With this expansion over 15,000 of the Department’s personnel are covered for emergency communication and personnel accountability
BlackBerry today announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has expanded their Agriculture – Automated Warning and Information Response System (Ag-AWaIRS) to now protect personnel of the Farm Services Agency (FSA) headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ag-AWaIRS is the mass emergency notification system utilized by USDA Emergency Managers to alert USDA staff and contractors of crisis situations within minutes of an event. Already protecting USDA headquarters facilities in the National Capital Region (NCR), Ag-AWaIRS enhances communication and collaboration within and across USDA agencies while providing a high level of security and ensuring the protection of personally identifiable information.
Seamlessly supporting telephones, SMS text messaging, desktops, and mobile devices as well as enabling cross-organizational communications, USDA’s Ag-AWaIRS ensures continuity of business operations (COOP) while protecting staff across functions, organizations and geographies.
Evergreen Information Technology Services (Evergreen ITS) worked with AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry, and the USDA to deploy the Ag-AWaIRS system to the FSA.
“The safety of USDA personnel, its facilities and continuity of operation are mission critical,” said Terrance Martin, President of Evergreen ITS.
“This solution effectively addresses those objectives for the enterprise by providing unified, secure communications across all agencies in times of crisis.”
Dubhe Beinhorn, Vice President of AtHoc’s Homeland Security and Government Group said:
“We are honored by the trust Evergreen ITS and USDA have shown by selecting the AtHoc solution,”
“We look forward to working with them to continue to expand and build an innovative and game-changing enterprise crisis communication network.”
