Continuity of Operations

Communications in Critical Situations

With recent emergency and disaster events, federal agencies have an even greater need for having continuity plans in place for multiple incidences ranging from bio-terrorism threats to IT recovery. By having appropriate plans in place to message protocol during an incident, departments and agencies have better organization and control over emergencies.

AT&T's Expertise

The Wireless from AT&T Business Continuity Solution enables federal, state, and local departments and agencies to implement business continuity plans across the organization, making emergency and IT recovery plans, contacts, locations, and phone numbers available to users on their wireless handhelds, which empowers personnel to respond quickly and with purpose to any type of incident.

Message Blast to Any Communications Device

In an emergency, messages often have to go out to special categories of workers— for example, one notification may go to all office managers, another message may go to all field personnel. These workers may use a variety of devices: BlackBerry® Handhelds™ using email or PIN-to-PIN messaging, pocket PCs, cell phones, desktop PCs, even fax machines.

The Wireless from AT&T Business Continuity Solution lets a BlackBerry user send one message to many addressees regardless of their devices. The user has access to three types of groups: a group of addresses created by an administrator, an existing BlackBerry Address Book group, and, a manually entered group. After selecting a group, the user simply composes a message and sends.

Instant Conference Calling

This feature lets a user quickly set up a conference call by choosing from a list of pre-defined groups on their BlackBerry Handhelds by selecting participants from the address book or by entering new numbers. Response teams and other emergency groups can be talking to each other quickly with just a few clicks of the handheld.

Handheld Document Storage

The Handheld Document Storage capability lets users read emergency information immediately on their handhelds even if they are out of wireless coverage. Now maps, floor plans, emergency protocols, policies, and procedures are at users' fingertips.

PIN-to-PIN Messaging

In the event of a catastrophic loss of network, email server, or BlackBerry Enterprise Server™ (BES) functionality, BlackBerry users can take advantage of PIN-to-PIN messaging to communicate directly with other BlackBerry users over the wireless network. 

PIN lookup and automatic PIN updating

Users can access PIN addresses of users who share the same BES server as easily as accessing any other contact information. A user can then store the PIN address in their BlackBerry address book with one-click ease. The Request All PINs command can update users' entire address books with any PIN addresses registered on the local BES.

PIN-to-PIN archiving

Administrators in sensitive sectors often disable PIN-to-PIN messaging due to regulations requiring that all messages such as email be recorded or archived. In these cases, handhelds would not be able to be used in an emergency if the email server or other network infrastructure were down.

The AT&T Business Continuity Solution lets administrators archive PIN-to-PIN messages as a default protocol under normal conditions, so that in an emergency, the feature is enabled and handhelds are available for emergency communications.

Upon sending a PIN message, a copy of the content, including To:, CC:, and BCC: information is made and sent via email transport to an address chosen by the administrator. The message can then be processed with whatever method or tool is configured by the administrator.

Emergency Data Access Gateway

The patent-pending Emergency Data Access Gateway provides BlackBerry users with PIN-to-PIN access to vital information despite the loss of a BES or email services in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

A Network of Trusted Market Leaders

Our AT&T teams work with network compatible hardware, certified software, and systems integrationproviders to enable the deployment of the most efficient, cost-effective wireless solutions. We put all the pieces together to make wireless work for you.

Important information