Newsletter - April 2005

In this Issue:

1) Halton Hills Fire Protection and Prevention Service
911 Dispatch System Completed in 3 Months

2) Looking for a System that Combines Alarm Monitoring
and Emergency Management? The Horizon EME makes it easy

Halton Hills Fire 911 - Making Technology Work - In Record Time.

Halton Hills Fire 911 Comm Center during live operation
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Symposium is pleased to announce that the Horizon EME CAD system and FIREHOUSE Software® RMS are now live and running at Halton Hills’ Fire Protection and Prevention division. The new system provides the town with state-of-the-art call-taking, map-based dispatch, and record management, serving an area of about 285 square kilometers. The project was started in the first week of January and went live the first week of April – an unheard-of timeframe for a project of this scope. This achievement further cements Symposium’s established reputation for providing CAD solutions that are fast, simple, easy, and reliable.

With a population of just over 50,000 the town of Halton Hills is strategically located in the GTA just off highway 401, between Mississauga and Oakville to the south, Brampton to the East, and Kitchener and Guelph to the west.

Like many fast-growing municipalities Halton Hills is highly diverse, including built-up residential and manufacturing areas as well as extensive rural districts. Because of the varied service area, the town required a dispatch system with the flexibility to handle a wide range of call types, from structure fires and chemical spills to traffic accidents and agricultural burning.

According to Operations Chief John Martin, the Horizon EME is an ideal fit: “Because of our operations and response area, we needed a system that was highly flexible. We liked the fact that the new system could be configured specifically for our needs, that it could be easily re-configured to meet the changes that come with growth, and that it was fully integrated with the RMS. The Symposium team did a great job, and we’re extremely pleased with our choice.”

System installation was smooth and straightforward, thanks to the close working relationship that was developed between Symposium and the staff at Information Services, GIS, and Fire. Patricia Thielan, Manager of Information Services for the town, had this to say: “Everything went really well, especially given the size and scope of the project, and the number of people that had to be pulled together from different departments. Everything was delivered on time and on budget, exactly as promised. Symposium is a very responsive company, and our experience working with them has been positive in every aspect of this project.”

Over one million people live within a half hour drive of Halton Hills, and the Fire Protection and Prevention division has mutual aid agreements with public safety agencies in the surrounding cities. Now, thanks to the Horizon EME’s powerful multi-jurisdictional dispatch capabilities, Halton Hills dispatchers can more effectively manage combined response, both inside and outside the town boundaries.

Now that the system is live, Halton Hills has one of the most advanced dispatch capabilities in the entire region. Jeanette Collier, the division’s Supervisor of Support Services, is very pleased with the impact the system is making on dispatch operations: “Whenever there’s change, you expect a little reluctance, because people get used to working a certain way. But the new system is the best of both worlds – totally customized to the way our dispatchers already work, but providing huge new capabilities. All I’ve heard from the staff are good things, and I think that’s the real test.”

For its part, the team at Symposium is very happy to be working with the town. As company president Robert Day put it, “Halton Hills is a very forward looking municipality, and we are proud and honored to be selected as their dispatch system provider. Now that the system is in, we’re looking forward to making our relationship even stronger, and providing them with the same excellent service and support enjoyed by our other clients”.

For more information, or for those interested in seeing the system in action, please contact Symposium by emailing us at info@symposium911.com.

Alarm Monitoring and Emergency Management - All In ONE Easy Package

Symposium is proud to announce the expansion of our flagship Horizon EME system to incorporate full alarm monitoring capabilities for military, private security, fire, and related clients.

This makes the EME an even more powerful system, boasting a fully integrated suite of event management technologies that includes not just alarm monitoring, but computer aided dispatch, GPS/AVL, schedule adherence, wireless data and RMS integration.

The result is the most comprehensive event response and management capability available, enabling users to access and make use of all these technologies in one system, simultaneously.

The EME’s Alarm Monitoring module lets users monitor all types of signals, including security, fire, and administrative alarms, and can be configured to work with any number of different signal delivery systems at once.

In addition to providing users with alerts for incoming alarms, the Alarm Monitoring module can be used in tandem with the system’s other advanced functionalities to plot the location of alarms on the interactive map, automatically create incidents, recommend response based on the alarm type and location, display interactive floor plans showing the location of the alarm, and communicate all this information to responding personnel.

The integration of alarm monitoring capability into the EME ensures that your agency receives the alarm information faster and more effectively, and can dispatch the fastest and most effective response. The bottom line is that you’re able to react more quickly, more efficiently, with better information and greater safety.

Incorporating comprehensive alarm monitoring capabilities into a broader event management system that’s easy to operate, simple to install, and extremely reliable is just another market-leading example of Symposium’s commitment to delivering the very best solution, and making technology work for you™.

If you’d like to find out more about the EME’s alarm monitoring capability or any other of the system’s other powerful features, please contact Symposium by emailing us at info@symposium911.com.

Next Issue

More contract announcements, new system enhancements, and lots of other great stuff!

Previous Newsletters : Dec 2003, Mar 2004, June 2004, July 2004, Oct 2004, Nov 2004

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