Case study: Intrado

Intrado (NASDAQ: TRDO) provides the technology and infrastructure for the North American 911 call systems. Telecommunications companies and long-distance carriers contract with Intrado to help them manage data and efficiently route 911 emergency calls. The company is based in Longmont, CO, employs 750 people and has more than 20 call processing sites nationwide.

According to co-founder and CEO, George Heinrichs, the company was encouraged to look to the Segway Personal Transporter (PT) by the need for tightened security at their new headquarters facility, which includes 300,000 square feet of office space on 14 acres of land. “In late 2002 we were merging operations from multiple sites into our new facility, and in the shadow of 9/11 it became clear that we needed to increase our vigilance and provide greater support to our security team,” says Heinrichs. “Our move to this facility coincided with the introduction of the Segway PT, and when we saw what these machines could do, we purchased two units to use for patrolling our headquarters and for responding to security alarms.”

“When an individual dials 911, the process behind the scenes is quite complex,” says Heinrichs. “The goal is to quickly route the call to the correct legal jurisdiction, even though those jurisdictional boundaries change frequently, requiring all of the underlying telephone information to be modified as well. That's where Intrado's call processing sites come in. They get that 911 call to the right people in a matter of seconds with a very high level of accuracy. So you can see why security is important to Intrado.”

Intrado According to Brad Leach, director of corporate security, the Intrado security team uses their Segway PTs every day, all day long. “Our goal is the be at each checkpoint in the facility at least once each hour, and the Segway PTs allow us to do this very effectively,” says Leach. “The machines allow us to make more rounds over a given period of time, and they completely eliminate the fatigue factor. You get a lot more mileage out of the officers if they're riding the Segway HTs, than if they're walking. Plus, they get to the alarm more quickly.”

“This year we're adding a lap-top monitoring system to the Segway PT that will tell the patrol officers exactly where an alarm is sounding so they can respond immediately from anywhere in the facility,” says Leach. “This system will also give us a log that summarizes where the activity has been each day. This will be very helpful in tracking security incidents and response times.”

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