City Starts New Notification System
Dec 14th, 2007
The City of Mobile and the Mobile County Commission, in conjunction with the Emergency Management Agency (EMA), announced Friday they are joining together to implement the Connect-CTY mass communication service provided by The NTI Group, Inc. (NTI).“Mobile is one of America’s greatest port cities. Though great, our strategic location on the Gulf of Mexico sometimes exposes us to weather-related disasters. Therefore, it is important that we implement a communication system that allows us to communicate effectively with all citizens,” said Mobile Mayor Samuel L. Jones. “The Connect-CTY service provides us that opportunity. It is the best technological mass communication tool to alert our citizens and businesses in an efficient and timely manner. We are looking forward to utilizing this tool in communicating vital City news.”
The Connect-CTY service, a multi-modal notification system, will give authorized local officials the ability to communicate with all residents and businesses regarding time-sensitive issues and matters of public interest. Officials can record, send and track personalized voice messages to thousands of residents, businesses and local agencies in just minutes through a single phone call. The service requires no additional hardware; it can be used from any computer with Internet access or via a telephone, ensuring that officials can send vital messages from wherever they are located. Approved officials receive a report after every call with the results of outgoing messages.
“The Connect-CTY service provides administrators with a powerful tool for mass communication without having to purchase new computers, software and telephone lines, making it easy for the City of Mobile, Mobile County and EMA officials to all have the ability to send messages immediately in the event of an emergency, such as a hazardous materials incident or hurricane,” said Robin D. Richards, Chairman and CEO of NTI.
Mobile County Commissioners can target messages to an unlimited number of groups – everything from mobilizing emergency response teams to coordinating efforts with appropriate agencies or volunteers. Users can contact residents within specific geographical locations via an integrated mapping function or by uploading a GIS-generated file.
Publically available primary residential and business phones in Mobile County will automatically be included in the system. However, constituents can provide their complete information (up to three phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, and one text-message address) and indicate if they have a TTY/TDD device by visiting the City of Mobile (www.cityofmobile.org), Mobile County (www.mobilecounty.org) or the Emergency Management Agency (http://www.mcema.net/) websites and clicking on the link that says “SIGN UP NOW – SERVICES BY CONNECT-CTY” to enter their information into the secure database.
Residents in the City of Mobile who are without Internet access can have their information added into the system by calling (251) 208-5311 or Mobile 311.
For more information on the Connect-CTY service, please go to www.ntigroup.com.
* NTI does not sell, lease, share, or rent personally identifiable information (names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) to any companies or persons outside of NTI or NTI service providers.
About The NTI Group
The NTI Group, Inc. (NTI), a Delaware corporation, is a privately held company that provides award winning communication systems designed specifically for local, regional, state, and Federal government entities. The Connect family of services enables rapid dissemination of critical information via voice and text devices using its premier mass notification engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily record and send time-based notifications to thousands of people in minutes using just a telephone. NTI makes and distributes the Connect-ED®, Connect-CTY®, Connect-GOV®, and Connect-MIL® systems, allowing users to target specific groups and/or geographic regions within their database(s) and engage recipients in two-way communication by asking them to respond to questions via their telephone keypads.