The US Department of Agriculture has expanded its deployment of BlackBerry’s AtHoc to Farm Services Administration. The expansion offers over 15,000 personnel from the department to be covered for emergency communication and personnel accountability.
If you weren’t already aware, AtHoc aims at helping organizations ensure safe and effective communications such as alerts, messages and more, during emergencies.
You can read the full press release below :
h2>U.S. Department of Agriculture Expands Deployment of BlackBerry’s AtHoc to Farm Services Administration
With this expansion over 15,000 of the Department’s personnel are covered for emergency communication and personnel accountability
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA–(Marketwired – Dec. 21, 2015) – BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB), a global leader in secure mobile communications, today announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has expanded their Agriculture – Automated Warning and Information Response System (Ag-AWaIRS) to now protect personnel of the Farm Services Agency (FSA) headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ag-AWaIRS is the mass emergency notification system utilized by USDA Emergency Managers to alert USDA staff and contractors of crisis situations within minutes of an event. Already protecting USDA headquarters facilities in the National Capital Region (NCR), Ag-AWaIRS enhances communication and collaboration within and across USDA agencies while providing a high level of security and ensuring the protection of personally identifiable information. Seamlessly supporting telephones, SMS text messaging, desktops, and mobile devices as well as enabling cross-organizational communications, USDA’s Ag-AWaIRS ensures continuity of business operations (COOP) while protecting staff across functions, organizations and geographies.
Evergreen Information Technology Services (Evergreen ITS) worked with AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry, and the USDA to deploy the Ag-AWaIRS system to the FSA. “The safety of USDA personnel, its facilities and continuity of operation are mission critical,” said Terrance Martin, President of Evergreen ITS. “This solution effectively addresses those objectives for the enterprise by providing unified, secure communications across all agencies in times of crisis.”
“We are honored by the trust Evergreen ITS and USDA have shown by selecting the AtHoc solution,” said Dubhe Beinhorn, Vice President of AtHoc’s Homeland Security and Government Group. “We look forward to working with them to continue to expand and build an innovative and game-changing enterprise crisis communication network.”