Latest message system test is a success, Tech reports

Three weeks after its emergency notification system failed to deliver messages to students, Virginia Tech ran a test of the system yesterday and said it apparently worked well.

More than 35,000 subscribers to the VT Alerts system appear to have received a test message sent yesterday afternoon via text message, e-mail and telephone, said Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski.

However, in what Owczarski called a minor glitch, the voice synthesizer that left voice mail messages translated VT Alerts into "Vermont Alerts."

"We'd call this afternoon's test a success," said Owczarski, cautioning that the test results are being analyzed.

Tech conducted the test yesterday in hopes of rebuilding its confidence in the VT Alerts system run by 3n Global, a Glendale, Calif., company, after an incident last month in which messages were sent out but not received. Tech pays 3n $35,000 annually to operate the system, which was built after the April 16, 2007, campus shootings of 27 students and five teachers.

Officials with 3n could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In the Nov. 13 incident, school officials locked down a campus building after a report of possible shots fired. The report turned out to be a false alarm. But Tech officials were irate with 3n because, after an initial message was successfully sent, many students, professors and administrators never received second and third messages about the incident.

The company's CEO, Cinta Putra, said a problem with an Oracle database slowed the system and kept the messages from going out.

Tech also uses its online homepage, electronic message boards in all general classrooms, and e-mails to university addresses to post notices. Those systems worked properly during the Nov. 13 incident.
Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 344-3612 or .