The Dubai Civil Defence (DCD) has chosen Avaya as its communications partner in the ongoing efforts to protect lives, properties and the city’s environment, the department announced today at a press conference onsite at GITEX 2007. Avaya’s solution will be accessed by more than 700 DCD employees across the headquarters and branches.
According to an agreement signed today, Avaya will connect the DCD headquarters and its twelve branches across the city, in a seamless converged communication platform, enabling the DCD to communicate internally. An innovative Emergency Notification System will enable DCD to alert staff at the base as well as in remote locations in case of emergencies. This automated process eliminates human latency in the entire alerting procedure, and boosts efficiency.
“In an emergency, every second counts; being able to respond efficiently and save lives is of paramount importance to Dubai Civil Defence,” said Captain Ali Mutawa, operation room director, Dubai Civil Defence. “Establishing prompt and reliable contact makes all the difference to public safety. To support critical emergency communications, having an efficient, secure, and ‘always on’ communications system was a necessity that Avaya fulfilled.”
“In particular, the Emergency Notification System will ensure that our personnel in DCD headquarters and our branches are alerted within seconds, and are ready to respond to an emergency. Working with Avaya has enabled us to implement the best-in-class intelligent communications solution to empower our personnel wherever they are - extending their mobility, and redefining communication for the safety of the community,” he added.
Avaya closely studied the DCD’s business requirements and proposed a comprehensive communications solution that specifically addresses the various challenges the DCD faces on a daily basis -from responding to emergency situations to mobility. Should the DCD decide to upgrade to IP Telephony, a fully scalable, hybrid telephony system would make that possible without increasing costs and with minimum or no downtime.
“For more than 30 years, Dubai Civil Defence has undertaken rescue operations and has restored emergency scenarios back to normal operations. Avaya is proud to be a part of DCD’s future safety strategy thorough its state-of-the-art communication solutions,” said Nidal Abou-Ltaif, managing director, Avaya MENA.
“By using the latest in communications technologies Avaya has provided the DCD with a robust, secure and critical communications system without sacrificing reliability. The solution delivers innovative redundancy capabilities to ensure business continuity and flexible operations. It will optimise the availability of people resources at any location from the very first attempt. This will drastically improve emergency response capabilities, enhance productivity, and save the DCD a substantial amount in annual communications costs,” Abou-Ltaif added.
Avaya’s solution at the DCD headquarters has been duplicated for maximum availability and will provide a rich feature set and business applications.
Avaya has also provided the DCD with a mobility solution based on DETC wireless system (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) at its headquarters. The head office will be covered by 20 DECT base stations, enabling the DECT phones to work on the premises. The system is scalable and can support an expansion of up to 100 DECT phones.
About Avaya
Avaya delivers Intelligent Communications solutions that help companies transform their businesses to achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1 million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500 (R), use Avaya solutions for IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Centers and Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global Services provides comprehensive service and support for companies, small to large. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com.
