Overview
Photo credit: The University of Puget Sound
Location: Tacoma, Washington
Enrollment: 2000+
Campus Type: Private
Campus Size: 97 acres
The University of Puget Sound, a private liberal arts college in Tacoma, WA, offers leading undergraduate and graduate programs, aiming to provide an education that fosters self-discovery through multiple perspectives and engaging work.
Challenge
In 2023, Francisco Chavez joined the University of Puget Sound as their chief information officer and associate vice president for technology services. He observed that their security team relied on various, multi-step systems to communicate with the campus community, which they maintained for about five years, despite a growing lack of vendor support.
Chavez sought to unify and simplify their mass notification process to ensure security services could prioritize the emergency itself, rather than technical complexities. For a solution tailored to their specific needs, they selected Alertus.
Solution
Customized Mass Notification
The Alertus IP Text-to-Speech Interface (an IP-Audible Visual Appliance or IP-AVA) provides spoken voice output of message text utilizing public address, FACP, LED Marquee, and other alerting devices.
Initially, they implemented the IP-AVA, a custom activation integrated into their campus emergency blue towers. They further enhanced their system by connecting the IP-AVA Text-to-Speech (TTS) Paging interfaces to their Simplex Fire Control Units, which allows for the dissemination of pre-configured common alerting presets directly from their Alertus Console. Indoor voice notifications are managed through the Alertus platform, eliminating the need for manual PA system announcements. They have also implemented an Alert Beacon®, an indoor IP TTS Speaker, and a hardwired duress button, alongside deploying Alertus Desktop™ across campus computers.
Thanks to custom actions, Alertus has turned the University of Puget Sound’s mass notification system into a one-step solution. “When the security team needs to trigger an alert, they choose a predefined message concerning an active shooter, shelter-in-place, or natural disaster, and it begins activating alerts swiftly across campus,” said Chavez.
Flexible, Seamless Integration
The Alertus IP Speaker delivers highly intelligible voice output of custom message text.
Currently, they use the system for evacuation drills, and are in the process of deploying 40 IP Speakers across campus – retrofitting older buildings. Chavez noted the flexibility of Alertus, “Alertus is simple to work with, not resource intensive, and security teams find it easy to use.”
Chavez is confident in the system’s performance and is planning on adding 26 additional IP TTS Speakers to further their audio notification/PA footprint. “The Alertus System is an excellent platform for a university of our size, offering a great cost of ownership and strong potential for future upgrades,” said Chavez. “We also enjoy working with Alertus’s responsive support team and collaborative engineering team.”