BlackBerry launches AtHoc Public Safety Edition for Universities’ Critical Communications

As the UK prepares for a second wave of COVID-19, many government organisations and universities are evaluating how they can reach their employees, students and the wider public.

To address this, BlackBerry today (23 Sept) announced the launch of BlackBerry AtHoc Public Safety edition, a secure messaging service that will allow these institutions to deliver critical communications in an accurate, secure and trusted manner.

Severe weather events, and other major occurrences like rolling blackouts, traffic advisories, public health emergencies and civil unrest impact the public. BlackBerry has supported local governments through crises including earthquakes in Latin America, hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, tornadoes in the Great Plains and wildfires on the West Coast. The AtHoc Public Safety edition builds on this experience to provide a complete cloud-based critical event communication system in a secure, easily managed and cost-effective manner. 

“Over the past decade, BlackBerry has successfully provided local governments with the tools needed to quickly notify residents and share timely critical information to keep people safe. We are excited to announce the addition of the BlackBerry AtHoc Public Safety edition to help leaders more effectively protect the public,” said Christoph Erdmann, Senior Vice President of Secure Communications at BlackBerry.

“The solution can be deployed quickly to enable the most secure real-time information notifications to the community, so that people can make informed and safety-critical decisions in times of crisis.” 

Public safety requires a concerted effort by many people, teams and organisations. BlackBerry AtHoc can bridge the gap between employees, the public, and essential services when critical information needs to be delivered quickly and reliably. Official notifications can be sent through multiple channels including Apps, SMS, RF enabled sirens, digital signage, radio and TV to quickly reach everyone within a specified geography at the time of the communication. Residents also can self-register to receive additional enhanced notifications based on event types of interest to them. 

Designed for the diverse population needs of local governments and universities, the SaaS offering operates from a certified secure cloud, can be up and running quickly, provides ADA 508 accessibility compliance and multiple language support and can connect into the notification networks of other organisations with a public safety mission. Fixed cost affordable pricing is available based on the size of the community that needs to be communicated with. BlackBerry AtHoc has cloud instances in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands to comply with local data residency mandates.