Hurricane-Prone Galveston County, Texas Uses Avaya IP Call Center Network to Respond to Critical 911 Calls

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- When Hurricane Katrina roared inland last year across the Gulf Coast, officials in Galveston County, Texas feared that government buildings housing local emergency response teams would be unable to survive the storm.

"For the first time we actually had to abandon some of our public safety sites out of a concern for our employees," said Bobby Wright, executive director, Galveston County Emergency Communications District.

To prepare the county's emergency response infrastructure to weather such extraordinary conditions in the future, the District is implementing a new survivable IP telephony solution from Avaya , a leading global provider of business communications software, systems and services.

A centralized Avaya communications network will replace eight standalone systems and link 911 call centers countywide -- including those operated by the Galveston County Sheriff's Department and the city police departments in Galveston, Texas City, La Marque, Hitchcock, Santa Fe, Dickinson and Kemah. Four centers have been added to the network to date, with the remaining sites expected to be up in early August.

The new integrated 911 call center network is based on Avaya Communication Manager IP telephony software and highly reliable Avaya media servers and gateways. Voice traffic will travel across a secure, encrypted private data network.

Backup Avaya processors and survivable gateways help to ensure that each organization can communicate even if connectivity is lost. And in the face of hurricanes or other extraordinary events, employees will be able to access the network remotely if government offices are inaccessible.

"We take what we do very seriously and know that when someone calls us, it's the most important call they'll make," Wright said. "That means we want to give them the response they deserve. With our new centralized communications network, we can continue to answer 911 calls, even during an evacuation, by rerouting them or by moving dispatchers to a new site where they can log in just as if they were at their regular workstation."

Centralizing control equipment and distributing functionality to remote sites over the District's data network means significantly less equipment is needed -- reducing hardware and maintenance costs and greatly simplifying systems administration. For example, when new streets are added to county maps, Wright previously had to rely on what he calls a "sneaker network" to update the mapping databases at each individual site.

"A person had to physically travel to each workstation with a CD in hand to update the data," he said. "Now with a central architecture and distributed connectivity, we can automatically push information out from a single location to all the workstations on the network."

The Avaya Global Services team is installing the voice network and will provide managed services to support it, including around-the-clock remote monitoring and maintenance and proactive IP support services. Avaya also conducted a network assessment to validate the network design and its ability to handle anticipated call volumes.

"The public safety environment tends to be way behind the curve in terms of technological advancements because we're so concerned about reliability and don't want to change what we know is working," Wright said. "Now, though, with reliable IP telephony solutions and the redundancy the technology offers, we're able to migrate to new technology with peace of mind."

Integrated E911 Call Handling Capabilities

The Avaya solution for Galveston uses an E911 Call Handling application from Tel Control Inc. (TCI) that was the industry's first fully-integrated, voice over IP (VoIP) solution for 911 communications. The TCI Synapse(TM) application integrates with Avaya Communication Manager IP telephony software to improve system redundancy and enable intelligent call routing capabilities, and it has been compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with the company's IP telephony solutions. Synapse is now used in installations in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas and is believed to be the most widely deployed next-generation 911 solution in the nation.

TCI (http://www.tci911.com/) is a member of the Avaya DeveloperConnection program, an initiative to develop, market and sell innovative third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a company's investment in its network. Other Avaya DeveloperConnection member companies writing Avaya-compatible e911 applications include: Positron Public Safety Systems and Xtend Communications Corp.

Upcoming Industry Events Showcase Avaya Public Safety Solutions

Avaya will demonstrate communications solutions for public safety applications during two upcoming industry events:

The National Association of Counties 2006 Annual Conference scheduled for August 4-8 at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago, Ill. Avaya will exhibit in Booth 435 and demonstrate a Mobile Communication System that can help emergency responders quickly set up communications at temporary worksites. Guy Clinch, global director of solutions for government, Avaya, will discuss how to restore and maintain critical communications in the wake of disruptive events" from 12:30 to 1:15 p.m. in the conference Learning Theater on Monday, August 7. He will be joined by Roger Smith, MIS director for Strafford County, N.H., an Avaya customer. For more information, visit http://www.naco.org/.

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International 72nd Annual Conference and Exhibition scheduled for August 6-10 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. APCO is the world's largest gathering of public safety officials. Avaya will exhibit in Booth 1016 and showcase 911 solutions. The company also is sponsoring a "Communications Center Director of the Year" award. For more information on the conference, visit http://www.apco2006.org/.

About Avaya

Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including over 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500(R). Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications -- and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services -- Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya website: http://www.avaya.com/.

Media Relations Investor Relations Deb Kline Matt Booher 908 953 6179 908 953 7500 klined@avaya.com mbooher@avaya.com