NZ emergency alerts are faster in the cloud

New Zealand-based application developer and emergency network provider CLOUD M has migrated its emergency alert tools and system to IBM Cloud to improve reliability and performance.

The Auckland-based company, founded in 2011, develops and manages the cloud-based Alerter emergency communications system.

Through an easy-to-use mobile app, a simple web interface and a back-end database and distribution system, Alerter enables government agencies, communities and families to broadcast emergency updates in real time, helping people coordinate responses to avoid harm and establish recovery plans.

Audio and visual alerts can be sent to emails, text addresses, smartphones or social networks.

After encountering increasing reliability and performance issues with its cloud network provider, CLOUD M turned to IBM for assistance through the company’s Global Entrepreneur Program.

Through that partnership, CLOUD M adopted SoftLayer as its Infrastructure as a Service. Since then the company has seen a 50% increase in performance for Alerter, from hours to minutes.

Auckland’s Civil Defense & Emergency Management (CDEM) deployed Alerter in 2012. Previously, the agency had used a process that called for sending emergency information via press releases and emails to local civil defence groups and the media for disseminating. Those groups would alert citizens through sirens or TV and radio bulletins.

With Alerter’s increased performance on IBM Cloud, CDEM can now broadcast alerts and safety information to subscribers’ smartphones with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

“When you’re in the emergency alert business, seconds matter,” said Richard Gill, CLOUD M CEO and founder. “What we have now with the IBM Cloud infrastructure is a stable, always-on system that lets our software do its job for people in trouble.”