Fusion Communications, a centralcasting master control and production company, is deploying Digital Alert Systems' DASDEC-II emergency messaging platform to provide automatic emergency alerts for 20 remote TV stations located throughout the United States.
Fusion Communications, which is based in Davenport Iowa, contracts with broadcasters to provide centralcasting and control services, allowing them to offer a fully produced TV station with minimal investment in staff and equipment.
"When it comes to emergency alerts, the nature of our business poses a unique challenge," said Jeff Lyle, president of Fusion Communications in a statement. "If an alert is issued locally for one of our stations, it needs to be sent to the operation center in Davenport before it can go out over the air. As we have seen from the recent tragedies in Joplin and other communities, lives are at stake and every second counts. So in addition to meeting EAS/CAP compliance, our alert process needed to be a seamless, flawless loop. And for that we turned to Digital Alert Systems' DASDEC platform."
Fusion has installed DASDEC-II emergency messaging platform with the vendor's EAS-Net and DASDEC-IR remotes, with a DASDEC-IR unit in each remote station. The DASDEC-IR units automatically communicates EAS data via an IP network to the central DASDEC-II hosts at Fusion's Davenport facility via Digital Alert Systems EAS-NET communications protocol software.
From Davenport, Fusion's staff also use DASDEC's Web-based user interface to monitor all messages and alerts for all 20 stations.
"The DASDEC system has worked very well for us, especially with the severe weather over the past few months for our stations in the Midwest," added Lyle in a statement. "The DASDEC-IR boxes have been very busy, but they haven't skipped a beat. As we build our services and add additional stations, we know we can count on the strong integration support of Digital Alert Systems to expand our EAS system."
