Early warning of impending cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis or terrorist attack can play a vital role in reducing consequential damage and loss of life.
Text messaging over the mobile SMS [Short Message Service] network provides the quickest way of broadcasting such alerts to large numbers of people. This is why a number of police forces in the UK are already using SMS to send alert messages to organisations and businesses.
The problem is that the 'personal' handheld mobile phone is not suitable for crucially important messages. Mobile phones are easily lost, get left in cars, in briefcases or at home and frequently have flat batteries.
The new Burnside Desktop Mobile on the other hand provides a permanent, reliable and shared resource for receiving phone calls and text messages.
An incoming text message will ring and illuminate a message waiting or new call lamp and also flash the terminal's display so that anyone in the vicinity of the terminal becomes aware of an incoming message.
Unlike handheld mobile phones, the Burnside terminal can also be connected to an external electrical circuit so that on receipt of a text message containing a matching security code an attached alarm system can be activated alerting people over a wide area that a message has been received.
It is also possible to send a text message to the Burnside unit which is automatically returned to sender with a text message reporting the terminal's status. In this way a complete network of terminals can be remotely monitored for correct operation.
The patent applied for Burnside Desktop Mobile was developed with the assistance of a SMART award for innovation from the Dept of Trade and Industry. The terminal is manufactured in the UK and is being shipped to customers around the world.
Picture of BBC Television Centre (c)BBC
