Dept of Vet Affairs is using BlackBerry's Athoc

BlackBerry's AtHoc division has scored yet another big contract, this time with the Department of Veterans Affairs to power its crisis communications. The deal, which is valued at $20 million, will have AtHoc assist the organization for multiple-year delivery of its emergency communications through pager, phone, fax and more. The system, which is known as VA-PAS is actively used by the VA for all types of crisis event management as well as its day-to-day operations.

The VA hopes that AtHoc will be able to streamline its operational response activities, and be able to provide real-time status of all users with ease. More information can be found below.

Press release:

BlackBerry's AtHoc Awarded $20 Million Multiple-Year Delivery Order for Department of Veterans Affairs Enterprise-Wide Crisis Communications

VA Leads among U.S. Federal Agencies with Integrated Personnel Accountability and Crisis Alerting Capability, Solidifying Commitment to the Safety and Security of its Personnel Nationwide

SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 18, 2016) - BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB), a global leader in secure mobile communications, today announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a $20 million multiple-year delivery order against the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement Government-wide Acquisition Contract for the continuation and extension of the AtHoc networked crisis communications platform supporting the VA Notification System (VANS) and VA Personnel Accountability System (VA-PAS).

The award, made to AtHoc's reseller partner Four Points Technology demonstrates VA's commitment to leading the way in protecting and accounting for all of its employees, contractors and visitors during crises. This order extends protection to over 600,000 VA personnel as well as expanding scope and functionality of the system. The system includes alerting across telephones, text, pagers, fax, desktops, smartphones, as well as integration with other VA systems such as digital media systems. The VANS system enables alerting to, and response collection from, all targeted users for crisis management at the local or national level. The VANS system is fully integrated with the U.S. Navy SPAWAR Personnel Accountability and Assessment Systems (PAAS).

The innovative combined system, known as VA-PAS is actively used by VA for all types of crisis event management as well as day-to-day operations. The system is used by VA to streamline operational response activities and protect VA staff and contractors with a secure, state-of-the-art system designed to provide real time status of all users resulting in immediate reports available to VA leadership on the status of all employees.

The system captures all responses and automates the processes for real time corrective action for those in need, as well as monitoring status of those able to work during a crisis. VA has used the system actively for the past four years including during National Level Exercises, day-to-day operational VA events, and real world events such as Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the Washington D.C. Navy Yard shooting in 2013. In each of these events, VA was able to communicate with employees and deliver up to the minute information about VA operational status.

"We deliver innovative and secure mission critical software and services to the world's most demanding organizations," said John Chen, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackBerry. "We are proud to continue to provide this critical life safety system to the VA, and look forward to continuing our work together to build an innovative and secure enterprise crisis communication network."

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