By Eliza Ridgeway

When a student wielding a gun began shooting on the Virginia Tech campus last April, the university’s response exposed a dangerous gap in communications – it was more than two hours after shooting began before e-mail alerts went out. Even then, the messages reached only some of the students and faculty at risk on campus that day.

REACT Systems, headquartered in Los Altos, has developed a product that speeds up and expands critical response-notification systems to prevent such circumstances.

“The single biggest message that comes back after every disaster is a lack of communication,” said REACT Chairwoman and CEO Maria Ligeti, a former Los Altos resident.

REACT’s software integrates a site’s existing technology and updates it with communications capabilities.

Not all the applications are grim – the San Jose Children’s Museum purchased the software primarily for emergency information such as evacuation routes, but also uses it to display personalized birthday messages on screens throughout the museum.

“We’re utilizing whatever infrastructure the customers have. The only thing we need is their network,” Ligeti said.

The product is a “comprehensive, intelligent machine” that can interface with a range of private electronic devices – for instance, if the cell-phone system goes down, the software can use the Internet or telephone landlines.

“A warning notification is not always good enough – how do you respond, what are your responsibilities?” said REACT co-founder Jeremy Krinitt. “We’ve been able to speed up communication immensely, but also speed up initiation.”

Companies can set automatic triggers for their warning system, and authorized employees can engage the system remotely, even via a portable device such as a cell phone. TV displays at airports and schools can target pedestrians.

After two years of product development, REACT, an acronym for Rapid Emergency Alert Coordination and Targeting, formally launched last fall.

“Since we are so different from everybody else, we wanted to make sure we could speak to it with authority,” Ligeti said.

The company targets complex organizations, those with many employees and multiple geographical locations. By connecting through REACT software, they are able to respond to natural or manmade disasters up and down the supply chain.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center is installing a REACT system for 3,000 users.

“They had a very distributed group they needed to communicate with – multiple facilities,” Krinitt said. “When a big situation does occur, they need to be able to muster staff to a central location and do triage.”

REACT Systems outfitted the new Native American Museum in Washington, D.C.

“If someone pulls a fire alarm, (the system) instantaneously gives instructions to the public and staff. Nobody has to open up a binder and go to page 5.

“We are like a traffic cop, a hub – we need to shake hands with these new technologies,” Ligeti said, describing partnering with security firms to develop interfaces with video surveillance.

Ligeti envisions placing their software in every school in the country. During a campus lockdown, for instance, every room in a school could be served with continuous updates and instructions as the situation changes, and parents could be notified simultaneously via a mass message.

“If you are a parent or a part of the school district community, authorized people can alert you by multiple methods,” Ligeti said. “It could be a life-threatening situation or it could be weather related.”

During a crisis, REACT’s system can deliver real-time messages to cell phones, pagers, personal digital assistants, internal and external phone systems, computer desktops, hallway monitors and classroom televisions. In addition to situation-specific messages, the system can be programmed to display updatable evacuation maps and Americans with Disabilities Act–compliant fire and emergency alerts.

For more information, visit www.reactsystemsinc.com.

Contact Eliza Ridgeway at elizar@latc.com.