Archive for the ‘Press Releases’ Category

New application enables organizations to federate multiple InformaCast and InformaCast CK servers across disparate networks to send regional notification.

Madison, WI, 1 September, 2010 – Singlewire Software (http://www.singlewire.com), developer of innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification, today announced the release of InformaCast Director, a new product designed to connect and federate multiple instances of InformaCast and InformaCast CK to send regional notification. InformaCast Director extends the functionality of the full-featured, network-based InformaCast and InformaCast CK products that provide mass notification, emergency communication, overhead paging, and physical security to businesses, healthcare facilities, government agencies, universities, colleges, K-12 schools, and more.

“InformaCast Director is an immediate and cost effective way for an entire county or state to establish a true, on-network regional notification system via the InformaCast platform,” states Paul Shain, CEO of Singlewire Software. “It leverages existing networks and systems already in place to send notification.”

InformaCast Director utilizes the security and redundancy of the region’s IP data/computer networks to send notification to remote locations, triggering an on-network InformaCast notification to any combination of Cisco IP phones, IP speakers, computer desktops, analog paging systems, email systems, media display monitors, and other network devices. In addition, notification can also be passed to off-network notification systems including SMS text messaging and external email systems.

“This has the potential to be revolutionary in the way notification is done,” states Ken Bywaters, Executive Vice President of Product Development at Singlewire Software. “If there’s an emergency—like a weather warning, chemical spill, or a severe accident—that threatens the entire region, a public safety official can log into InformaCast Director and initiate a broadcast message that will cascade through all federated notification networks, systems, and endpoints.”

InformaCast Director is a software solution, and can be deployed as part of an organization’s data and voice IT infrastructure. It can be ordered through registered partners of Singlewire. For more information, including a one-minute video overview, nine-minute audio podcast, written documentation, and instructions, visit http://www.singlewire.com/director.

About Singlewire Software:

Singlewire Software, based in Madison, WI, develops and supports innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification capabilities. Its main application offerings: InformaCast, InformaCast CK, PushToTalk, and RemotePhoneControl allow customers unprecedented control in designing mass notifications, assigning them to specific recipients, and determining the medium for dissemination—IP phones, IP speakers, email, etc.—all with the peerless capacity for customization to customers’ specific environments. To learn more, please visit www.singlewire.com.

Media Contacts:
Brad Parkel
Director of Marketing
Singlewire Software, LLC
608.661.1154
media@singlewire.com
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Global Agreement Enables Comstor Resellers to Deliver Best-in-Class Voice Applications, Including InformaCast Notification System

Tarrytown, NY and Madison, WI, 22 April, 2010 – Westcon Group, Inc., the leading specialty distributor in networking, convergence, security and mobility, announces a distribution agreement with Singlewire Software, LLC, developer of innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification. The agreement enables Westcon Group’s Comstor business unit to distribute the entire suite of Singlewire’s best in class voice applications, including the InformaCast notification system, to its global network of Cisco-oriented resellers.

Andy Banks, vice president North America, Cisco Sales, commented: “One area that distinguishes Comstor from other distributors is that we have expertise across all of Cisco’s technologies, including the Cisco Unified Communications platform. We are pleased to be adding Singlewire’s innovative voice applications to our linecard.”

Singlewire InformaCast is a full-featured network-based mass notification system that allows users to simultaneously send an audio and/or text message to a variety of endpoints including IP speakers and overhead paging systems.

“Comstor is second to none in its competence and overall understanding of Cisco technology. This brings us tremendous value as we look to expand the depth of our Cisco-oriented customer base,” states Mike Koehn, Director of Channels for Singlewire Software. “We are pleased to be able to leverage Comstor’s logistics capabilities, sales expertise as well as its dedicated programs.”

Partners can purchase Singlewire InformaCast via the partner login portal located at http://www.comstor.com. To learn more about InformaCast, visit http://www.singlewire.com/one or view InformaCast Demonstrations at http://www.singlewire.com/demo.

About Westcon Group
Westcon Group, Inc. is the leading specialty distributor in networking, security, mobility and convergence for leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Avaya and Polycom. Through its Westcon and Comstor practices, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers, systems integrators and service providers. Westcon Group has particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information, visit www.westcongroup.com.

About Singlewire Software
Singlewire, based in Madison, WI develops and supports innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification capabilities. Main offerings include: InformaCast, InformaCast CK, PushToTalk, and DORA, and allow customers unprecedented control in designing mass notifications, assigning them to specific recipients, and determining the medium for dissemination—IP phones, IP speakers, email, etc.—all with the peerless capacity for customization to our customers’ specific environments. To learn more, please visit www.singlewire.com.

Contact:
Jeffrey Touzeau
Hummingbird Media, Inc. for Westcon Group
Tel: (914) 602-2913
jeff@hummingbirdmedia.com

Brad Parkel
Director of Marketing
Singlewire Software
media@singlewire.com
608.661.1154

SNAP System Combines SchoolMessenger and Singlewire InformaCast to Deliver Mass Notifications Across 68 Campus Locations, Reaching 100,000 Students and 10,000 Employees With the Push of a Button

Santa Cruz, CA and Madison, WI – April 16, 2010 – The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), the largest provider of postsecondary education and workforce training in Kentucky, was recognized as a Laureate by the Computerworld Honors Program for creating a statewide emergency notification system. Known as SNAP, or Safety Notification Alert Process, the system combines technology from SchoolMessenger and Singlewire Software, LLC that reaches across its 16 technical colleges and 68 campus locations to alert more than 100,000 students and employees to emergency conditions with the push of a button.

Each year the Computerworld Honors Program recognizes the most outstanding user achievements in technology. Honorees from around the globe are nominated for visionary applications of information technology that promote positive social and economic progress. This year’s honorees will be commemorated during an Awards Evening in Washington DC in June.

“Each Laureate selected for this honor understands the importance of using one’s resources and technical prowess to benefit one’s fellow man,” said Bob Carrigan, Chairman of the Computerworld Honors Program Chairmen’s Committee and CEO of IDG Communications Worldwide.

The KCTCS system consists of two parts. Singlewire InformaCast provides on-campus and intra-campus messaging that allows administrators to direct notifications to a specific college, campus, or building. If needed, audio and text messages can be sent, interrupting calls and turning IP phones into loudspeakers to broadcast critical news and updates. At the same time, bright-colored bars can be run across color computer terminals to deliver a clear message with detailed directions.

With no dorms on campus, communicating directly to students who commute up to an hour daily is equally important. SchoolMessenger’s massive communications capabilities enable thousands of personalized and timely voice calls, text messages, and emails to be sent instantly in any language.

“We applaud KCTCS for the honor that has been bestowed on it and the vision it has shown in creating a statewide crisis communications system that is unmatched,” said Sanford Kenyon, president of SchoolMessenger. “With just a push of the button students, parents, faculty, and staff anywhere in the state can be alerted to threatening conditions, and then kept up-to-date as the situation unfolds.”

“KCTCS has done something truly extraordinary with their emergency notification system in Kentucky and deserve the notoriety and accolades it has received,” said Brad Parkel, director of marketing at Singlewire Software. “They have created a powerfully informed system of campuses that can communicate directly with each other, through a variety of devices, to ensure that safety remains the number one priority at all times.”

A congratulatory video produced by SchoolMessenger and Singlewire.

About KCTCS
Since its formation in 1998, KCTCS has become the largest provider of postsecondary education and workforce training in Kentucky serving more than 500,000 citizens. The statewide system of 16 colleges and 68 campuses has a current enrollment of more than 100,000 students, with more than 10,000 faculty and staff. KCTCS also houses the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services and the Kentucky Fire Commission. kctcs.edu

About Singlewire
Singlewire Software LLC, based in Madison, WI, develops and supports innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification capabilities. Main offerings include: InformaCast, InformaCast CK, PushToTalk, and DORA, and allow customers unprecedented control in designing mass notifications, assigning them to specific recipients, and determining the medium for dissemination—IP phones, IP speakers, email, etc.—all with the peerless capacity for customization to our customers’ specific environments. To learn more, please visit www.singlewire.com.

About SchoolMessenger
SchoolMessenger is a leading provider of notification solutions for education. Thousands of school districts, public schools, colleges, universities, private schools and other educational facilities in all 50 states depend on the company’s innovative solutions to connect and effectively communicate with millions of parents, students and staff every day. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California. For information, visit http://www.schoolmessenger.com or call 888.527.5225.

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Media Contacts:

Brad Parkel 
Director of Marketing
Singlewire Software, LLC
608.661.1154
media@singlewire.com

Madison, WI (March 29, 2010) – Singlewire Software, LLC, (www.singlewire.com), developer of innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification, today announced the release and publication of an online video and written case study highlighting the recent implementation of InformaCast as the network-based paging and emergency mass notification system for KCTCS. The case study is located at http://www.singlewire.com/kctcs

Singlewire’s InformaCast is a full-featured notification system that allows users to simultaneously send an audio and/or text message to a variety of endpoints including IP speakers and overhead paging systems. It is implemented by more than 2,000 organizations in 35 countries worldwide.

For sending emergency notifications, KCTCS developed the SNAP system—or Safety Notification Alert Process—its own, branded emergency notification system. InformaCast stands as the backbone of the SNAP system, allowing KCTCS to set up messages, create recipient groups, and select the devices that will receive those messages.

Through InformaCast’s group functionality, KCTCS can send notifications to a particular building on campus, to a campus, or to a college. “We can hit one button, and it does it all,” said Derrel Cone, Technology Solutions Project Coordinator at KCTCS.

InformaCast can reach Cisco IP phones and countless computer desktops, and it’s integrated with KCTCS’s text messaging system, meaning that it can reach thousands of phones in minutes. “We can actually take over all of our phones and turn [them] into loudspeakers….We control the volume-we can interrupt phone calls-to give the message and get that message out,” said Bob Hammonds, System Director – Crisis Management, Environmental Health, and Safety at KCTCS. “The same situation is possible with InformaCast combined with the Desktop Notification System. Our computer screens turn a bright color. We kind of take over the computer screen and put a bright message, and then there’s a bar that goes across and gives them the message with directions.”

“KCTCS has done something truly extraordinary with their emergency notification system in Kentucky,” states Brad Parkel, Director of Marketing at Singlewire Software. “KCTCS has managed to tie together all of their policies, networks, and endpoints into a single button that can be pushed to send notification to students, staff, parents, and the community. Any organization faced with protecting the public and initiating emergency notification should take a few minutes and watch this video.”

In addition to the written and video case study, additional video footage covers topic ranging from discussions on ROI to details on policy integration, technical integration, and the challenges to implementing a project of this size across a dispersed, state-wide organization. The case study is located at http://www.singlewire.com/kctcs.

About KCTCS: Since its formation in 1998, KCTCS has become the largest provider of postsecondary education and workforce training in Kentucky serving more than 500,000 citizens.  The statewide system of 16 colleges and 68 campuses has a current enrollment of more than 100,000 students, with more than 10,000 faculty and staff. KCTCS also houses the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services and the Kentucky Fire Commission. kctcs.edu

About Singlewire Software: Singlewire, based in Madison, WI, develops and supports innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification capabilities. Its main offerings include: InformaCast, InformaCast CK, PushToTalk, and DORA. These applications allow customers unprecedented control in designing mass notifications, assigning them to specific recipients, and determining the medium for dissemination—IP phones, IP speakers, e-mail, etc.—all with the peerless capacity for customization to its customers’ specific environments. To learn more, please visit www.singlewire.com.

MADISON, WI – January 22, 2010 – Singlewire Software, LLC, (www.singlewire.com), developer of innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification, today announced a partnership with Valcom (www.valcom.com), manufacturer of loudspeaker, telecommunications, and intercom paging systems, for producing InformaCast-compliant speaker endpoints.

Singlewire InformaCast is a full-featured notification system that allows users to simultaneously send an audio and/or text message to a variety of endpoints including IP speakers and overhead paging systems. It is implemented by over 2000 organizations in 35 countries worldwide.

Valcom, the largest provider of telephone-integrated paging systems, will be manufacturing an extensive line of IP-based, PoE (Powered over Ethernet) speakers utilizing Singlewire’s InformaCast-compliant protocols for delivering emergency notification, mass notification, and overhead paging. InformaCast-compliant IP speakers from Valcom will enable customers to take full advantage of the many notification products offered by Singlewire’s network-centric solutions, facilitating the transition from an analog-only paging environment to an IP-based paging solution.

“Valcom has a great reputation in the industry for manufacturing and delivering high-quality speakers and paging systems,” states Paul Shain, CEO of Singlewire Software. “By making these systems compliant with Singlewire InformaCast, Valcom customers will gain the value of industry-leading software tools to manage and deliver a host of next generation notification solutions.”

“This partnership is a big win for building managers as well as public safety officials,” states Ken Bywaters, Executive Vice President of Product Development at Singlewire. “Valcom worked closely with us in the development of their speaker firmware to ensure compliance with our InformaCast protocols. Schools, government agencies, healthcare facilities, and any organization deployed with Valcom paging can now easily extend notification to new endpoints and systems on their IP network.”

“We are excited to offer an array of 24 InformaCast compatible audio endpoints including IP speakers with features such as built-in clocks and talkback capability, IP Paging Horns and InformaCast compatible paging gateways.  The InformaCast endpoints are PoE and made in the USA,” states John Mason, President of Valcom, Inc.

Valcom’s endpoint products are available through major communication distributors or through Valcom directly. Singlewire InformaCast can be ordered through registered partners or ordered direct.

About Valcom:  Since 1977, Valcom has been providing the highest quality loudspeaker paging and telecommunication system enhancement intercom products.  For nearly 15 years, Valcom has supported IP loudspeaker paging to thousands of customers including large corporations, universities, State and Local governments, the military and smaller companies that have widely spread operations.   Valcom IP Solution provides highly reliable IP communications, IP Intercom Systems and IP based Multimodal Mass Notification Systems. Valcom’s products are manufactured in state-of-the-art facilities in Roanoke, Virginia USA and include an extensive line of IP and analog page control interfaces, gateways, ceiling/wall speakers, paging horns, clocks, background music, power supplies and door entry systems.  To learn more, please visit www.valcom.com

About Singlewire: Singlewire, based in Madison, WI develops and supports innovative voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification capabilities. Main offerings include: InformaCast, InformaCast CK, PushToTalk, and DORA, and allow customers unprecedented control in designing mass notifications, assigning them to specific recipients, and determining the medium for dissemination—IP phones, IP speakers, email, etc.—all with the peerless capacity for customization to our customers’ specific environments. To learn more, please visit www.singlewire.com.

Media Contacts:

Brad Parkel
Director of Marketing
Singlewire Software, LLC

608.661.1154

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Press Release

New Company Formed to Focus on Mass Notification and Physical Security Systems

Madison, WI – April 1, 2009 – Singlewire Software, LLC, (www.singlewire.com) today announced its formation as a company to focus on building applications for the Unified Communications and physical security spaces. Singlewire Software has acquired the assets of Berbee Software, including the InformaCast^® family of IP notification applications, from CDW Corporation. Singlewire Software intends to continue the enhancement of the InformaCast platform to include the integration of its notification technology into the physical security space. The company will be headquartered in Madison, WI.

Paul Shain, former CEO of Berbee and former Senior VP at CDW, will be serving as President and Chief Executive Officer. Ken Bywaters, current Practice Manager for Berbee Software, will become Executive Vice President of Product Management. Greg Sliwicki, former President of Berbee and former VP of Sales at CDW, will become Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Brett Rimkus, former CFO at Berbee and former CDW Vice President of Business Development, will become Chief Financial Officer. In addition, the engineering and sales team currently supporting the applications as Berbee Software will become employees of Singlewire Software.

“These software applications have been a valuable asset to both Berbee and CDW for many years,” said Paul Shain, Singlewire CEO. “Everyone involved recognized that in order for this technology to move forward, we needed to bring increased focus to this effort. Consolidating under Singlewire Software was the best means to do this.”

Singlewire Software will develop and support innovative, IP-based voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification capabilities, especially during emergency situations. The suite of applications is designed to detect incidents within an organization, notify people or systems of such incidents, and activate the necessary systems to resolve the situation. Product features include enterprise-wide paging, emergency mass notification, remote detection of incidents on an IP network (i.e. activating RFID tags and IP video cameras and sending audio and text messages to IP phones and desktop workstations), and remote control of IP phones for training and support. Singlewire Software applications are presently used by over 2,000 businesses in 35 countries.

The Berbee Software engineering and sales team was originally formed under Berbee Information Networks Corporation in 1998. The mission of this application group was to create software applications for the IP or data network of an organization. InformaCast,^® the flagship application written by Berbee’s application group, was used extensively as an emergency mass notification system after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Berbee application group, operating as “Berbee Software,” along with the parent company, Berbee Information Networks Corporation, was acquired by CDW Corporation on October 11, 2006. While the Berbee application group has been acquired by Singlewire Software, all other portions of the former Berbee Information Networks Corporation remain with CDW and form the heart of CDW’s Advanced Technology Services offerings.

“The Berbee Software team will best be able to maximize the current and future potential of InformaCast and other key applications by being organized into this new company,” said John A. Edwardson, chairman and chief executive officer, CDW Corporation. “CDW will continue as a key hardware provider for Singlewire customers. We wish our friends Paul, Greg, Ken, and Brett well in this new venture.”

Media Inquiries

Paul Shain, CEO
Singlewire Software

media@singlewire.com