Bold rolls out virtual disaster response center

COLORADO SPRINGS, Co.--Bold Technologies recently announced the addition of a Virtual Disaster Response Center here. The virtual concept, available this June, will equip centrals with varied response-plan options depending on the level of emergency. In the case of a disaster, the system enables central stations to continue operations at a remote location, which could be anywhere. For example, personnel could use a personal computer to connect to the platform. "Your computer turns into a phone," said Rod Coles, president at Bold Technologies. Matt Narowski, support manager at the company, with his support team designed the system by planning for capacity. "Each site will have its own software, and the system is able to fire up several sites at one time in only a few minutes," Narowski said. The virtual center isn't staffed like other disaster-recovery centers, Coles said. "They [personnel] don't have to fly to Colorado, which is the big thing we tried to avoid when developing the system," he explained, adding this flexibility is helpful in an emergency situation. Narowski explained that the difference between this system and others lies in the added convenience to the customer that being virtual lends. "They can choose their particular start-up site. They can actually go to any particular center that has an Internet connection." Central stations with redundancy options can extend their existing plan one step further, noted Coles. For example, some central stations have other "friendly" stations that they work with. "You could get a friendly central station to man your accounts for a short period of time," Coles said. "And the beauty of our solution, although the central station will see some account information as alarms are presented, they are not able to get reports. You are not giving them your user base." Coles said, "centrals will not be able to use the virtual disaster response center until they upgrade." Many of Bold's customers are moving from the THEOS system to the Manitou platform; at any one time there are 20 to 25 upgrades going on, he said. Cole estimated about half a dozen customers will incorporate the new system into their existing infrastructure when it debuts. Like other automation companies, such as DICE and MASterMind, that have also rolled out redundancy and disaster response technologies, Coles said, "you have to stay ahead and in step with the competition."