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Company | Customer References

Cary Academy

Cary Academy upgraded telephony communications with ALE safe campus solutions to gain advanced emergency broadcast and response systems.

  • Country: United States Of America
  • Industry: Education
  • Solution: Connected Solutions and Devices

Cary Academy is a college preparatory day school for 6th to 12th grade students located in Cary, North Carolina. The school strives to be on the forefront of communications and technology in its learning environment. Cary recently added an on campus safety solution with help from ALE and ICS.

Cary Academy Logo
Safety is key. With a system that integrates our existing broadcast capabilities with the phones, notification deliveries reach farther. This gives a great peace of mind for staff, administration and parents. You can’t put a price on peace of mind.
Karen McKenzie, Director of Technology and Innovation, Cary Academy

Challenges

Not long ago, Cary Academy upgraded its telephony communications solution with ALE solutions to better meet its needs and further the school’s innovative philosophy. In 2018, a campus renovation project revealed the need to realign its emergency broadcast systems.

Action

Cary Academy, with help from business partner and integrator, Intelligent Communication Systems, LLC (ICS) leveraged its newer telephony network to deploy a safe campus strategy by expanding and automating procedures.

Moving from a legacy overhead broadcast system, Cary Academy installed an Alert Voice Broadcast System (AVBS) for a more advanced notification automation system. Several buildings on campus are now updated and use standardized codes to operate the AVBS. Staff push messages out easily and as quickly with minimal steps.

The Alcatel-Lucent Emergency Notification Server (ENS) enables a notification to be triggered from any phone on campus. A 911 call goes to an onsite medical or security staff and then conferences with the local Emergency Services team. The location information is shared to assist emergency first responders and the call is recorded on the server.

Results

Technical benefits:

  • Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s ability to integrate with the legacy public announcement system and use existing ALE handsets contributed to the success of this system. The AVBS range covers previously unreachable campus areas with messages distributed over phone speakers for all to hear the notice regardless of their location. ALE’s AVBS solution enables Cary to pre-record messages making it quick to trigger notifications for weather or situational emergencies.
  • Cary Academy also chose to implement the Emergency Notification System’s mapping module which utilizes building maps and floor plans to pop a screen to the on-site first responders. This map shows the campus location of the 911 call so they can respond immediately and direct the off-site 911 responders to the exact location of the call. This is a key feature and is invaluable in an emergency when seconds make all the difference.

Financial benefits:

  • Cary Academy wants the latest technology as they believe a child’s safety is of utmost importance. Moving to the new system provided peace of mind to teachers and staff. The new safe campus solution from ALE also saves time and energy for staff and the overall outcome provides greater interest from families both current and prospective.

User experience benefits:

  • The new emergency and communications systems allow Cary Academy to simplify staff training. In the event of a tornado or lock down, personnel simply touching a button leads to action, and action without additional worries, leading to less human error.

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