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Colleges and Universities Can Increase Public Safety Overnight by 90% with New e2Campus 2.0 Mass Notification System

Its capabilities include using SMS text messages to help schools instantly communicate with entire campus or specific groups such as a dorm, branch campus or facilities crew

LEESBURG, VA - April 18, 2006 - Omnilert LLC, the leading provider of selective mass communications, today announced the release of e2Campus version 2.0, the mass notification system specifically designed for colleges and universities that offers instant communication to the entire campus community. The unprecedented value of mobile phones is that today's students carry them wherever they go. With various studies showing more than 90% of college students carrying mobile phones, schools can utilize this untapped communication tool to increase public safety. e2Campus is a cross-carrier mobile content service that enables school officials to use Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging to communicate important news, updates, and reminders on students' mobile phones. e2Campus 2.0 is available for purchase today and pricing varies by the size of the school. The new version of e2Campus can be purchased and operational in the same day. For many public schools, government funding for safety and security initiatives are available to cover the low cost of e2Campus.

"I save a lot of time with e2Campus, because it lets me communicate with everyone in the manner they prefer to be contacted," explains Maury Chaput, Executive Director of Administrative Services for Anne Arundel Community College's 56,000 students. "The faculty generally prefer to be contacted via email, but the students like SMS text messaging. And, almost every student I see has a cell phone these days."

Chaput continued, "We had a power outage just before setting up e2Campus. We essentially had to verbally notify everyone in the building and people approaching the building that it was closed. Now with e2Campus, I recently sent an alert about a school closing from my BlackBerry while traveling in Florida. The campus community was notified of the closing in minutes. That's effective."

In a time of crisis, phone calls and e-mail can overload and jam, while text messages use very little bandwidth, making them much more reliable. For example, wired and wireless phone lines were busy for hours during the terrorist attacks on 9/11. However, SMS text messages went through just fine.

With e2Campus 2.0, school officials quickly and easily send time-sensitive messages directly to students - whether they are on or off campus. Built around a highly reliable SMS text messaging system, e2Campus sends out 18,000 messages per minute to subscriber's cell phones, text pagers, email accounts, and school web pages.

Major New Features
e2Campus' SmartCode™ technology allows schools to "virtually integrate" e2Campus functions into their existing school web site by simply adding a line of code into any web page for registration, access or for posting notices. This means new users do not have to go to a third party site to start the process of signing up, while the school looks more professional. The Bulletin Board feature dynamically posts content of messages instantly and automatically on school web pages, so anyone who posted the message no longer needs to contact the school webmaster to update the school web site. The new Groups functionality allows schools to create unlimited groups and assign "Group Admins" to manage them independently. Group Admins only have access to their group for sending content, so they cannot access other areas of the system as an Administrator can.

About e2Campus
Endorsed by Security On Campus, Inc. and used by schools around the country, e2Campus is the web-based mass notification system that enables school officials to self-administer and send time-sensitive messages for a fraction of the cost and complexity of existing notification solutions. There is no traditional software to install, no hardware to buy, and no additional phone lines needed. A school can set up a secure notification system in minutes to send routine, urgent or emergency notifications to their entire campus community or groups, such as branch campuses, dorms, staff-only or sports news. e2Campus instantly and simultaneously sends mass alerts to a subscriber's mobile phone (via SMS text message), BlackBerry, smart phone, wireless PDA, text pager, e-mail account, and relevant web page. To learn more, visit www.e2Campus.com.

Availability
As an Application Service Provider (ASP) or hosted solution, e2Campus 2.0 is available immediately. Schools can choose e2Campus Text Service and/or e2Campus Voice Service. Text Service pricing is designed to fit school's needs with Flex Use Pricing and the more popular Unlimited Use Pricing.

Flex Use Pricing
For schools that need to inform their students, faculty and staff of public safety issues, but don't know how often they will use the service, this pricing plan offers pay-for-use fees plus a small annual fee. This plan is ideal for schools that intend to use the system for emergencies only. The Annual Account Access fee is USD $995.00 and each message sent cost $0.15. Once set up, a school would be charged $150 if one notification were sent to 1,000 students.

Unlimited Use Pricing
For as low as $0.03 per user per month, schools can send unlimited notifications throughout the year for public safety or non-emergency uses without incurring additional charges. This plan offers a flat rate price based on the number of potential subscribers during a given year. There are no hidden costs or extra fees. For example, the service will cost USD $9,500 per year for a school with 10,000 users. The service can be purchased annually with discounts applied for multi-year agreements (10% for 2 years and 15% for 3 years).

About Omnilert, LLC
Omnilert, LLC is the leading provider of selective mass communications for sending time-sensitive information to large groups of people. The self-service, web-based system enables a single person to communicate timely information to thousands of people anywhere, anytime, on any device. It is ideal for announcing school closings, game cancellations, weather warnings, terrorist alerts, and marketing promotions. The system is built around a reliable SMS text messaging system that sends content directly to a mobile phone, as well as an email address, web page, pager or wired phone. Omnilert Text and Voice solutions are sold under the names e2Campus, Amerilert, RainedOut and through resellers. The privately held company is headquartered in Leesburg, VA and online at www.omnilert.com.


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