Macquarie Uni picks BlackBerry AtHoc for crisis response

Blackberry's AtHoc division has deployed its networked crisis communications platform at Macquarie University's Sydney campus to support the safety of 40,000 students and staff.

According to the university security manager John Durbridge, Macquarie had been "researching a solution to co-ordinate and update its crisis communication response strategy" since 2011, when he joined the education institution.

Macquarie University wanted a solution that ensured the campus was "incident-ready" and also able to issue targeted or mass alerts using student and staff smartphones and laptops.

Durbridge said: "We wanted to be crisis-ready and have a robust mass notification system in place. Although we approached several overseas and local companies, we were most impressed with AtHoc's security credentials with the US Defense Force and the solution’s ability to tick all the boxes in our 'wish list'."

"We work in an environment where the importance of the safety of our students and staff is something that can't be underestimated. We are constantly looking for ways to enhance our systems and AtHoc provides the scalability and functionality for us to do this," added Durbridge.

BlackBerry ANZ  managing director Matthew Ball said: "Mobility is playing an increasingly vital role in ensuring effective real-time communications to keep people safe, and we are excited to see Macquarie University setting the standard for staff and student safety in Australia by being ‘incident-ready’ with AtHoc."

The networked crisis communication suite runs on AtHoc's cloud platform and uses mobility, hybrid cloud and the IP network to deliver an end-to-end solution.

BlackBerry has invested heavily in security, acquiring five enterprise software and services companies in the past 18 months, including Secusmart, Movirtu, WatchDox, Good Technology and security consultancy Encription.

BlackBerry acquired AtHoc in September 2015. AtHoc's solution enables people, devices and organisations to be connected and exchange information in real time.

BlackBerry and Microsoft announced a partnership that enables Microsoft customers to install and manage BlackBerry's BES12 enterprise mobility management platform through Azure. As a result of the partnership, Microsoft will add AtHoc’s network crisis communication solution into the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.