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Purdue University To Test Emergency Text Messaging System

by Tim Stevens on September 19, 2007 at 02:05 PM

Purdue University Testing Emergency Text Messaging SystemIn the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, emergency text messaging systems were proposed as a means to spread the word more quickly. Unfortunately, in their first real-world test last month on a Colorado campus, emergency text systems didn't perform so hot. In that case, warnings took 30 minutes to be sent and only 500 students out of 30,000 had signed up to receive them.

Hoping to avoid a similarly bad report card, Purdue University is being more proactive, testing its emergency texting system on Monday, September 24. 7,200 volunteers have signed up to receive a test message. After receiving the test message, all 7,200 will respond so that administrators can accurately track just how long it took for those messages to be delivered. The school's researchers fear that send rates of 200 or 300 messages per minute could mean some students won't receive a warning until over 30 minutes after the first is sent. It's easy to see why some are concerned about the feasibility of this sort of system.

From textually.org

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Tags: Purdue, security, Text messaging, TextMessaging

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