Emergency notification test to over 75,000 NASA personnel via email and SMS completed in under 20 minutes. Successful test of system prompts NASA to go to project completion
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently exercised The Communicator!(R) NXT(TM) emergency notification system from Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, to successfully send over 102,000 combined email and SMS messages to personnel in under 20 minutes. The notification was immediately followed up with a survey to determine the safety status of the personnel and ensure the contact information was correct, which was completed in less than 25 minutes. This deployment was the last step required for NASA’s scope of work and completes the administration’s integration of the system into the administration’s emergency management and response strategy. In July of 2010, Cassidian Communications was awarded a five-year contract with NASA to provide The Communicator!(R) NXT(TM) system. Since that time, Cassidian Communications notification solutions and services engineers have worked to develop specific features and functionality to meet the stringent demands of NASA.
The Communicator!(R) NXT(TM) system resides in Cassidian Communications ISO-certified and SAS 70 audited hosting centers, giving NASA secure access to sophisticated infrastructure for notification. Through these geographically diverse, state-of-the-art facilities, application resiliency and data redundancy will assure round-the-clock readiness for rapid, accurate communication.
“NASA is one of the first federal agencies to share dedicated hosted services by implementing Cassidian Communications Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering. In the event of an emergency, NASA’s integrated Emergency Notification & Accountability System (ENS) quickly notifies affected persons, allowing NASA to account for status, ensuring consistent system wide capabilities and enabling cross-center support,” said Bob Freinberg, vice president and general manager of Cassidian Communications Notification Solutions and Services (NSS) business unit. “Our offering provides clients access to effective, agency-wide shared services at the best value.”
Utilized by hundreds of public and private organizations worldwide, The Communicator!(R) NXT(TM) system is the notification solution of choice when communications demand the highest levels of security and reliability. Having successfully completed rigorous testing, the software has achieved numerous prominent accreditations and meets the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC), and Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 4-021-01, among several others.
Offering the industry’s only full-circle security and communications portfolio, Cassidian Communications also supplies NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center with its Sentinel(R) emergency call processing solution. A customer since 1999, Kennedy Space Center relies on the Sentinel solution to facilitate 9-1-1 emergency call-taking and dispatch processes. The Sentinel solution provides unprecedented Automatic Number Identification/Automatic Location Identification (ANI/ALI) capabilities and integrated Automatic Call Distribution (ACD). Allowing for single-button call transfers, extensive speed dial, call conferencing and automatic setup, dynamic status update of all active calls and more, its use enables fast, efficient emergency response for safeguarding occupants of this highly critical facility.
About Cassidian Communications (http://www.CassidianCommunications.com) As the largest and most trusted source of mission critical communications solutions, Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, is leading the way in standards-based NG9-1-1 call center applications, notification solutions and services and P25 land mobile radio systems. Headquartered in Temecula, California. About EADS North America (http://www.eadsnorthamerica.com)
EADS North America is the North American operation of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $11 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 200,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. Operating in 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its customers in the commercial, homeland security, aerospace and defense markets.
