Tenn gets phone alert system | 02.20.2006 | 11:39:43 | Views: 5785 | ID: February 20 '06: The Tennessee Department of Homeland Security will implement a new phone system to be used over the internet to help develop an emergency notifications system. The Nashville Business Journal reported Monday that the system, called the Telephone Emergency Notification System (TENS) "works through an Internet-based calling engine developed by Franklin-based DCC. TENS will be used to before, during and after emergency situations, such as terrorist threats or flooding evacuations, to notify residents, first responders, emergency management and businesses by phone." The system is similar to the Regional Alliances for Infrastructure and Network Security organization which seeks to build community response and information sharing through "synchronized awareness" - a situation wherein a community and its responders and other organizations have access to the same pertinent information simultaneously. Through a program called Connect and Protect, "messages are squeezed into a standard format called the Common Alerting Protocol," Wired Magazine reported in December 2005. Connect and Protect's model using RAINS "is simple and elegant, and because warnings can be tagged with geographical coordinates, users can customize their cell phones, pagers, BlackBerries, or other devices to get only those relevant to their precise locale." In Tennessee, the contract with the state's Department of Homeland Security would include a three-year service contract estimated at $187,500. "In the event of an emergency, an operator in a 911 Center can identify affected neighborhoods or regions of a county and record a message that describes the situation and recommends protective actions. TENS then calls the listen numbers within that geographic area and delivers the message," the Business Journal reported.
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