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Special Supplement: Securing the Campus
A Multi-Pronged Plan
7/1/2007
The solution? Push text alerts directly to students’ cell phones. Using the Rave Wireless product Rave Campus, campus administrators can now do just that and more, and they don’t have to add hardware or software to do it, say the vendor’s spokespeople. A university administrator simply authors a brief alert through a hosted web console or mobile phone, chooses high-priority (SMTP and SMPP) or lower-priority (SMTP only) delivery of the message, and hits the “Send” button. The message moves through Rave’s redundant infrastructure to mobile carrier networks, and is delivered to recipients as an SMS text message and/or e-mail.
This particular solution goes beyond standard text message broadcasting, to allow the message recipients to respond to the university, acknowledging receipt of the message or even requesting assistance, if need be. The Rave alert capability can also interoperate with existing ERP and learning management systems such as SunGard Banner and Blackboard, say Rave spokespeople. Delivery of voice alerts is another option, and the solution allows delegated group based alerting and event scheduling; students can opt in to stay up-to-date about campus life and academic information, or they can opt out. Finally, the Rave Guardian feature allows students to be monitored as they move from one destination to another on campus—they merely set the alert capability before they set out, then click it off after arrival. No click on arrival, and campus police are alerted to assist, and can quickly home in on the location.
Montclair State University (NJ), with 16,000 students (12,000 of them commuters), is a Rave Wireless customer. Edward Chapel, CIO and VP for IT, is one of the MSU administrators who oversaw the rollout of the Rave Guardian system (dubbed MSU Connect) and deployed it to full-time students and residents in 2005, then to all entering students in fall 2006. The school disconnected its land lines, covering much of the deployment expense, and students pay a fee for the MSU Connect service, which is taxfree and student-aid eligible. The telecommunications network/ infrastructure is provided by Sprint Nextel, and Rave’s licensing costs are funded through the IT department.
Chapel is pleased with the result of the deployments. “This is the technology that students want and like,” he maintains. “They’re very focused on text messaging and on this mobile, handheld device platform. That’s an often overlooked advantage, but it’s huge.” What’s more, there’s now “a heightened sense of security,” says Chapel, because students know that they can use their phones as protection.
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