Above: P and P MNS promotion trailer used to give demonstrations to potential clients.

P and P Telecommunications expands to mass notification systems

By Savannah Gillispie

April 2008

At the turn of the 21^st century when Littleton, Colorado, along with the rest of the world, was shocked by the devastating events of Columbine High School, Americans were injected with fear.  “When,” they thought, “will we ever feel safe again?”

The continuance of these tragic massacres, at universities such as Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois, has caused both educational and industrial facilities across the United States to consider notification systems with a much higher regard. 

This issue of safety is what caused P and P Telecommunications, based out of Bowling Green, Kentucky, to expand their small business, previously consisting only of voice, security and video services, to expand into mass notification.

“The whole system is about getting the right message out to the right people at the right time,” said Jake Goodwin, Vice President of Operations at P and P Telecommunications.  “If there is a shooting on the south side campus, to avoid chaos, you may not want to notify the whole campus at once with a loud voice command.  We allow the ability to do that by using another form of notification such as text messaging or the phone-based call system to concentrate an evacuation notification to specific area.”

A MNS, or mass notification system, is an alert system programmed to inform people of imminent danger in the case of an emergency.  It uses outdoor warning systems, (otherwise known as giant voice systems), SMS text messaging, phone-based call systems, e-mail and visual notification systems to alert large masses of people and help organize proper personnel response. 

“Our text messaging vendor, Roam Secure, has partnership with the major cell phone carriers that will allow text messaging.  We provide 18,000 text messages in a minute.  Guaranteed,” said Goodwin.

P and P Telecommunications has teamed up with mass notification supplier Cooper Wheelock to ensure their customers are provided with the most reliable and technological up-to-date equipment as possible.

“What makes them special is that their product is well known and used in Iraq and in the department of defense.  When we became a partner, we felt like we investing in the best overall solution that we could to provide safety,” said Goodwin.  “Our system is the only system recognized by homeland security.”

Each MNS is specifically customized to serve its owner to the fullest potential, therefore, no two systems are alike. 

Though universities and military bases are their biggest clients, P and P Telecommunications makes MNS systems available to a wide-array of customers.  These include schools, corporate campuses, cities and counties, industrial facilities, chemical plants, mass transportation hubs and sports arenas.

Regardless of the type of client, the hope is that proper notification, as issued by the system, will help people evacuate safely and reduce the amount of injuries and casualties in the process.

 “My goal is that my system will evacuate the people promptly and accordingly to get them out the building,” said Goodwin.  “When we leave a client with a system, we like knowing that it could save a life.”