Durham, CT Strengthens Emergency Operations Plan with 3n Mass Notification System

The town of Durham, Conn., today announced its selection of the 3n InstaCom Citizen Alert solution as its official emergency notification system. The solution will enable town officials to contact all or selected groups of residents with life-saving information quickly and efficiently through multiple forms of communication. In addition, the 3n system will be used for town and emergency responder staff notifications. Durham, as part of this agreement, has the ability to include the neighboring town of Middlefield and the six schools within Regional School District #13.

"Connecticut has allowed many towns like Durham to use federal Homeland Security funds to purchase emergency notification systems. We felt it was extremely important to invest in the most effective mass notification solution available and provide our residents with more reliable communications in an emergency," said Laura Francis, CEO and first selectman, town of Durham. "The 3n solution is customizable and flexible, and 3n's sales and implementation teams worked hand-in-hand with Francis Willett, the emergency management director for Durham, throughout the process. 3n demonstrated amazing insight into our challenges and how best to solve them. 3n was the clear choice to us throughout the evaluation process."

Durham used government funding toward the purchase of the system. "We were advised by the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) that we had an outstanding balance from our available DEMHS Funds. The DEMHS funding enabled us to afford the most robust and flexible solution for our needs. It's important that local governments ask questions about the available grant funds and understand what they can purchase," said Willett.

"We are constantly upgrading our emergency communications infrastructure to prepare for future emergencies, and 3n gives us the confidence to know we can instantly send important information to all of our residents when they need it most," said Scott Wright, chief Durham EMS and emergency communications coordinator.

"Our community is supported solely by volunteer emergency responders. We know the 3n notification system is reliable and that provides an immense amount of reassurance to our residents during an emergency. It also allows our Emergency Services and Town Government to focus on resolving the emergency situation and not spend time on manual communication methods," said Harry Hall, chief of Durham Volunteer Fire Department.

When selecting 3n, Durham noted several key product features and client service elements that solidified the selection, including flexibility, ease-of-use, reporting capabilities, web-based functionality, advanced back-end infrastructure that provide the capabilities of a high-end IT department, the ability to message to multiple devices and 3n's superior customer service and expertise working with state and local governments.

"One of 3n's primary goals is to help state and local governments effectively communicate life-saving information to its citizens," said Cinta Putra, chief executive officer, 3n Global. "Having Durham as a client is thrilling as it allows us to have another partner in the fight to ensure all organizations are effectively communicating to save lives and deliver a safer, more connected environment for all communities."