Avaya Helps Boost Campus Safety at West Chester University

University Sees Sharp Improvement in Response Times with E911 Technology from Avaya and Conveyant

Santa Clara, Calif. - May 31, 2016 - The emphasis on campus safety has escalated to the point where the U.S. Federal government requires colleges and universities to report campus crime statistics and top college ranking organizations have added it to selection criteria. At West Chester University (WCU) a strong record of campus safety has been boosted by the implementation of  E911 technology from DevConnect technology partner, Conveyant Systems, Inc.

As the University grows, and its environment shifts to a more high-density campus model, security is top-of-mind. In addition, changes in technology required that WCU update its emergency communications system to support a more mobile environment. Before the E911 solution, dispatchers at the campus public safety center didn’t have a defined location identifier, hampering their ability to quickly and accurately respond to emergencies.

Joe Sincavage, director of networking and telecommunications for WCU said,

“In a voice-over-IP environment, where phones can be moved and plugged back in anywhere, you don’t necessarily have an accurate location for a 911 call. We have no way to lock down the phones. We put out a lot of messages telling people not to move phones without contacting us first, but that doesn’t always work.”

The new E911 solution from Conveyant integrated seamlessly with the University’s Avaya communications system, and has provided the following benefits:

•   Much faster emergency response times, resulting in better outcomes

• Immediate access to location information allowing dispatchers to turn calls around quickly

•   Advanced software capabilities that alert IT staff when a VoIP phone is moved

A recent example demonstrates the improvement: A 911 call was received from the Human Performance Lab at the University’s Health Sciences Building. The information appeared at the campus dispatch center at 10:04 am, help was sent between 10:04 and 10:05, and an officer arrived on scene within two to three minutes. Contrast that to dialing 911 and reaching only the county police department, who are highly unlikely to be familiar with exact locations on the campus with response times taking up to 15 minutes or more.

John Dispaldo, emergency management and electronics security manager, WCU said:

“It is vitally important to have a reliable solution like the Avaya/ Conveyant offering in this type of environment. It absolutely cuts down on response time and improves dispatching accuracy. It saves precious moments during emergencies.”

To read more about West Chester University’s E911 solution, go here.

About West Chester University

West Chester University of Pennsylvania is the largest of the 14 public institutions in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the fourth-largest university in the Philadelphia area. The University offers more than 100 graduate and undergraduate programs in the arts and sciences, business and public affairs, the social sciences, visual and performing arts, health sciences and teacher education.

About Avaya

Avaya is a leading provider of solutions that enable customer and team engagement across multiple channels and devices for better customer experience, increased productivity and enhanced financial performance. Its world-class contact center and unified communications technologies and services are available in a wide variety of flexible on-premises and cloud deployment options that seamlessly integrate with non-Avaya applications. The Avaya Engagement Environment enables third parties to create and customize business applications for competitive advantage. The Avaya fabric-based networking solutions help simplify and accelerate the deployment of business critical applications and services.  For more information please visit www.avaya.com/apac/.

Certain statements contained in this press release may be forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should" or "will" or other similar terminology.  We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these are reasonable, such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to Avaya's filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. Avaya disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

All trademarks identified by ®, TM, or SM are registered marks, trademarks, and service marks, respectively, of Avaya Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners         

###