A-Lu Broadcast Message Center delivers emergency alerts, can offer targeted advertising

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) today unveiled its Broadcast Message Center, which wireless operators can use to deliver emergency text alerts to their customers, warning them of natural disasters, inclement weather or other dangers. The federal government is requiring wireless operators to be able to deliver emergency alerts by April 2012, or tell end users their service doesn’t have such a feature.
The BMC can scale to deliver nationwide messages or be much more targeted to deliver messages in a specific geographic area. While the government mandate only covers the ability to deliver emergency alerts, operators could use the service to deliver other messages as well, including targeted marketing messages, thus giving operators another revenue opportunity, said Jay Bhatt, project manager for the BMC at Alcatel Lucent. The BMC can be run on CDMA- and GSM-based networks, and will support LTE-based services going forward. While today the services are text-based, other types of messaging, including video, could be delivered using the technology.
“With the public increasingly relying on cell phones, it becomes mission critical for service
providers to be able to share critical, time-sensitive information over these devices during times
of crisis,” said Morgan Wright, VP Global Mission Critical Communication Solutions for Alcatel-Lucent. “The Broadcast Message Center enables service providers to do this so that its subscribers can be warned and informed during emergencies.”
Because the message center uses broadcast technology to deliver emergency alerts, it is delivered in real time, rather than a text message, which may not be delivered immediately, Bhatt said.
The Broadcast Message Center sits between the government alert gateway and the service provider’s network. Interestingly, new handsets will be needed to support the emergency alert system. Bhatt said those devices should be coming to market in 2011.
Beyond the United States, Europe, Australia and Chile are actively looking for similar solutions. Sprint Nextel Corp. and the state of California already have tested the service, as has Florida.