Paging Cloud from Barix is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that brings paging into the smartphone-enabled mobile era. It integrates with almost all existing paging and public address (PA) systems, recording paging messages and sending them directly to registered smartphones. This allows visitors in environments such as schools, museums, and airports to hear announcements or emergency information on their own mobile devices.
Paging Cloud customers can page to mobile devices through their existing in-venue paging solutions, enabling them to reach people who might not clearly hear the announcements over the facility’s public address system. Paging Cloud is suitable for delivering emergency alerts and event updates to visitors in public spaces; school students and teachers wherever they are on campus; and even volunteer firefighters at their homes. It also provides a solution for delivering less-critical pages such as conference session start time reminders, or informing parents at home of school schedule updates caused by weather.
“Particularly in emergency situations, it is critical to make sure that everyone gets the message, but background noise or gaps in speaker coverage can cause people to miss PA announcements,” said Reto Brader, CEO, Barix. “By extending the paging to mobile phones, all subscribed end-users will receive all pages made by local staff as voice recordings on their smartphone wherever they are, and can listen to them as many times as necessary to understand the information. For example, no matter where a visitor is within a sprawling zoo, you can reach him or her with an alert about an escaped animal and instruct them to proceed to the nearest exit.”
Paging Cloud is a complete solution that consists of a hardware device for receiving and sending pages; a pay-for-use cloud service for receipt confirmation logging, system monitoring, and subscriber and device management; and free end-user mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. Integration with existing paging and public address solutions is as simple as connecting audio from the current system to the analog input of the Paging Cloud hardware, allowing customers to page to mobile devices without changing their workflows, retraining their staff, or replacing their equipment. Paging Cloud works seamlessly with both Barix’s and other vendors’ paging and PA solutions.
Paging Cloud makes it easy to reach variable recipient groups, useful for visitor verification. An unlimited number of end-users can download the Paging Cloud app from their device’s application store or via QR code, then self-subscribe to the venue’s paging system using another QR code. Operation without the app is also possible using SMS to distribute paging messages.
“Paging Cloud is simple to use for both administrators and recipients,” said Brader. “Combined with its ease of integration and affordability, any venue can ensure its visitors never miss an announcement again.”
