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Emergency Broadcast System w/Windows

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by wejohnson1

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Hello,
I have been tasked with coming up with solutions for an audio broadcast system for use over the network. My biggest problem is finding an intrusive alert system so that all networked personnel will have the audio message simultaneously forced on them. We have a NT & 2000 based 100TX Ethernet network utilizing nortel routers. We don't seem to have multicast capability yet. Can anyone suggest an off the shelf solution or some relatively simple ways to develop the solution? I have already created a client application that responds to specific UDP commands but I want something thats designed to be robust enough for an Emergancy Broadcast system.
I think that it needs to be a client program but are there library calls that I could somehow monitor for specific broadcasts without adding much overhead? How would I discern what is something I am interested in and/or how can I trigger a unique network broadcast. Is there a way of handling this with ICMP? When I tried to use MS internet components with VB (wskClient with UDP) I found that I had to cycle through all of the IPs addresses for my agency. It looks like a builtin limitation to the control but I could be missing something.

A couple of comments:
Theissue with whether the speakers are on or loud enough is a business rule and so is really for management to deal with. However, if I knew that all PC's come with builtin piezo speakers and if I knew that these speakers were capable of producing realtively loud and yet intelligible speech then I guess I should look into that as part of a possible option.
It goes without saying that a popup message will display the message at the same time as the sound is being delivered.
I look forwardto our discussions on this.

6 replies

by cdaringer

Is to create a service that runs under services for the purpose of total admin control and priority processing.

Then have that service login into a directory under a special account only to that directory.

Then poll that directory and see if afile is available every so many seconds, it can be synced with naval observatory to keep systems tight.

then just create a wav file with a microphone and have it drop in the folder on a que event, raised event, edi, or admin creation.

Or... tokeep the wav from "choking the network"
distribute to servers...

the result the service plays the wave.

goto servicemill.com to get the software to turn any exe into a service.

get an app that plays a wav on detection in a specified path...

yer done...

by limbrickh

If all clients were notified of the wave file at the same time chances are you'd kill your network. A wave file is not compressed and every client would be trying to drag this over the network from the poor server hosting it - not to mention the poor network.

It also wouldn't be real time which wouldn't be very good in an emergency situation. Who has time to record a wave file and update the directory setting when the building is burning down?

I'd suggest a real time system like www.purplevoice.com built for low bandwidth overhead and fault tolerance. Just push a button on your keyboard , speak and everyone gets it.

by limbrickh

Also, playing a wave file wouldn't be synchronised. One PC will start playing the file as soon as it gets the full download and then the PC next to it will start playing the file.

The result in a room of more than 3 PCs would be an echo going around the room as each PC finished its download of audio and started playing the file.

Did I mention in any of my other postings that a real time solution might be the best answer?

by cdaringer

simple computer trick with WIN32 api and the service control OCX which I own from said site...

free if you want to use it..

the other end of the app, when, where, how, the file gets in there is your deal.

by ehess

You can force the audio through to each individual on your network, but you cannot force them to be at their desks or to have their computer speakers turned on. Keep thinking of a better way to alert everyone. If it is that important, such and a fire or gas leak emergency, the office PA system is the best way. Anything you create at great expense on the computer network will have failures because of the human connection, not the technology.

Signed, cynical old programmer.

by limbrickh

Purple Voice (www.purplevoice.com) may provide the product you are looking for. They have a product called Global Audio that provides realtime broadcast/unicast through Windows PCs.

Although it is targeted at the financial markets (to receive real time broadcasts such as hoots or TV audio feeds) it could equally be used in other industries. When a new intercom call is made, a dialog can pop-up alerting the user.

They have an additonal product that allows a single audio stream to be sent over a WAN link and then rebroadcast to multiple machines at the remotes site saving bandwidth.

They also integrate with text messaging as well.

Check them out.

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