark@keenesentinel.com