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For Immediate Release

Media contact: Lauren Denhartog, 260-481-6827

IPFW Emergency Notification System Undergoes First Test

(Fort Wayne, March 20, 2008) -- Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) conducted an initial test of its Reverse 9-1-1 emergency notification system today (Thursday, March 20).

IPFW Police Chief Lauren Denhartog was pleased with the results of the voice mail test, which sent a pre-recorded message to 1,540 land line telephones on the campus. "We had a success rate of just over 44 percent, which means that 680 people answered their phones and heard the message. 740 of the calls went into the recipients' voice-mail, and less than 10 percent of the calls did not go through," said Denhartog. He added it took just over 90 minutes for the system to make the calls, a time he called too long if an actual emergency was taking place. He said, "The Reverse 9-1-1 system has the capability of doing a 'mass call' that is supposed to be much quicker, and we will test that aspect of the system before the end of the month."

A test of the e-mail notification did not fare as well. Denhartog said, "There are some glitches in the software that didn't allow the message to go through. Information Technology Services is working on that and we will retest that system before the end of the month, too. This is good example of why we do the testing; we want to make sure that the system works the way its supposed to."

For more information, contact Denhartog at 260-481-6827 or denharto@ipfw.edu.

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